126th MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1649		LR 2498(02)
	An Act To Make Maine Mills More Competitive by Encouraging the Processing of Forest Products at Mills in the United States
	Fiscal Note for Bill as Amended by Committee Amendment " "
	Committee: Taxation
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Fiscal Note
State Mandate - Unfunded
			FY 2013-14	FY 2014-15	Projections  FY 2015-16	Projections  FY 2016-17
Net Cost (Savings)
	General Fund		$0	$17,488	$69,952	$264,050
Appropriations/Allocations
	General Fund		$0	$17,488	$69,952	$264,050
State Mandates
	Required Activity				Unit Affected	Local Cost
	Requires municipal tax assessors to process notifications that harvests have occurred, exempt the property from the Tree Growth Tax Law and perform verification of the harvest.				Municipality	Significant statewide
	The required local activities in this bill may represent a State mandate pursuant to the Constitution of Maine.  Unless General Fund appropriations are provided to fund at least 90% of the additional costs or a Mandate Preamble is amended to the bill and two-thirds of the members of each House vote to exempt this mandate from the funding requirement, municipalities may not be required to implement these changes.
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill exempts land enrolled under the Tree Growth Tax Law when forest products harvested from that land are processed only at US mills.  The Department of Administrative and Financial Services, Maine Revenue Services, would require a General Fund appropriation of $192,000 in fiscal year 2016-17 to reimburse municipalities for 50% of the loss of property tax as required by the Maine Constitution.
	The bill includes a General Fund appropriation of $17,488 for one Property Tax Appraiser I position to administer the exemption in the unorganized territories.