Maine Revised Statutes > Title 7 > Part 1 > Chapter 2-B – Registration of Farmland

Current as of: 2023 | Check for updates | Other versions


§ 51	Purpose
§ 52	Definitions
§ 53-A	Eligibility
§ 53-B	Registration in 1990 and 1991
§ 53-C	Registration contents and purpose
§ 53-D	Notice of registration
§ 53-E	Withdrawal
§ 53-H	Forms
§ 53-I	Registration and renewal on or after July 1, 2012
§ 54	Proceedings
§ 56	Prohibited acts
§ 57	Variance
§ 58	Enforcement and penalties
§ 59	Other laws not affected

Terms Used In Maine Revised Statutes > Title 7 > Part 1 > Chapter 2-B - Registration of Farmland

Abutting land: means real estate that shares a common boundary, or portion of a boundary, with land that is held in common ownership with land registered or being considered for registration under this chapter when the abutting real estate is within 50 feet of the land registered or being considered for registration. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52
Advice and consent: Under the Constitution, presidential nominations for executive and judicial posts take effect only when confirmed by the Senate, and international treaties become effective only when the Senate approves them by a two-thirds vote.
Agricultural chemicals: means fungicides, insecticides, herbicides, and other pesticides. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52
Agricultural labor: means agricultural labor as defined in the Employment Security Law, chapter 13. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 585
Applicant: means an applicant for employment. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 615
Approved: means as approved by the Board of Occupational Safety and Health. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563
Association: means any corporation organized under this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 2003
Bankruptcy: Refers to statutes and judicial proceedings involving persons or businesses that cannot pay their debts and seek the assistance of the court in getting a fresh start. Under the protection of the bankruptcy court, debtors may discharge their debts, perhaps by paying a portion of each debt. Bankruptcy judges preside over these proceedings.
Behavioral health care: means services to address mental health and substance use conditions. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Board: means the Board of Occupational Safety and Health. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563
Board: means the Board of Trustees of Dirigo Health, as established in section 6904. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Bonds: means any bonds, notes, interim certificates, debentures or other obligations issued by an authority under this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702
Bureau: means the Bureau of Labor Standards. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563
Bureau: means the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Standards. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251
Chambers: A judge's office.
Child: means a natural child, stepchild, adopted child or child placed for adoption with a plan enrollee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
Commercial farming: means the production of any farm product with the intent that that farm product be sold or otherwise disposed of to generate income. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52
Committee jurisdiction: The subjects and functions assigned to a committee by rule, resolution, precedent, or practice, including legislative matters, oversight and investigations, and nominations of executive officers.
Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
Dependent: means a spouse, a domestic partner, an unmarried child under 19 years of age, a child who is a student under 23 years of age and is financially dependent upon a plan enrollee or a person of any age who is the child of a plan enrollee and is disabled and dependent upon that plan enrollee. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Director: means the Director of the Bureau of Labor Standards. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563
Dirigo Health Program: means the program of services provided by Dirigo Health that includes comprehensive health benefits coverage, subsidies, wellness programs and quality improvement initiatives. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
Domestic partner: means one of 2 unmarried adults who are domiciled together under long-term arrangements that evidence a commitment to remain responsible indefinitely for each other's welfare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72
Elderly: means a person or family as defined in the United States Housing Act of 1937, Public Law 75-412, 50 Stat. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702
Eligible business: means a business that employs at least 2 but not more than 50 eligible employees, the majority of whom are employed in the State, including a municipality that has 50 or fewer employees. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Eligible employee: means an employee of an eligible business who works at least 20 hours per week for that eligible business. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903
Eligible individual: means :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Employ: means employ, suffer or permit to work. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563

Employ: means to employ or permit to work. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251

Employee: means any person, including a minor whether lawfully or unlawfully employed, who is employed or permitted to work by the State, a state agency, county, municipal corporation, school district or other public corporation or political subdivision. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563

Employee: means any person engaged to work on a steady or regular basis as an operator by an employer located or doing business in the State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251

Employee: means every person who may be permitted, required or directed by any employer in consideration of direct or indirect gain or profit, to engage in any employment;

[PL 1985, c. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 591

Employee: means an individual who provides services or labor for an employer for wages or other remuneration. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 615

Employer: shall mean the State, state agency, county, municipal corporation, school district or other political corporation or political subdivisions having employees. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 563

Employer: means the owner or responsible agent of a business authorized to sign contracts on behalf of the business. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

employer: includes , but is not limited to:

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251

Employer: means an individual, partnership, association, corporation, legal representative, trustee, receiver, trustee in bankruptcy and any common carrier by rail, motor, water, air or express company doing business in or operating within the State; and

[PL 2011, c. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 591

Employer: includes a person acting in the interest of an employer directly or indirectly. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 615

Employment agency: means any person who conducts a full-time or part-time service for the purpose of procuring or attempting to procure permanent or temporary employment or engagement for persons seeking employment or engagement, or for giving information about where employment or engagement may be procured when a fee paid by the employee is charged for that service. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 611

Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}

Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.

Executive director: means the Executive Director of Dirigo Health. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Facility: means a structure, trailer or vehicle, or 2 or more contiguous or grouped structures, trailers or vehicles, together with the land appurtenant. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 585

Farm product: means those plants and animals useful to humans and includes, but is not limited to, forages and sod crops, grains and food crops, dairy products, poultry and poultry products, bees, livestock and livestock products and fruits, berries, vegetables, flowers, seeds, grasses, Christmas trees and other similar products. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52

Farmland: means any tract or tracts of land used for commercial farming:

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52

Federal Government: means the United States of America or any agency or instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States of America. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.

Financial institution: means any bank or trust company, savings bank, savings and loan association, industrial bank, national banking association, federal savings and loan association, mortgage banker, credit union or other such institution authorized to do business in the State, or a government agency which customarily provides service or otherwise aids in the financing of mortgage loans. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}

health insurance: means insurance of human beings against bodily injury, disablement or death by accident or accidental means, or the expense thereof, or against disablement or expense resulting from sickness, and every insurance appertaining thereto, including provision for the mental and emotional welfare of human beings by defraying the costs of legal services only to the extent provided for in chapter 38. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 704

Health insurance carrier: means :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Health plan in Medicaid: means a health insurance carrier that meets the requirements of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 438 (2002) and has a contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to provide MaineCare-covered services to individuals enrolled in MaineCare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Home improvement note: means an interest bearing obligation, secured in whole or in part by a mortgage, insurance or otherwise as may be agreed upon by the Maine State Housing Authority from time to time, made to improve or rehabilitate single-family or multi-unit residential housing in the State, including, without limitation, the replacement, removal or rehabilitation of malfunctioning waste water treatment systems. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

housing authority: means any of the public corporations created or authorized to be created by this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Incompatible use: means the development or use of abutting land for a well, drinking water spring or water supply intake point when that use is initiated on abutting land that is within 50 feet of farmland after that farmland has been registered under this chapter. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 7 Sec. 52

Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. ^{Source: FDIC}

Independent contractor: means an individual who qualifies as an independent contractor under section 1043, subsection 11, paragraph E. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 591

Injunction: An order of the court prohibiting (or compelling) the performance of a specific act to prevent irreparable damage or injury.

Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. ^{Source: OCC}

lands: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}

Legislative session: That part of a chamber's daily session in which it considers legislative business (bills, resolutions, and actions related thereto).

Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.

Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.

Majority: when used in reference to age shall mean the age of 18 and over. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Member: includes members of associations without capital stock and holders of common stock in associations organized with shares of stock. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 13 Sec. 2003

Minority: when used in reference to age shall mean under the age of 18. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Minority leader: See Floor Leaders

Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.

mortgage: means :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Mortgage loan: A loan made by a lender to a borrower for the financing of real property. ^{Source: OCC}

municipal authority: means any of the public corporations authorized to be created by section 4721. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Municipal legislative body: means :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Municipal officers: means the mayor and municipal officers or councilors of a city, the members of the select board or councilors of a town and the assessors of a plantation. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Municipal officers: means :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Municipality: includes cities, towns and plantations, except that "municipality" does not include plantations in Title 10, chapter 110, subchapter IV; or Title 30?A, Part 2. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Municipality: means a city or town, except as provided in chapter 225. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

obligee: includes :

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Operator: means any employee whose primary task is to operate a terminal for more than 4 consecutive hours, exclusive of breaks, on a daily basis. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251

Oversight: Committee review of the activities of a Federal agency or program.

Participating employer: means an eligible business that contracts with Dirigo Health pursuant to section 6910, subsection 4, paragraph B and that has employees enrolled in the Dirigo Health Program. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, firm, organization or other legal entity. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Persons of low income: means persons or families, elderly or otherwise, who lack the income which is necessary, as determined by a housing authority, to enable them, without financial assistance, to live in or purchase decent, safe and sanitary dwellings, without overcrowding. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Plan enrollee: includes an eligible employee who is eligible to enroll in MaineCare. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Practitioner-specific quality data: includes , but is not limited to, records, reports, working papers, drafts, analyses, e-mail, interoffice and intraoffice memoranda and other data collected, used, produced or maintained by the Maine Quality Forum, established in section 6951, for the purposes of measuring a health care practitioner's professional performance against consensus best practices and local and national patterns of health care. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.

Primary care: means regular check?ups, wellness and general health care provided by a provider with whom a patient has initial contact for a health issue, not including an urgent care or emergency health issue, and by whom the patient may be referred to a specialist. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Provider: means any person, organization, corporation or association that provides health care services and products and is authorized to provide those services and products under the laws of this State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.

Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.

Real estate: includes lands and all tenements and hereditaments connected therewith, and all rights thereto and interests therein. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Real estate: means land and structures attached to it. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.

registered mail: when used in connection with any requirement for notice by mail shall mean either registered mail or certified mail. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

residence: refer to an individual's place of domicile. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

Select board: means the members of the select board of the town or, if the town has no select board, the officers charged with the duties customarily imposed on the select board of a town. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.

Sewers: means and includes mains, pipes and laterals for the reception of sewage and carrying that sewage to an outfall or some part of a sewage disposal system, including pumping stations. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 2001

single-family or multi-unit residential housing: means any work or undertaking:

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Social media account: means an account with an electronic medium or service through which users create, share and view user-generated content including but not limited to videos, still photographs, blogs, video blogs, podcasts, instant and text messages, e-mail, online service accounts and Internet website profiles and locations. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 615

State public body: means any city, town, district or other political subdivision of the State. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 30-A Sec. 4702

Subpoena: A command to a witness to appear and give testimony.

Subsidy: means a subsidy as described in section 6912. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Terminal: means any electronic video screen data presentation machine, commonly called video display terminals, VDTs or cathode-ray tubes, CRTs. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 26 Sec. 251

Testify: Answer questions in court.

Testimony: Evidence presented orally by witnesses during trials or before grand juries.

Third-party administrator: means any person who, on behalf of any person who establishes a health insurance plan covering residents, receives or collects charges, contributions or premiums for or settles claims on residents in connection with any type of health benefit provided in or as an alternative to insurance as defined by section 704, other than:

A. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903

Town: includes cities and plantations, unless otherwise expressed or implied. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 1 Sec. 72

Trustor: The person who makes or creates a trust. Also known as the grantor or settlor.

Unemployed individual: means an individual who does not work more than 20 hours a week for any single employer. See Maine Revised Statutes Title 24-A Sec. 6903