Sec. 16. 36 MRSA §3215, as amended by PL 1985, c. 127, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§3215. Refund of taxes for certain common carriers

A person engaged in furnishing common carrier passenger service under an operating authority license issued pursuant to Title 29-A, section 552 is entitled to reimbursement of the tax paid on special fuel used by that person in locally encouraged vehicles.__For purposes of calculating reimbursement due pursuant to this section, special fuel used in a person's locally encouraged vehicles is presumed to bear the same proportional relationship to special fuel used in all of the person's passenger vehicles that the person's commutation fare revenue derived from service provided by locally encouraged vehicles bears to the person's total passenger fare revenue.__"Commutation fare revenue" means revenue attributable to fares of 60__or less and fares paid for commutation or season tickets for single trips of less than 30 miles or for commutation tickets for one month or less.__"Total passenger fare revenue" means all revenue attributable to the claimant's passenger operations.__"Locally encouraged vehicles" means buses upon which no excise tax is collected under section 1483, subsection 13.

Applications for refunds must be filed with the State Tax Assessor, on a form prescribed by the assessor and accompanied by the original invoices showing those purchases, within 9 months from the date of purchase.__A refund may not be issued under this section unless the claimant's commutation fare revenue derived during the calendar quarter for which the refund is claimed is at least 60% of the claimant's total passenger fare revenue derived during that calendar quarter.

Sec. 17. 36 MRSA §3218, as amended by PL 1985, c. 127, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

§3218. Refund of tax in certain cases, time limit

A person who purchases and uses special fuel for any use other than operation of a registered motor vehicle on the highways of this State, and who has paid the tax imposed by this chapter on that fuel, is entitled to reimbursement in the amount