Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

130th MAINE LEGISLATURE
                  FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2021
Legislative Document                                                                         No. 324
H.P. 228                                                   House of Representatives, February 8, 2021
           An Act To Limit Public Land Ownership in Maine
   Received by the Clerk of the House on February 4, 2021. Referred to the Committee on
Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed
pursuant to Joint Rule 401.
                                                                                 ROBERT B. HUNT
                                                                                            Clerk
Presented by Representative JAVNER of Chester.
Cosponsored by Senator MOORE of Washington and
Representatives: STANLEY of Medway, TUELL of East Machias, Senator: DAVIS of
Piscataquis.
                                       Printed on recycled paper
 1   Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
 2       Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §1829-A is enacted to read:
 3   §1829-A. Limitation on publicly owned land
 4       1. Public ownership limited. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary,
 5   publicly owned land in this State may not exceed 33% of the total land area of the State or
 6   50% of the land area of a county. For purposes of this section, "publicly owned land"
 7   means land in which the Federal Government, the State or a municipality holds property
 8   rights, including easements, development rights, trust rights or other ownership interests.
 9   With the approval of 2/3 of each House of the Legislature, the State or a municipality may
10   exceed the limits of this subsection.
11       2. Report. The department shall, beginning April 15, 2022, report biannually to the
12   joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over public lands matters
13   on the percentage of federal and state publicly owned land statewide and by county.
14                                         SUMMARY
15       This bill limits publicly owned land in the State to no more than 33% of the total land
16   area of the State and 50% of the land area in any county. The bill also allows the State or
17   a municipality to exceed the limits with the approval of 2/3 of each House of the
18   Legislature.
19       The Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry is required to report
20   biannually beginning April 15, 2022 to the joint standing committee of the Legislature
21   having jurisdiction over public lands matters on the percentage of federal and state property
22   ownership statewide and by county.
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