1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to transportation; appropriating money on a 
  1.3             matching basis for a road powered electric vehicle 
  1.4             (RPEV) demonstration project, a study of RPEV 
  1.5             applications for Minnesota transportation and transit 
  1.6             system options, and development of an electric vehicle 
  1.7             consortium. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  [STUDY; APPROPRIATION.] 
  1.10     Subdivision 1.  [STUDY.] The commissioner of transportation 
  1.11  shall test and install a road powered electric demonstration 
  1.12  system, either with high occupancy vehicles (HOVs), shuttles, or 
  1.13  full-size buses, under the direction of the Saints Road Project 
  1.14  in St. Cloud, Minnesota, in coordination with the St. Cloud Area 
  1.15  Metropolitan Transit Commission.  The commissioner shall make 
  1.16  preliminary findings and recommendations specifically 
  1.17  discussing:  (1) road powered electric vehicle (RPEV) 
  1.18  application and preliminary cost estimates for a surface lane 
  1.19  freeway system, surface lane HOV system, and overhead freeway 
  1.20  system, and as a people mover system for the Minneapolis/St. 
  1.21  Paul International Airport; and (2) the formation of an upper 
  1.22  midwest electric vehicle consortium for the purposes of 
  1.23  research, development, networking, and promoting electric 
  1.24  vehicle development in Minnesota in conjunction with RPEV 
  1.25  technology under the Saints Road Project.  This consortium shall 
  1.26  do an initial study of the potential for an electric vehicle 
  2.1   plant to be located or built in Minnesota. 
  2.2      Subd. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] $750,000 is appropriated from 
  2.3   the general fund to the commissioner of transportation for the 
  2.4   purposes of subdivision 1 as follows:  $550,000 as a direct 
  2.5   appropriation and up to an additional $200,000 only if matched 
  2.6   on a dollar-for-dollar basis with money or in-kind funding 
  2.7   totaling $200,000, from private or other public sources, with at 
  2.8   least one-half of the match being comprised of money.  The 
  2.9   commissioner of transportation may retain up to five percent of 
  2.10  the direct appropriation for costs incurred by the department's 
  2.11  office of transit, which shall oversee the project and the RPEV 
  2.12  applications study described in subdivision 1.  The commissioner 
  2.13  shall disburse money from this appropriation for the purposes of 
  2.14  subdivision 1.  The commissioner shall seek federal funding as 
  2.15  well as local matching funds.