1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to metropolitan government; defining minor 
  1.3             use and intermediate use airports for certain 
  1.4             purposes; establishing a reliever airport sound 
  1.5             abatement council; amending Minnesota Statutes 1998, 
  1.6             section 473.641, subdivision 4. 
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1998, section 473.641, 
  1.9   subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 4.  [EXPANSION OR UPGRADE OF METRO AIRPORT.] 
  1.11  Notwithstanding any other law, the metropolitan airports 
  1.12  commission shall not use revenue from any source, as described 
  1.13  by section 473.608, for construction of air facilities to expand 
  1.14  or upgrade the use of an existing metropolitan airport from 
  1.15  minor use to intermediate use status as defined by the 
  1.16  metropolitan development guide, aviation chapter, adopted 
  1.17  pursuant to section 473.145.  The St. Paul downtown airport is 
  1.18  an intermediate use airport.  The following airports are minor 
  1.19  use airports:  Flying Cloud, Crystal, Anoka county - Blaine, 
  1.20  Lake Elmo, and Airlake.  For the purposes of this subdivision, a 
  1.21  "minor use" airport is an airport that has a primary runway 
  1.22  between 2,500 and 4,000 feet in length, and an "intermediate 
  1.23  use" airport is an airport that has a primary runway between 
  1.24  4,001 and 8,000 feet in length.  The existence before January 1, 
  1.25  1999, of a runway in excess of 4,000 feet at an airport 
  1.26  classified as a minor use airport does not cause the airport to 
  2.1   be reclassified from a minor use airport to an intermediate use 
  2.2   airport. 
  2.3      Sec. 2.  [RELIEVER AIRPORT SOUND ABATEMENT COUNCIL.] 
  2.4      The metropolitan airports commission shall establish a 
  2.5   reliever airport sound abatement council by October 1, 1999, 
  2.6   which will allow interested communities to participate in 
  2.7   decision-making on noise abatement issues at metropolitan 
  2.8   reliever airports. 
  2.9      Sec. 3.  [REPORT TO LEGISLATURE.] 
  2.10     Consistent with Minnesota Statutes, section 473.608, 
  2.11  subdivision 27, the metropolitan airports commission shall 
  2.12  develop specific policies and programs, including but not 
  2.13  limited to financial incentives, to divert the maximum number of 
  2.14  aircraft operations away from Minneapolis-St. Paul International 
  2.15  Airport to the metropolitan reliever airports by fully utilizing 
  2.16  the existing capacity at the current reliever airports.  The 
  2.17  metropolitan airports commission must report back to the 
  2.18  legislature no later than January 15, 2000, on the nature of 
  2.19  such new programs and policies and the results attained in 
  2.20  diverting aircraft operations to the reliever airports.  The 
  2.21  metropolitan airports commission shall also report to the 
  2.22  legislature no later than January 15, 2000, on whether a need 
  2.23  exists for an additional intermediate use airport to serve the 
  2.24  metropolitan area. 
  2.25     Sec. 4.  [APPLICATION.] 
  2.26     Sections 1 and 2 apply in the counties of Anoka, Carver, 
  2.27  Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington.