The Secretary of State shall prepare and furnish to each city, town and plantation all ballots, returns and copies of this Part necessary to carry out the purposes of this referendum.

PART B

Sec. B-1. 35-A MRSA §3208, as amended by PL 1999, c. 398, Pt. L, §1, is further amended by adding at the beginning a new paragraph to read:

This section governs the determination and recovery of stranded costs except to the extent funds are available to allow for the payment of stranded costs under section 3208-A.

Sec. B-2. 35-A MRSA §3208-A is enacted to read:

§3208-A.__Public funds to pay stranded costs

If public funds become available through a bond issue or other source to pay stranded costs, this section governs the calculation and payment of stranded costs.

1.__Stranded costs defined and calculated.__For purposes of this section, the term "stranded costs" has the same meaning as in section 3208 and the calculation of such costs for purposes of this section must be in the same manner as prescribed in section 3208, except that the commission may by rule modify the definition and the calculation method to the extent necessary to carry out the purposes of this section.

2. Payment.__The commission by rule shall establish a method of paying stranded costs using any public funds that become available for this purpose.

3. Rules.__Rules adopted pursuant to this section are major substantive rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

SUMMARY

The funds provided by this bond issue, in the amount of $1,088,750,000, will be used to pay transmission and distribution utility stranded costs. Stranded costs are the costs of