1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to transportation; changing the formula for 
  1.3             distribution of the county state-aid highway fund; 
  1.4             establishing metropolitan town road account; changing 
  1.5             the composition of the county state-aid screening 
  1.6             board; providing for resolution of disputes between 
  1.7             cities and counties over county state-aid highway 
  1.8             projects in cities; increasing taxes on motor fuel; 
  1.9             authorizing annual adjustment in motor fuel tax rate; 
  1.10            proposing an amendment to Minnesota Constitution, 
  1.11            article XIV, to require a percentage of revenues from 
  1.12            the motor vehicle sales tax to be dedicated 
  1.13            exclusively to transit assistance; amending Minnesota 
  1.14            Statutes 1994, sections 161.082, subdivision 2a; 
  1.15            162.02, subdivisions 7, 8, and by adding a 
  1.16            subdivision; 162.07, subdivisions 1, 5, and 6; and 
  1.17            296.02, by adding a subdivision; Minnesota Statutes 
  1.18            1995 Supplement, sections 296.02, subdivision 1b; and 
  1.19            296.025, subdivision 1b; proposing coding for new law 
  1.20            in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 162. 
  1.21  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.22     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 161.082, 
  1.23  subdivision 2a, is amended to read: 
  1.24     Subd. 2a.  [TOWN BRIDGES AND CULVERTS; TOWN ROAD ACCOUNT.] 
  1.25  (a) An amount equal to 25 percent of the county turnback account 
  1.26  must be expended on town road bridge structures that are ten 
  1.27  feet or more in length and on town road culverts that replace 
  1.28  existing town road bridges.  In addition, if the present bridge 
  1.29  structure is less than ten feet in length but a hydrological 
  1.30  survey indicates that the replacement bridge structure or 
  1.31  culvert must be ten feet or more in length, then the bridge or 
  1.32  culvert is eligible for replacement funds.  In addition, if a 
  1.33  culvert that replaces a deficient bridge is in a county 
  2.1   comprehensive water plan approved by the board of water and soil 
  2.2   resources and the department of natural resources, the costs of 
  2.3   the culvert and roadway grading other than surfacing are 
  2.4   eligible for replacement funds up to the cost of constructing a 
  2.5   replacement bridge.  The expenditures on bridge structures and 
  2.6   culverts may be on a matching basis, and if on a matching basis, 
  2.7   not more than 90 percent of the cost of a bridge structure or 
  2.8   culvert may be paid from the county turnback account.  When 
  2.9   bridge approach construction work exceeds $10,000 in costs, or 
  2.10  when the county engineer determines that the cost of the 
  2.11  replacement culverts alone will not exceed $20,000, the town 
  2.12  shall be eligible for financial assistance from the town bridge 
  2.13  account.  Financial assistance shall be requested by resolution 
  2.14  of the county board and shall be limited to: 
  2.15     (1) 100 percent of the cost of the bridge approach work 
  2.16  that is in excess of $10,000; or 
  2.17     (2) 100 percent of the cost of the replacement culverts 
  2.18  when the cost does not exceed $20,000 and the town board agrees 
  2.19  to be responsible for all the other costs, which may include 
  2.20  costs for structural removal, installation, and permitting.  The 
  2.21  replacement structure design and costs shall be approved and 
  2.22  certified by the county engineer, but need not be subsequently 
  2.23  approved by the department of transportation. 
  2.24     (b) An amount equal to 47.5 percent of the county turnback 
  2.25  account must be set aside as a town road account and distributed 
  2.26  as provided in section 162.081. 
  2.27     (c) An amount equal to 1.15 percent of the county turnback 
  2.28  account must be set aside as a metropolitan town road account 
  2.29  and distributed as provided in section 162.082. 
  2.30     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.02, 
  2.31  subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
  2.32     Subd. 7.  [ESTABLISHMENT IN NEW LOCATION OR OVER 
  2.33  ESTABLISHED ROADS.] The county board of any county may establish 
  2.34  and locate any county state-aid highway on new location where 
  2.35  there is no existing road, or it may establish and locate the 
  2.36  highway upon or over any established road or street or a 
  3.1   specified portion thereof within its limits; provided, that.  
  3.2   Except as provided in subdivision 8a, no county state-aid 
  3.3   highway shall be established or located within the corporate 
  3.4   limits of any city without the approval of the governing body of 
  3.5   the city, except that when a county state-aid highway is 
  3.6   relocated the approval of the plans by the governing body shall 
  3.7   be deemed to be a transfer of the previous location of the 
  3.8   highway to the jurisdiction of the city.  The approval shall be 
  3.9   in the manner and form required by the commissioner.  
  3.10     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.02, 
  3.11  subdivision 8, is amended to read: 
  3.12     Subd. 8.  [APPROVAL BY CITY.] Except as provided in 
  3.13  subdivision 8a, no portion of the county state-aid highway 
  3.14  system lying within the corporate limits of any city shall be 
  3.15  constructed, reconstructed, or improved nor the grade thereof 
  3.16  changed without the prior approval of the plans by the governing 
  3.17  body of such city and the approval shall be in the manner and 
  3.18  form required by the commissioner.  
  3.19     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.02, is 
  3.20  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  3.21     Subd. 8a.  [DISPUTE RESOLUTION BOARD.] If a city has failed 
  3.22  to approve establishment, construction, reconstruction, or 
  3.23  improvement of a county state-aid highway within its corporate 
  3.24  limits under subdivision 7 or 8, the county board may, by 
  3.25  resolution, request the commissioner to appoint a dispute 
  3.26  resolution board consisting of one county commissioner, one 
  3.27  county engineer, one city council member or city mayor, one city 
  3.28  engineer, and one representative of the department of 
  3.29  transportation.  The board shall review the proposed change and 
  3.30  make a recommendation to the commissioner.  Notwithstanding any 
  3.31  other law, the commissioner may approve the establishment, 
  3.32  construction, reconstruction, or improvement of a county 
  3.33  state-aid highway recommended by the board. 
  3.34     Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  3.35  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  3.36     Subdivision 1.  [FORMULA.] After deducting for 
  4.1   administrative costs and for the disaster account and research 
  4.2   account and state park roads as heretofore provided, the 
  4.3   remainder of the total sum provided for in section 162.06, 
  4.4   subdivision 1, shall be identified as the apportionment sum and 
  4.5   shall be apportioned by the commissioner to the several counties 
  4.6   on the basis of the needs of the counties as determined in 
  4.7   accordance with the following formula: 
  4.8      (1) An amount equal to ten percent of the apportionment sum 
  4.9   shall be apportioned equally among the 87 counties.  
  4.10     (2) An amount equal to ten percent of the apportionment sum 
  4.11  shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  4.12  county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  4.13  motor vehicle registration for the calendar year preceding the 
  4.14  one last past, determined by residence of registrants, bears to 
  4.15  the total statewide motor vehicle registration.  
  4.16     (3) An amount equal to 30 percent of the apportionment sum 
  4.17  shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  4.18  county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  4.19  total miles lane-miles of approved county state-aid highways 
  4.20  bears to the total miles lane-miles of approved statewide county 
  4.21  state-aid highways.  
  4.22     (4) An amount equal to 50 percent of the apportionment sum 
  4.23  shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  4.24  county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  4.25  money needs bears to the sum of the money needs of all of the 
  4.26  individual counties; provided, that the percentage of such 
  4.27  amount that each county is to receive shall be adjusted so that 
  4.28  each county shall receive in 1958 a total apportionment at least 
  4.29  ten percent greater than its total 1956 apportionments from the 
  4.30  state road and bridge fund; and provided further that those 
  4.31  counties whose money needs are thus adjusted shall never receive 
  4.32  a percentage of the apportionment sum less than the percentage 
  4.33  that such county received in 1958.  
  4.34     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  4.35  subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  4.36     Subd. 5.  [SCREENING BOARD.] On or before September 1 of 
  5.1   each year the county engineer of each county shall forward to 
  5.2   the commissioner, on forms prepared by the commissioner, all 
  5.3   information relating to the mileage, in lane-miles, of the 
  5.4   county state-aid highway system in the county, and the money 
  5.5   needs of the county that the commissioner deems necessary in 
  5.6   order to apportion the county state-aid highway fund in 
  5.7   accordance with the formula heretofore set forth.  Upon receipt 
  5.8   of the information the commissioner shall appoint a board 
  5.9   consisting of nine the following county engineers.  The board 
  5.10  shall be so selected that each county engineer appointed shall 
  5.11  be from a different state highway construction district: 
  5.12     (1) two county engineers from the metropolitan highway 
  5.13  construction district; 
  5.14     (2) one county engineer from each nonmetropolitan highway 
  5.15  district; and 
  5.16     (3) one additional county engineer from each county with a 
  5.17  population of 175,000 or more.  
  5.18     No county engineer shall be appointed under clause (1) or 
  5.19  (2) so as to serve consecutively for more than two four years.  
  5.20  The board shall investigate and review the information submitted 
  5.21  by each county and shall on or before the first day of November 
  5.22  of each year submit its findings and recommendations in writing 
  5.23  as to each county's mileage lane-mileage and money needs to the 
  5.24  commissioner on a form prepared by the commissioner.  Final 
  5.25  determination of the mileage lane-mileage of each system and the 
  5.26  money needs of each county shall be made by the commissioner.  
  5.27     Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  5.28  subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
  5.29     Subd. 6.  [ESTIMATES TO BE MADE IF INFORMATION NOT 
  5.30  PROVIDED.] In the event that any county shall fail to submit the 
  5.31  information provided for herein, the commissioner shall estimate 
  5.32  the mileage lane-mileage and the money needs of the county.  The 
  5.33  estimate shall be used in determining the apportionment 
  5.34  formula.  The commissioner may withhold payment of the amount 
  5.35  apportioned to the county until the information is submitted.  
  5.36     Sec. 8.  [162.082] [METROPOLITAN TOWN ROAD ACCOUNT.] 
  6.1      Subdivision 1.  [DEFINITION.] For purposes of this section 
  6.2   "metropolitan town" means any town within the seven-county 
  6.3   metropolitan area as defined in section 473.121, subdivision 2, 
  6.4   that has a population of 7,500 or more according to the most 
  6.5   recent federal decennial census. 
  6.6      Subd. 2.  [ACCOUNT CREATED.] A metropolitan town road 
  6.7   account is created in the county state-aid highway fund, 
  6.8   consisting of amounts transferred from the county turnback 
  6.9   account established under section 161.082. 
  6.10     Subd. 3.  [APPORTIONMENT.] Funds in the metropolitan town 
  6.11  road account must be apportioned to each county in the 
  6.12  seven-county metropolitan area so that each such county receives 
  6.13  the percentage that the total miles of town road in metropolitan 
  6.14  towns in the county bears to the total miles of town roads in 
  6.15  metropolitan towns in the metropolitan area. 
  6.16     Subd. 4.  [DISTRIBUTION TO COUNTIES.] Upon determining the 
  6.17  amount of money to be apportioned to each county under section 
  6.18  162.07, the commissioner shall also determine the amounts in the 
  6.19  metropolitan town road account to be apportioned under 
  6.20  subdivision 3.  The apportionment must be included in the 
  6.21  statement sent to the commissioner of finance and the county 
  6.22  auditor and county engineer of each county under section 162.08, 
  6.23  subdivision 2.  The amounts so apportioned and allocated to each 
  6.24  county from the metropolitan town road account must be paid by 
  6.25  the state to the treasurer of each county at the same time that 
  6.26  payments are made under section 162.08, subdivision 2, provided 
  6.27  that the amounts must be paid in a sufficient time to allow the 
  6.28  county to distribute the amounts to each metropolitan town by 
  6.29  March 1, annually. 
  6.30     Subd. 5.  [DISTRIBUTION TO METROPOLITAN TOWNS.] The county 
  6.31  treasurer of each county receiving money from the metropolitan 
  6.32  town road account must, by March 1 of each year or within 30 
  6.33  days of receipt of payment from the commissioner, pay to each 
  6.34  metropolitan town in the county a percentage of the money it 
  6.35  receives that year from the metropolitan town road account equal 
  6.36  to the percentage that that metropolitan town's roads bear to 
  7.1   the total mileage of metropolitan town roads in the county. 
  7.2      Subd. 6.  [RESTRICTION ON APPORTIONMENT.] The commissioner 
  7.3   shall not distribute any funds under this section in any 
  7.4   calendar year if the commissioner determines that such 
  7.5   distribution would reduce the apportionment of money from the 
  7.6   county state-aid fund to any county in that calendar year below 
  7.7   the apportionment that county had received in the previous 
  7.8   calendar year.  Upon such a determination the percentage of the 
  7.9   county turnback account to be set aside under section 161.082, 
  7.10  subdivision 2a, paragraph (c), for that calendar year shall not 
  7.11  be set aside but reverts to the county turnback account. 
  7.12     Sec. 9.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  7.13  296.02, subdivision 1b, is amended to read: 
  7.14     Subd. 1b.  [RATES IMPOSED.] The gasoline excise tax is 
  7.15  imposed at the following rates: 
  7.16     (a) From June 1, 1996, to December 31, 1996: 
  7.17     (1) E85 is taxed at the rate of 14.2 16.3 cents per gallon; 
  7.18     (2) M85 is taxed at the rate of 11.4 13.1 cents per gallon; 
  7.19  and 
  7.20     (3) all other gasoline is taxed at the rate of 20 23 cents 
  7.21  per gallon.  
  7.22     (b) On and after January 1, 1997: 
  7.23     (1) E85 is taxed at the rate of 17.7 cents per gallon; 
  7.24     (2) M85 is taxed at the rate of 14.3 cents per gallon; and 
  7.25     (3) all other gasoline is taxed at the rate of 25 cents per 
  7.26  gallon. 
  7.27     Sec. 10.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 296.02, is 
  7.28  amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  7.29     Subd. 1c.  [ANNUAL GASOLINE TAX RATE ADJUSTMENT.] (a) 
  7.30  Beginning in 1997 and annually thereafter, before April 1 of 
  7.31  each year the commissioner of revenue shall adjust the rate of 
  7.32  the gasoline excise tax.  The new rate per gallon must be 
  7.33  calculated by multiplying the rate in effect at the time of the 
  7.34  calculation by an amount obtained under paragraph (b).  The new 
  7.35  rate must be rounded to the nearest 0.1 cent and is effective on 
  7.36  April 1 of each year. 
  8.1      (b) Divide the annual average United States Consumer Price 
  8.2   Index for all urban consumers, United States city average, as 
  8.3   determined by the United States Department of Labor for the 
  8.4   previous year by that annual average for the year before the 
  8.5   previous year. 
  8.6      Sec. 11.  Minnesota Statutes 1995 Supplement, section 
  8.7   296.025, subdivision 1b, is amended to read: 
  8.8      Subd. 1b.  [TAX RATES.] The special fuel excise tax is 
  8.9   imposed at the following rates: 
  8.10     (a) From June 1, 1996, to December 31, 1996: 
  8.11     (1) Liquefied petroleum gas or propane is taxed at the rate 
  8.12  of 15 17.3 cents per gallon. 
  8.13     (2) Liquefied natural gas is taxed at the rate of 12 13.8 
  8.14  cents per gallon. 
  8.15     (3) Compressed natural gas is taxed at the rate of $1.739 
  8.16  $2 per thousand cubic feet; or 20 23 cents per gasoline 
  8.17  equivalent, as defined by the National Conference on Weights and 
  8.18  Measures, which is 5.66 pounds of natural gas. 
  8.19     (4) All other special fuel is taxed at the same rate as the 
  8.20  gasoline excise tax. 
  8.21     (b) On and after January 1, 1997: 
  8.22     (1) Liquefied petroleum gas or propane is taxed at the rate 
  8.23  of 18.7 cents per gallon. 
  8.24     (2) Liquefied natural gas is taxed at the rate of 15 cents 
  8.25  per gallon. 
  8.26     (3) Compressed natural gas is taxed at the rate of $2.174 
  8.27  per thousand cubic feet; or 25 cents per gasoline equivalent, as 
  8.28  defined by the National Conference on Weights and Measures, 
  8.29  which is 5.66 pounds of natural gas. 
  8.30     (4) All other special fuel is taxed at the same rate as the 
  8.31  gasoline excise tax. 
  8.32     Sec. 12.  [CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED.] 
  8.33     An amendment is proposed to the Minnesota Constitution, 
  8.34  article XIV.  If the amendment is adopted article XIV will be 
  8.35  amended by adding a section to read: 
  8.36     Sec. 12.  The legislature may levy a sales or excise tax on 
  9.1   the purchase price of new and used motor vehicles.  Not less 
  9.2   than ... percent of the net proceeds from this tax must be 
  9.3   dedicated exclusively to assisting public transit in the state. 
  9.4      Sec. 13.  [SUBMISSION TO VOTERS.] 
  9.5      The constitutional amendment proposed in section 12 must be 
  9.6   submitted to the people at the 1996 general election.  The 
  9.7   question submitted must be: 
  9.8      "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to require 
  9.9   that at least ... percent of the net proceeds from a sales or 
  9.10  excise tax levied on the purchase price of new and used motor 
  9.11  vehicles be dedicated exclusively to assisting public transit in 
  9.12  the state? 
  9.13                                     Yes .......
  9.14                                     No ........"
  9.15     Sec. 14.  [COUNTY STATE-AID FUND; MINIMUM APPORTIONMENTS.] 
  9.16     Notwithstanding any other law, in calendar year 1997 and 
  9.17  subsequent years, money apportioned from the county state-aid 
  9.18  highway fund to any county under Minnesota Statutes, section 
  9.19  162.07, may not be less than the amount apportioned to that 
  9.20  county under that section in calendar year 1996. 
  9.21     Sec. 15.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  9.22     (a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), sections 9 and 11 
  9.23  are effective June 1, 1996. 
  9.24     (b) If the constitutional amendment proposed in section 12 
  9.25  is not approved at the 1996 general election: 
  9.26     (1) sections 9 and 11 are repealed effective January 1, 
  9.27  1997; and 
  9.28     (2) notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 645.34, the 
  9.29  tax rates amended in those sections revert on January 1, 1997, 
  9.30  to the rates that were in effect on May 31, 1996.