HF 2175

2nd Engrossment - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 02/09/2010 02:00am

A bill for an act
relating to environment; establishing grant program for assisting public transit
agencies in Minnesota with efforts to reduce diesel pollution; proposing coding
for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 116.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

new text begin [116.935] PUBLIC TRANSIT AGENCY DIESEL POLLUTION
REDUCTION GRANTS.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Authority and eligibility. new text end

new text begin The commissioner may award a grant
to any public transit agency in Minnesota for the purchase and installation costs of any
equipment or fuel that results in decreased diesel pollution from transit vehicles, including
but not limited to grants of up to 25 percent of the cost to purchase a hybrid bus.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Grants. new text end

new text begin (a) Grant funds may be used by the recipient to purchase and
install equipment or fuel or to purchase hybrid buses, if those purchases and installations
will result in decreased emissions of one or more air contaminants from the bus on which
it is installed or used or decreased energy use by the bus.
new text end

new text begin (b) The grant program in this section shall be implemented only if the agency's
application for federal funding, as required under section 2, is successful.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end

Sec. 2. new text begin APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL FUNDS.
new text end

new text begin The Pollution Control Agency must submit an application to the federal
Environmental Protection Agency for competitive grant funds made available under the
federal Diesel Emission Reduction Act's National, Smartway, or Emerging Technologies
Clean Diesel Grant Program, as specified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act of 2009, Public Law 111-5. The application must request funding to reduce the cost
of purchasing and installing idling reduction devices in diesel-powered regular route
transit buses and for the purchase of hybrid buses. Any funds awarded to the agency as
a result of the application must be expended on the diesel truck idling reduction device
grant program under section 1. The agency must report by January 15, 2010, to the
committees of the legislature with responsibility for the Pollution Control Agency on the
status of the grant application submitted under this section and the use of grant funds, if
awarded under section 1.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective the day following final enactment.
new text end