Relating to the organization, operation and financing of state government ARTICLE 1 - APPROPRIATIONS Appropriating money for the legislative and executive branches of state government; appropriating money to the legislature, to the governor and lieutenant governor, to the state auditor, to the state treasurer for a project to maximize the use or electronic payments and receipts for state transactions and for sales tax rebate checks clearing costs, to the attorney general, to the secretary of state for computer systems upgrades, to the campaign finance and public disclosure and investment boards, to the office of administrative hearings, to the office of strategic and long range planning for information technology integration, for a generic environmental impact statement on animal agriculture, for performance of program evaluations of executive branch agencies, for administrative support to community based planning efforts and for certain regional development commission grants, for preparation of the GEIS on urban development and for the southwest Minnesota wind monitoring project, to the department of administration for the office of technology for the North Star II and one stop business licensing systems, for the intergovernmental information systems advisory council and for the small agency infrastructure project, for recurring costs of 911 emergency telephone service, for government services electronic delivery support, for the year 2000 project office, for the ongoing costs of state agencies participating in the state county collaboration project, for predesign of a new building for the departments of commerce, labor and industry and trade and economic development (DTED) on the capital square building site, for grants to places of public accommodation to assist in achieving compliance with certain bleacher safety requirements, for the information policy training program, for the office of the state archaeologist, for the developmental disabilities council, for the STAR program, for the state employees band and for Minnesota children's museum, public television and radio and Twin Cities regional cable channel grants, to the capitol area architectural and planning board (CAAPB) for construction of a Hubert H. Humphrey memorial, for a grant to the National world war II memorial fund and for installation of a plaque to correct inaccurate historical information on the current Spanish-American war commemorative plaque, to the department of finance for a grant to the city of Mankato to complete the Mankato area growth management and planning study and for upgrade of the human resources and payroll systems, to the department of employee relations (DOER) for implementation of an optional participant paid long term care insurance program for state and public employees, for the payment of workers compensation reinsurance association premiums, for a grant to the government training service and for preparation of a technology budget book, to the department of revenue for certain management services, for the income tax reengineering initiative and for administration of the farm relief program, to the department of military affairs for asset preservation and facility repair, for the national guard youth camp at Camp Ripley, for the reenlistment bonus program and for active duty expenses, to the department of veterans affairs for emergency financial and medical needs, for grants to local veterans organizations to provide transportation services to medical facilities, for county veterans offices for service officers training and to the Vinland national center and for the veterans bonus program, to the veterans of foreign wars, to the military order of the purple heart, to disabled American veterans, to the gambling control, state arts and government innovation and cooperation boards, to the racing commission, to the state lottery board for project turnabout in Granite Falls, to the amateur sports commission for ice centers and amateur athletic facilities grants, to the Minnesota humanities commission for the motheread fatheread program, to the commissioner of finance for the payment of tort claims, to the Minnesota state retirement system (MSRS) for legislators and constitutional officers, to the Minneapolis employees retirement fund (MERF) and to the commissioner of revenue for police and fire amortization aid; requiring the legislative commission on pensions and retirement (LCPR) to study and report to the legislature by a certain date on the comparability of pension and other postretirement benefits between public and private sector employees; requiring the governor in consultation with the commissioners of agriculture and trade and economic development to prepare and submit an application for federal permits to authorize the growing of experimental land demonstration plots of industrial hemp; requiring the program evaluation division of the office of strategic and long range planning to report to the legislature by a certain date on ways to reduce state government expenditures by a certain percentage range; requiring a certain amount of money credited to the special revenue account for the lease of state building space to be used to rebuild and upgrade electronic security systems in the capitol complex; requiring the commissioner of administration to install a rain check device on the automatically operated landscape irrigation system in the capitol area; designating a certain building in the capitol complex as the Harold E. Stassen building; requiring the commissioner of veterans affairs to study the feasibility and desirability of supplementing the missions of the veterans homes and veterans administration hospitals by entering into agreements with health care providers to provide free or reduced cost comprehensive health care to veterans close to places of residences and report to the legislature by a certain date; creating the statewide systems account in the general fund for deposit of money received from billings for statewide systems services, specifying commissioner of finance billing procedures; providing for revised requests for use of federal money after approval; requiring the legislature to notify recipients of journals, statutes, session laws and other publications of the cost and availability on the Internet; requiring the attorney general to biennially submit billing rates to the commissioner of finance and the budget request of the attorney general to include a consolidated listing of appropriations used to support the office, requiring the attorney general upon entering into legal services agreements to notify the legislature; requiring responsible authorities to annually prepare and distribute government data public access procedures; regulating access to data under government entity privatization contracts; requiring the commissioner of administration to prepare model policies and procedures to assist government entities in complying with public access to government data requirements; modifying the boundaries of the capital area and eliminating the provision providing for reversion of the area to a previous configuration upon failure to begin construction on the labor interpretive center by a certain date; modifying the deadline for governor biennial preparation of revenue targets; requiring detailed operating budgets for executive branch agencies to include proposals for new fees or fee increases and requiring legislative approval of new fees and fee increases, exceptions; requiring revolving fund repayments to include interest; requiring the payment of interest on cash advances; modifying certain outstanding warrants cancellation requirements; eliminating certain restrictions on the use of master leases; authorizing the commissioner of administration to appoint an additional deputy commissioner; requiring the deposit of rent to recover depreciation costs of buildings funded from the state bond proceeds fund in the special revenue fund; clarifying the requirement for commissioner approval of capital improvement projects; sunsetting the shared savings program involving energy conservation expenditures on state owned buildings; eliminating office of technology representation on and extending the expiration date of the intergovernmental information systems advisory council; modifying the state information infrastructure, providing for alternative aggregation of demand for telecommunications services; imposing certain bleacher safety requirements on places of public accommodation; requiring cost benefit analyses of state agency contracts or purchases of goods or services over a certain amount; clarifying the term of contracts for the purchase by installment payments of energy efficiency equipment or services for state buildings; providing for the collection of debts owed to state agencies by the commissioner of revenue; eliminating the position of executive director of the office of technology, office to be under the supervision of the commissioner of administration; requiring online access to the business license information system for license and permit application purposes; modifying the procedure for state agency reporting of contracted services; authorizing the commissioner of employee relations to self insure hospital and medical plans offered to state employees to promote stable and predictable premiums and affordable ongoing relationships between employees and dependents and medical providers; requiring self insured hospital and medical service products to comply with coverage mandates, data reporting and consumer protection requirements applicable to the licensed carrier administering the product; requiring the commissioner to maintain a contingency reserve within the employee insurance trust fund to increase the controls over medical plan provisions and insurance costs for state employees; requiring the commissioner biennial report to the legislative commission on employee relations (LCER) to include a study of local and statewide market trends relating to provider concentration, costs and other factors relating to the state health benefits purchasing strategy and requiring the commissioner to employ staff to assist state employees and dependents in understanding benefits and coverage levels, in obtaining certain information and in using grievance and complaint resolution processes; authorizing and providing for an optional public employees group long term care insurance program to be administered by the commissioner; excluding amateur sports commission exhibitions from extracurricular activities for state high school league purposes; requiring assistance from the director of the historical society in the administration of the records management and preservation programs; modifying a certain provision providing for allowances for military expenses; extending the deadline for application for the Persian Gulf war veterans bonus program; requiring and providing for a presidential or gubernatorial preference ballot at precinct caucuses; requiring election training for county auditors and local election officials, specifying certain duties of the secretary of state; making higher education institutions ineligible for ice center grants and imposing certain grant limits, authorizing the use of grant money to upgrade existing facilities to comply with bleacher safety requirements; authorizing and providing for amateur sports commission grants to local government units for community facilities primarily for amateur athletics; creating a heat applied cigarette tax stamp revolving account to purchase heat applied stamps for resale by the commissioner of revenue; modifying certain provisions under the electronic authentication act; providing for ongoing funding for inspection of gambling equipment manufacturers; eliminating the match requirement for the Hubert H. Humphrey memorial; increasing the membership of the library and information services planning task force; replacing the director of the office of technology on the Minnesota education telecommunications council with the commissioner of administration; extending the voluntary unpaid leave of absence program for state employees and the availability of a certain prior appropriation to the legislative coordinating commission (LCC) for meetings between legislators and members of the Manitoba and Ontario parliaments; requiring and providing for environmental quality board (EQB) preparation of an urban development generic environmental impact statement; requiring the commissioner of administration to study the feasibility and advantages of establishing a state travel office in the executive branch to manage arrangements for air and surface travel by state employees and officials and report to the legislature by a certain date; requiring and providing for the legislative commission on planning and fiscal policy (LCPFP) to establish principals and standards to simplify the budgeting process and report to the legislature by a certain date; prohibiting the use of public funds to repay a certain loan made by the Minneapolis community development agency (MCDA) to the Minneapolis park and recreation board; transferring the responsibility for the state employee assistance program from the commissioner of administration to the commissioner of employee relations; specifying certain renumbering and term change instructions to the revisor of statutes; repealing the requirements state agency performance reports, for the commissioner of finance to separately report the amount of departmental earnings and the commissioner of revenue to separately estimate local government revenues similar to departmental earnings in the forecasting of revenues and expenditures and for the office of technology to create a trade point and the Internet center, the provision creating the information and telecommunications technology (IT) community resource development initiative, the requirement for department of finance review and comment on departmental charges, the presidential primary election, certain community based planning goals and technical assistance and review and comment requirements of the office of strategic and long range planning, the previously passed omnibus state departments appropriations bill and certain rules ARTICLE 2 - YEAR 2000 Relating to year 2000 computer problems; expanding the authority of the governor to declare peacetime emergencies to technological failures or malfunctions and terrorist incidents and providing for gubernatorial emergency declarations without declaring a peacetime emergency; authorizing local government units to address the year 2000 computer problem; providing immunity against actions for trade, professional governmental associations, state agencies or governmental units for damages or harm resulting from the collection or publication of year 2000 solution information, exception, no implied liability provision; requiring electric utilities and telephone companies to file periodic status reports on year 2000 computer problems with the public utilities commission and the department of public service, requiring copies to the division of emergency management in the department of public safety and specifying certain report content requirements; providing a temporary exception from the uniform municipal contracting law for the purchase or rental of supplies, materials and equipment and the construction, alteration, repair and maintenance of real or personal property to correct public infrastructure or municipal service failures or malfunctions due to year problems, reporting requirement; granting local government units temporary authority to borrow money and incur debt for year 2000 problem remediation; requiring the department of health to survey hospitals, nursing homes and certain water supply systems for year 2000 problems and solutions relating to operations, requiring dissemination of the information to hospitals, nursing homes and water supply system operators, requiring entity periodic status reports to the department with copies to the emergency management division; prohibiting the use of status reports as evidence in damage or relief actions; requiring the commissioner of human services to continue to pay health care providers paid under state government programs or counties by manual warrant or other measures under certain infrastructure or systems failure or malfunction conditions; appropriating money to the commissioner of finance to capitalize a fund to be used for loans to school districts, counties, joint powers boards, cities and towns for costs incurred in addressing year 2000 problems; requiring commissioner of administration review of the use of emergency authority and funds and state agency and local government unit reports ARTICLE 3 - CONFORMING CHANGES Making conforming amendments to certain statutory provisions relating to state agency rules or procedures for setting, adjusting or establishing certain fees and charges and comments and recommendations of the commissioner of finance (Ch. 250, 1999)