Legislative Session number- 82

Bill Name: SF2340

E Relating to the organization, operation and financing of state government
ARTICLE 1 - TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONSAppropriating money
to the department of transportation (DOT) for aeronautics, for airport
development and assistance, for aviation support, for air transportation
services, for a development grant to the city of Richfield, for greater
Minnesota transit assistance, for transit administration, for the rail service
improvement program, for port development assistance grants, for rail corridor
studies and Northstar commuter rail corridor final design, for state membership
in the midwest interstate passenger rail compact, for a grant to the city of St.
Paul to purchase the union depot, for motor carrier regulation, for local and
state roads and highways, for local bridge replacement and rehabilitation, for
transportation studies, for an update of the statewide transportation plan, for
a Native American liaison, for information technology infrastructure
preservation and improvement and development activities and for an addition to
the drivers exam building in Eagan, to the metropolitan council for transit
operations, for bus purchases and garages, for a fare increase replacement and
for transit ways environmental studies and implementation, to the department of
public safety for public safety officer survivor benefits, for soft body armor
reimbursements, for new state patrol positions and the recruit training academy
and for the purchase of vehicle video cameras, for capitol complex security, for
driver and vehicle services and for traffic and pipeline safety, to the
Minnesota safety council and to the commissioner of finance for transfer to the
board of water and soil resources (BOWSR) to acquire wetland banking credits,
land or services for wetlands replacement purposes, for disaster assistance, for
general contingent accounts and for the payment of tort claims; providing
certain additional appropriations for 2001; requiring a certain amount of money
in the noise wall account of the local road improvement fund to be used for a
demonstration project for constructing masonry sound walls; requiring certain
reports to the legislature and authorizing certain fund transfers; restricting
metropolitan council metro mobility expenditures ARTICLE 2 CRIMINAL JUSTICE
APPROPRIATIONSAppropriating money to the crime victim ombudsman, to the
commissioner of public safety for emergency management including a grant to the
city of Granite Falls to assist with certain tornado related costs, for criminal
apprehension and the CriMNet project, for the fire marshal, for alcohol and
gambling enforcement, for the crime victim services center and for law
enforcement and community grants and to the boards of peace officer standards
and training (POST) and of private detectives and protective agent services;
authorizing the bureau of criminal apprehension to charge a fee for Internet
access to public criminal history data, limit; removing the executive director
of the Minnesota police and peace officers association from criminal gang
oversight council membership; authorizing and providing for local government
units to enter into agreements to establish major financial crimes investigation
units; requiring the center for crime victim services to oversee the design and
implementation of a statewide automated victim notification system serving state
and local correctional facilities and courts; expanding the duty of sheriffs,
peace officers and community corrections agencies to collect certain specified
information on offenders for forwarding to the BCA, requiring ensurance of the
taking of data on juvenile offenders by prosecutors, courts and probation
officers; requiring and providing for biannual suspense file reporting by the
superintendent of the BCA; granting the district court access to the conditional
release computerized data system; specifying certain offender fingerprinting
requirements; extending the expiration date of the sexual assault and general
crime victims advisory councils; requiring the commissioner of public safety in
consultation with the executive director of the center for crime victim services
to administer a pilot project for grants to nonprofit organizations to provide
neighborhood based services to crime victims and witnesses between the
occurrence of the crime and the filing of charges against the alleged
perpetrator, specifying certain grant recipient target and services requirements
and requiring a director report to the legislature by a certain date; specifying
certain pistol permits summary data reporting requirements of police chiefs and
sheriffs, requiring BCA superintendent annual summary reports of data received
to the legislature ARTICLE 3 OTHER AGENCY APPROPRIATIONSAppropriating money to
the commissioner of commerce for financial examinations, enforcement and
compliance, energy, petroleum tank release cleanup, administrative services,
telecommunications and weights and measures, to the boards of accountancy,
architecture, engineering, land surveying, landscape architecture and interior
design and barber examiners, to the commissioner of labor and industry for
workers compensation, workplace services and for general support, to the bureau
of mediation services for mediation services and for labor and management
cooperation grants, to the public utilities commission (PUC), to the Minnesota
historical society for education and outreach and for preservation and access,
to the councils on black Minnesotans, Chicano-Latino affairs and Asian-Pacific
Minnesotans, to the Indian affairs council, to the workers compensation court of
appeals and to the amateur sports commission; removing search firms from
regulation under the employment agencies law; including qualified on-farm biogas
recovery facilities (anaerobic digester systems) under the renewable energy
production incentive program; authorizing amateur sports commission matching
grants to local government units to develop new ice arenas for amateur athletics
(mighty ducks); requiring the commissioner of labor and industry to appoint an
equal pay commission to study wage disparities in the public and private sectors
between men and women and between minorities and nonminorities to effectively
correct and deter discriminatory wage practices based on sex, race or national
origin and report to the commissioner for transmission to the governor ARTICLE 4
TRANSPORTATION POLICYProposing an amendment to the Minnesota constitution,
article XIV to modify the allocation of motor vehicle sales tax proceeds to the
highway user tax distribution fund and to allocate a certain percentage to a
fund for operating assistance to public transit systems; modifying certain
provisions governing trunk highway bond proceeds and highway bond financed
property, authorizing the commissioner of finance to use general or trunk
highway fund money to sell highway bonds with legislative authorization,
requiring replacement; exempting department of transportation contract work
orders and work order amendments from commissioner of administration or attorney
general signature requirements and increasing the dollar limits on the
requirement to use the solicitation process for department acquisitions and on
contracts for DOT professional or technical services requiring approval of the
commissioner of administration; authorizing acquiring authorities to consider
reimbursing businesses displaced under eminent domain proceedings for a certain
amount of relocation or reestablishment expenses; designating Little Elk
heritage preserve in Morrison county as a historic preserve; providing for the
payment of certain town bridge engineering costs from the town bridge account;
designating certain portions of trunk highway 75 as the king of trails;
authorizing the placement of DOT advertisements for bids on the Internet and
bidders to submit bids electronically to the commissioner; regulating DOT
professional and technical services contracts; authorizing road authorities by
agreement to advance funds to the commissioner to expedite development of
interregional transportation corridors; requiring owner consent for commissioner
reconveyance of real property taken through eminent domain to the property
owner; clarifying and modifying certain population requirements under the
municipal state aid street system; clarifying the definition of passenger
automobile relating to vans for registration purposes; providing for lifetime
registration of certain light utility trailers; authorizing the display of
temporary permits in conjunction with an expired registration on vehicles
registered as collector vehicles under certain conditions; providing for
lifetime license plates for veterans; removing military and veterans special
plates from the definition of special license plates for design purposes;
expanding the grounds for cancellation of motor vehicle dealer licenses and
modifying the definition of utility trailer for dealer regulation provisions
exclusion purposes; increasing the filing fee for motor vehicle registration
transactions with deputy registrars, separating the registration renewal fee
from the fee for other transactions, clarifying the prohibition on the charging
of a fee for correction of errors and providing for dealer retention of a
certain portion of the fee for electronic transactions; providing a standing
appropriation from the highway user tax distribution fund to the commissioner of
public safety to pay the costs of purchasing, delivering and mailing motor
vehicle license plates and registration tabs, stickers and notices; specifying
conditions for owner cancellation of a motor vehicle purchase after transfer of
interest for certificate of title purposes, authorizing the refund of taxes and
fees after submittal of certain documentation; authorizing cities or urban towns
to by ordinance develop and implement programs allowing peace officers to detect
and cite through the mail traffic signal violations through photographic
evidence, specifying certain program requirements and exceptions and requiring
consultation with the department of public safety in establishing the programs;
providing for electronic reporting of motor vehicle accidents, authorizing
commissioner dissemination of modified copies of database records; requiring
commissioner of transportation establishment of school zone speed limits;
requiring motor vehicle drivers approaching and before passing emergency
vehicles parked or otherwise stopped on or next to a street or highway with two
lanes in the same direction to move to the lane farthest from the emergency
vehicle; modifying certain seat belt requirements for children, temporarily
making violation of seat belt requirements a primary offense and specifying
certain injury and death decrease determination requirements of the commissioner
of public safety; authorizing the display of dealer plates or certain permits in
conjunction with expired registrations; requiring the commissioner of
transportation to set the dates for application of seasonal highway weight limit
increases based on frost depth and including the movement of sweet corn under
the provision; exempting vehicles delivering animal feed or transporting
livestock for certain purposes from certain seasonal highway weight
restrictions; creating the drivers license account in the special revenue fund
for commissioner of public safety drivers license and related services,
providing for crediting of certain fees to the account in lieu of the trunk
highway fund; eliminating the requirement to sign drivers licenses in ink;
increasing certain judgment satisfaction requirements; eliminating a certain
exemption from requirements for driver training schools; authorizing the
commissioner of transportation to bill highway maintenance operating units of
the department and local road authorities for the costs of a centrally managed
pavement marking program; limiting highway expenditures in the metropolitan
district; modifying the public transit subsidy program, eliminating the large
urbanized area service classification and excluding costs related to the
Superior, Wisconsin service contract and the school bus service contract from
total operating costs of the Duluth transit authority (DTA); restricting
expenditures from the transit assistance fund to operating assistance; creating
a local road improvement fund, requiring the commissioner to appoint a local
road improvement advisory committee for consultation on criteria for
expenditures and allocations from the fund, establishing the trunk highway
corridor, local road development, small cities and towns and noise wall accounts
in the fund and specifying certain required uses of money in the accounts;
making optional the requirement for the commissioner to construct a public
safety radio communications system, requiring the commissioner to annually
publish a list of state owned tower sites available to commercial wireless
service providers and other tower owners for installation of equipment;
restricting the expenditure of funds by the commissioner or the metropolitan
council to study commuter or light rail transit (LRT); authorizing counties,
cities or towns to prohibit whistle blowing within a certain distance of
commuter rail stations and to establish quiet zones; modifying the distribution
of motor vehicle sales tax proceeds to the general fund and providing for the
deposit of a certain percentage of the proceeds in the transit assistance fund;
expanding the authority of the commissioner of public safety to accept paid
advertising in publications; creating a trooper training account in the special
revenue fund and providing for the crediting of a certain portion of fines and
forfeited bail money collected by the state patrol from traffic and motor
vehicle law violations to the account, providing an annual appropriation to the
commissioner of public safety from the account for in-service training programs
for existing state patrol members; creating a state fire marshal account in the
special revenue fund and providing for the crediting of certain fees, penalties,
gifts, grants, reimbursements or appropriations relating to the fire protection
industry to the account, providing a standing appropriation from the account to
the commissioner for the administration of fire protection industry licensing
requirements; modifying certain provisions relating to the transportation
revolving loan fund, establishing a state funds general account in the fund for
certain transportation projects; requiring land use plans in the metropolitan
area to include consideration of the protection and development of aggregate
resources; authorizing the metropolitan council with the approval of a majority
of the voters in the metropolitan transportation area to temporarily impose
additional sales and use and a motor vehicle excise taxes (MVET) for
metropolitan area bus system capital expenses and for transfer to the trunk
highway fund for expenditure by the commissioner of transportation to complete
certain metropolitan highway system improvements, specifying certain special
election and reporting requirements; expanding the authorized use of a certain
prior appropriation to the commissioner for costs resulting from the termination
of certain public safety radio communications system agreements; requiring the
commissioner to temporarily suspend work on the I-35W trunk highway 62
improvement project and report to the legislature by a certain date
recommendations for adequate public transit during the closure and alternative
designs for the project; requiring the commissioner to consider erecting a
differential global positioning system tower at the Bedora state nursery site in
Hubbard county under certain conditions; requiring the commissioner to study
bridge jurisdiction and report to the legislature by a certain date; requiring
the commissioner of public safety develop and implement a long range plan to
promote awareness among drivers of the need for reduced speed in proximity to
stopped emergency vehicles and to present a state trooper training report to the
legislature by certain date; requiring the commissioner of administration to
conduct a study of required documentation for drivers license applications and
report to the legislature by a certain date; increasing census figures for the
city of Chisholm to continue state aid eligibility; repealing certain provisions
relating to the distribution of the transit assistance fund ARTICLE 5 PUBLIC
SERVICE CONSOLIDATION Codifying a certain reorganization order transferring
remaining powers, rights, duties and responsibilities of the commissioner of
public service to the commissioner of commerce; increasing the number of free
copies of Minnesota statutes required to be distributed to the department of
commerce; making certain other technical corrections relating to the transfer of
powers and duties from the department of public service to the public utilities
commission (PUC) and the department of transportation (DOT); modifying
inspection requirements for grocery stores and other retail food establishments;
specifying certain word change instructions to the revisor of statutes (ja)