E Relating to the financing and operation of state and local government ARTICLE 1 - SALES TAX REBATE Providing for refund of the existing state budget surplus in the form of a rebate of nonbusiness consumer sales taxes paid by individuals in calendar year using information contained in the Minnesota tax incidence report to determine the proportionate share of the rebate due to eligible taxpayers; specifying eligibility; providing separate rebate schedules for taxpayers filing as married filing joint or head of household and for individuals filing as single or married filing separately, defining income; providing for rebates to certain nonresidents; requiring certain adjustments and specifying a total rebate limit; rebates not made by the commissioner of revenue by a certain date to bear interest; including the rebate in the definition of Minnesota tax law for tax data classification and disclosure purposes and in the definition of overpayment for delinquent tax liability purposes; taxpayer right to the rebate to expire after a certain date; authorizing certain claims for correction; subjecting the rebate to revenue recapture; granting the commissioner certain enforcement authority relating to forged or improperly endorsed checks and authorizing the commissioner to contract for check or warrant processing services; authorizing payment of the rebates by electronic funds transfer; appropriating money to the commissioner for the rebates ARTICLE 2 - INCOME AND FRANCHISE TAXES Excepting tax debts cancelled by the department of revenue from the provision providing for continued liability for payment of debts determined to be uncollectible by state agencies, requiring commissioner of revenue notice to debtors of tax write-offs; prohibiting the consideration of charitable contributions by individuals for residency determination for income tax purposes; providing an income tax subtraction for settlement payments received by certain holocaust victims; reducing the income tax rates for the first two tiers and modifying the brackets, providing for inflation adjustments, eliminating the marriage penalty for certain taxpayers; increasing the working family credit for taxpayers with children; subjecting income of unitary businesses to apportionment, excepting nonbusiness income, changing the term trade or business to unitary business, modifying the definitions of unitary business and nonbusiness income, creating a presumption of the existence of a unitary business under the unitary business principle and limiting the assessment of additional taxes on business income in prior years under certain conditions ARTICLE 3 - FEDERAL UPDATE Updating certain state income tax provisions to changes in the internal revenue code (IRC) under the omnibus consolidated and emergency supplemental appropriations act of 1999, the internal revenue service restructuring and reform act of 1998, the transportation equity act for the 21st century and the Ricky Ray hemophilia relief fund act of 1998; updating the definition of internal revenue code for estate tax purposes ARTICLE 4 - SALES TAX Modifying the beginning date for the computation of interest on capital equipment sales tax refund claims without a schedule reflecting purchases; prescribing rules for the approval, use and termination of local sales taxes; granting the cities of New Ulm and Proctor certain local sales tax imposition and bonding authority, providing for use of the revenues ARTICLE 5 - MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION TAX Reducing the ad valorem portion of the motor vehicle registration tax rate and increasing the depreciation schedule; requiring the commissioner of finance to transfer a certain amount of money from the general fund to the highway use tax distribution fund and to biennially provide an estimate of the amount of revenue lost to the highway user tax distribution fund due to the registration tax reduction ARTICLE 6 - SPECIAL TAXES Clarifying the exclusion of insurance guaranty joint underwriting association fees from a certain provision requiring imposition of the same taxes, fines, deposits, penalties, licenses, fees and conditions on foreign insurance companies as imposed on domestic companies by the state or country of the foreign company; requiring the commissioner of revenue to allow refunds of gasoline taxes paid on undyed kerosene used as fuel for other than motor vehicle purposes and by distributors on certain leaded gasoline; requiring self haulers of mixed municipal solid waste from residential generators to pay solid waste management taxes to the operator of the waste management facility accepting the waste; clarifying the solid waste management tax on mixed municipal solid waste ARTICLE 7 - WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION INCENTIVES Increasing the membership of the job skills partnership board and requiring organized labor representation; creating the Minnesota workforce development fund for allocation by the board to educational or other nonprofit training institutions to provide skills training in employment need areas, to develop programs assisting in the transition from welfare to work under the pathways program and to provide dislocated worker, apprenticeship and other job training programs, specifying certain grant and loan priorities; requiring and providing for the board in cooperation with the commissioners or economic security and trade and economic development (DTED) to establish and oversee an early warning system to identify industries and businesses likely to experience large losses in employment and to respond quickly and effectively to announced or actual plant closings and substantial layoffs; authorizing and providing for board grants to certain eligible organizations to provide initial assessments of the feasibility of alternatives to plant closings or substantial layoffs (prefeasibility study grants), specifying certain study requirements; requiring and providing for the board to establish and fund worker adjustment services plans to assist dislocated workers in transition to new employment and dislocation event services grants to provide worker adjustment services to workers displaced due to larger plant closings and substantial layoffs; authorizing and providing for board grants to certain eligible organizations to provide for the employment of dislocated workers or targeted training assistance to workers at risk of dislocation; requiring the board to coordinate actions of state agencies and public post-secondary educational institutions to respond to specific needs of dislocated workers and to establish performance standards for the programs, specifying certain reporting requirements and cost limits; eliminating the trigger for reduction of the workforce reinvestment fund payroll tax, tax to be credited to the workforce development fund; requiring the office of strategic and long range planning to identify workforce training programs administered by state agencies and by a certain date to present a plan to the governor and legislature to consolidate the programs; transferring the responsibility of the department of economic security for the dislocated worker program to the job skills partnership board and requiring the governor to designate the board as the responsible state agency for federal dislocated worker programs; transferring the unobligated balance in the workforce investment fund and appropriating money from the general fund to the workforce development fund; repealing the existing dislocated worker program ARTICLE 8 - MINNESOTACARE TAXES Modifying the definition of health care provider for MinnesotaCare gross earnings tax purposes, eliminating the definition of the phrase directly to a patient or consumer and excluding from the definition home health agencies, personal care and private duty nursing services and certain employers of health care providers providing patient services to employees or students; modifying the definition of patient services to include certain examinations and to exclude home health care services; expanding the exemption for government payments, exempting payments received from licensed nursing homes for services provided to the nursing home from the tax and expanding the exemptions for payments received for care provided outside the state and by educational institutions from student tuition or fees; modifying certain estimated tax payment requirements and the interest rate on estimated tax underpayments; authorizing the commissioner of revenue to use statistical or other sampling techniques consistent with generally accepted auditing standards in examining returns or records and making assessments ARTICLE 9 - PROPERTY TAX Providing for county auditor collection of unpaid overdue penalties for violation of water resources protection ordinances; authorizing county board tax levies for redistricting expenses, limit; authorizing commissioner of revenue abatement of taxes for taxpayers in presidentially declared disaster areas and eliminating certain application and attorney general approval requirements; exempting from the property tax certain electric generation facility personal property not owned by a public utility and property already exempt and sold to a Minnesota electric utility before a certain date; extending the exemption for business incubator property to occupied property; providing for the treatment of certain property owned by utilities and leased for residential or recreational uses as separate parcels for property tax purposes; authorizing cities entering into orderly annexation agreements after a certain date to divide area into urban and rural service districts constituting separate taxing districts; eliminating the application requirement for "this old house" treatment in jurisdictions with a building permit process; providing for the continuation of tax deferral for certain agricultural property previously subject to the green acres law and bisected by major parkways or interstate highways; expanding the relative homestead qualification provision; providing for homestead classification of certain additional leased land and buildings under certain conditions; providing agricultural homestead treatment of certain property owned by family farm corporation shareholders and leased to the corporation; eliminating the limit on agricultural homestead classification of noncontiguous land; prohibiting local government units from imposing additional requirements intended to disqualify property from homestead classification; reducing the property tax classification rates for certain agricultural property, modifying the tax base differential for homestead and agricultural credit aid (HACA) purposes accordingly and expanding the definition of agricultural products to insects primarily bred as food for animals; increasing the education homestead credit; expanding the definition of special taxing districts to the middle Mississippi River watershed management organization; eliminating the priority for use of net proceeds received from the sale or rental of tax-forfeited lands; eliminating the restriction on homestead classification of residences adjacent to the Giants Ridge recreation area; authorizing county boards to acquire development rights in the form of conservation easements and expanding the definition of capital improvement to include the development rights for capital improvement bonds issuance authority purposes, authorizing statutory cities, counties and towns to issue debt obligations for the rights; authorizing and providing for county boards to impose administrative penalties for violation of water resources protection ordinances; authorizing regional railroad authorities to provide funds to governmental units to acquire and operate railroads within the jurisdiction of the authority, imposing a levy limit on the authorities and authorizing certain joint powers agreements and bond issuance without referendum by authorities authorized to levy taxes; authorizing and providing for cities to establish sidewalk utilities and economic development or housing and redevelopment authorities (HRA) to implement and administer housing improvement areas; authorizing local government unit cooperation and combination plans to provide for the equalization of differing tax rates over a certain period of time; authorizing and providing for the metropolitan council to issue bonds for transit capital improvement program expenditures, limits; increasing the bonding authority of the council for the metropolitan radio board; increasing the local government aid (LGA) base for certain smaller cities; increasing the levy limit of the Cook Orr hospital district, requiring a certain portion to be used for ambulance acquisitions; extending the moratorium on changes in assessment practices for elderly assisted living facilities; authorizing Lake county, the city of Two Harbors and independent school district 381, Lake Superior to abate taxes levied on certain property and the county auditor to subsequently record the conveyance of the property; authorizing administrative fund levies in the north fork Crow River and Sauk River watershed districts and a cemetery levy by Carlton county for the township of Sawyer; folding local performance aid into certain other local government aids; requiring the commissioner of revenue to develop a proposal for replacement of the revenue lost to local government units from elimination of the electric utility personal property tax and report to the legislature by a certain date; appropriating money to the commissioner of children, families and learning to fund a reduction in the statewide general education property tax levy; repealing certain provisions providing for 1997 flood loss replacement and local performance aids and the sunset on the establishment of housing improvement areas ARTICLE 10 - STATE FUNDING OF DISTRICT COURTS Providing for state assumption of court administration employees and costs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth judicial districts; providing for the payment of certain fees, fines and forfeited bail money collected in the districts to the state; cancelling the transfer of homestead and agricultural credit aid to family preservation aid, reducing and delaying the increase in family preservation aid and providing a HACA offset for court costs; prohibiting counties in the judicial districts from levying taxes for court functions transferred to the state; requiring sums forfeited to the county courts to be reinstated by the state treasurer; appropriating money to the supreme court to fund district court expenses ARTICLE 11 - LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Providing for continued property tax exemption of certain property owned by housing and redevelopment authorities or public housing agencies and sold to a nonprofit corporation under certain conditions; expanding the definition of qualified housing district for state tax increment financing aid offset exemption eligibility purposes; changing the Dakota county housing and 1E Relating to the financing and operation of state and local government ARTICLE 1 - SALES TAX REBATE Providing for refund of the existing state budget surplus in the form of a rebate of nonbusiness consumer sales taxes paid by individuals in calendar year 1997 using information contained in the Minnesota tax incidence report to determine the proportionate share of the rebate due to eligible taxpayers; specifying eligibility; providing separate rebate schedules for taxpayers filing as married filing joint or head of household and for individuals filing as single or married filing separately, defining income; providing for rebates to certain nonresidents; requiring certain adjustments and specifying a total rebate limit; rebates not made by the commissioner of revenue by a certain date to bear interest; including the rebate in the definition of Minnesota tax law for tax data classification and disclosure purposes and in the definition of overpayment for delinquent tax liability purposes; taxpayer right to the rebate to expire after a certain date; authorizing certain claims for correction; subjecting the rebate to revenue recapture; granting the commissioner certain enforcement authority relating to forged or improperly endorsed checks and authorizing the commissioner to contract for check or warrant processing services; authorizing payment of the rebates by electronic funds transfer; appropriating money to the commissioner for the rebates ARTICLE 2 - INCOME AND FRANCHISE TAXES Excepting tax debts cancelled by the department of revenue from the provision providing for continued liability for payment of debts determined to be uncollectible by state agencies, requiring commissioner of revenue notice to debtors of tax write-offs; prohibiting the consideration of charitable contributions by individuals for residency determination for income tax purposes; providing an income tax subtraction for settlement payments received by certain holocaust victims; reducing the income tax rates for the first two tiers and modifying the brackets, providing for inflation adjustments, eliminating the marriage penalty for certain taxpayers; increasing the working family credit for taxpayers with children; subjecting income of unitary businesses to apportionment, excepting nonbusiness income, changing the term trade or business to unitary business, modifying the definitions of unitary business and nonbusiness income, creating a presumption of the existence of a unitary business under the unitary business principle and limiting the assessment of additional taxes on business income in prior years under certain conditions ARTICLE - FEDERAL UPDATE Updating certain state income tax provisions to changes in the internal revenue code (IRC) under the omnibus consolidated and emergency supplemental appropriations act of 1999, the internal revenue service restructuring and reform act of 1998, the transportation equity act for the 21st century and the Ricky Ray hemophilia relief fund act of 1998; updating the definition of internal revenue code for estate tax purposes ARTICLE 4 - SALES TAX Modifying the beginning date for the computation of interest on capital equipment sales tax refund claims without a schedule reflecting purchases; prescribing rules for the approval, use and termination of local sales taxes; granting the cities of New Ulm and Proctor certain local sales tax imposition and bonding authority, providing for use of the revenues ARTICLE 5 - MOTOR VEHICLE REGISTRATION TAX Reducing the ad valorem portion of the motor vehicle registration tax rate and increasing the depreciation schedule; requiring the commissioner of finance to transfer a certain amount of money from the general fund to the highway use tax distribution fund and to biennially provide an estimate of the amount of revenue lost to the highway user tax distribution fund due to the registration tax reduction ARTICLE 6 - SPECIAL TAXES Clarifying the exclusion of insurance guaranty joint underwriting association fees from a certain provision requiring imposition of the same taxes, fines, deposits, penalties, licenses, fees and conditions on foreign insurance companies as imposed on domestic companies by the state or country of the foreign company; requiring the commissioner of revenue to allow refunds of gasoline taxes paid on undyed kerosene used as fuel for other than motor vehicle purposes and by distributors on certain leaded gasoline; requiring self haulers of mixed municipal solid waste from residential generators to pay solid waste management taxes to the operator of the waste management facility accepting the waste; clarifying the solid waste management tax on mixed municipal solid waste ARTICLE 7 - WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND EDUCATION INCENTIVES Increasing the membership of the job skills partnership board and requiring organized labor representation; creating the Minnesota workforce development fund for allocation by the board to educational or other nonprofit training institutions to provide skills training in employment need areas, to develop programs assisting in the transition from welfare to work under the pathways program and to provide dislocated worker, apprenticeship and other job training programs, specifying certain grant and loan priorities; requiring and providing for the board in cooperation with the commissioners or economic security and trade and economic development (DTED) to establish and oversee an early warning system to identify industries and businesses likely to experience large losses in employment and to respond quickly and effectively to announced or actual plant closings and substantial layoffs; authorizing and providing for board grants to certain eligible organizations to provide initial assessments of the feasibility of alternatives to plant closings or substantial layoffs (prefeasibility study grants), specifying certain study requirements; requiring and providing for the board to establish and fund worker adjustment services plans to assist dislocated workers in transition to new employment and dislocation event services grants to provide worker adjustment services to workers displaced due to larger plant closings and substantial layoffs; authorizing and providing for board grants to certain eligible organizations to provide for the employment of dislocated workers or targeted training assistance to workers at risk of dislocation; requiring the board to coordinate actions of state agencies and public post-secondary educational institutions to respond to specific needs of dislocated workers and to establish performance standards for the programs, specifying certain reporting requirements and cost limits; eliminating the trigger for reduction of the workforce reinvestment fund payroll tax, tax to be credited to the workforce development fund; requiring the office of strategic and long range planning to identify workforce training programs administered by state agencies and by a certain date to present a plan to the governor and legislature to consolidate the programs; transferring the responsibility of the department of economic security for the dislocated worker program to the job skills partnership board and requiring the governor to designate the board as the responsible state agency for federal dislocated worker programs; transferring the unobligated balance in the workforce investment fund and appropriating money from the general fund to the workforce development fund; repealing the existing dislocated worker program ARTICLE 8 - MINNESOTACARE TAXES Modifying the definition of health care provider for MinnesotaCare gross earnings tax purposes, eliminating the definition of the phrase directly to a patient or consumer and excluding from the definition home health agencies, personal care and private duty nursing services and certain employers of health care providers providing patient services to employees or students; modifying the definition of patient services to include certain examinations and to exclude home health care services; expanding the exemption for government payments, exempting payments received from licensed nursing homes for services provided to the nursing home from the tax and expanding the exemptions for payments received for care provided outside the state and by educational institutions from student tuition or fees; modifying certain estimated tax payment requirements and the interest rate on estimated tax underpayments; authorizing the commissioner of revenue to use statistical or other sampling techniques consistent with generally accepted auditing standards in examining returns or records and making assessments ARTICLE 9 - PROPERTY TAX Providing for county auditor collection of unpaid overdue penalties for violation of water resources protection ordinances; authorizing county board tax levies for redistricting expenses, limit; authorizing commissioner of revenue abatement of taxes for taxpayers in presidentially declared disaster areas and eliminating certain application and attorney general approval requirements; exempting from the property tax certain electric generation facility personal property not owned by a public utility and property already exempt and sold to a Minnesota electric utility before a certain date; extending the exemption for business incubator property to occupied property; providing for the treatment of certain property owned by utilities and leased for residential or recreational uses as separate parcels for property tax purposes; authorizing cities entering into orderly annexation agreements after a certain date to divide area into urban and rural service districts constituting separate taxing districts; eliminating the application requirement for "this old house" treatment in jurisdictions with a building permit process; providing for the continuation of tax deferral for certain agricultural property previously subject to the green acres law and bisected by major parkways or interstate highways; expanding the relative homestead qualification provision; providing for homestead classification of certain additional leased land and buildings under certain conditions; providing agricultural homestead treatment of certain property owned by family farm corporation shareholders and leased to the corporation; eliminating the limit on agricultural homestead classification of noncontiguous land; prohibiting local government units from imposing additional requirements intended to disqualify property from homestead classification; reducing the property tax classification rates for certain agricultural property, modifying the tax base differential for homestead and agricultural credit aid (HACA) purposes accordingly and expanding the definition of agricultural products to insects primarily bred as food for animals; increasing the education homestead credit; expanding the definition of special taxing districts to the middle Mississippi River watershed management organization; eliminating the priority for use of net proceeds received from the sale or rental of tax-forfeited lands; eliminating the restriction on homestead classification of residences adjacent to the Giants Ridge recreation area; authorizing county boards to acquire development rights in the form of conservation easements and expanding the definition of capital improvement to include the development rights for capital improvement bonds issuance authority purposes, authorizing statutory cities, counties and towns to issue debt obligations for the rights; authorizing and providing for county boards to impose administrative penalties for violation of water resources protection ordinances; authorizing regional railroad authorities to provide funds to governmental units to acquire and operate railroads within the jurisdiction of the authority, imposing a levy limit on the authorities and authorizing certain joint powers agreements and bond issuance without referendum by authorities authorized to levy taxes; authorizing and providing for cities to establish sidewalk utilities and economic development or housing and redevelopment authorities (HRA) to implement and administer housing improvement areas; authorizing local government unit cooperation and combination plans to provide for the equalization of differing tax rates over a certain period of time; authorizing and providing for the metropolitan council to issue bonds for transit capital improvement program expenditures, limits; increasing the bonding authority of the council for the metropolitan radio board; increasing the local government aid (LGA) base for certain smaller cities; increasing the levy limit of the Cook Orr hospital district, requiring a certain portion to be used for ambulance acquisitions; extending the moratorium on changes in assessment practices for elderly assisted living facilities; authorizing Lake county, the city of Two Harbors and independent school district 381, Lake Superior to abate taxes levied on certain property and the county auditor to subsequently record the conveyance of the property; authorizing administrative fund levies in the north fork Crow River and Sauk River watershed districts and a cemetery levy by Carlton county for the township of Sawyer; folding local performance aid into certain other local government aids; requiring the commissioner of revenue to develop a proposal for replacement of the revenue lost to local government units from elimination of the electric utility personal property tax and report to the legislature by a certain date; appropriating money to the commissioner of children, families and learning to fund a reduction in the statewide general education property tax levy; repealing certain provisions providing for 1997 flood loss replacement and local performance aids and the sunset on the establishment of housing improvement areas ARTICLE - STATE FUNDING OF DISTRICT COURTS Providing for state assumption of court administration employees and costs in the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth judicial districts; providing for the payment of certain fees, fines and forfeited bail money collected in the districts to the state; cancelling the transfer of homestead and agricultural credit aid to family preservation aid, reducing and delaying the increase in family preservation aid and providing a HACA offset for court costs; prohibiting counties in the judicial districts from levying taxes for court functions transferred to the state; requiring sums forfeited to the county courts to be reinstated by the state treasurer; appropriating money to the supreme court to fund district court expenses ARTICLE 11 - LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Providing for continued property tax exemption of certain property owned by housing and redevelopment authorities or public housing agencies and sold to a nonprofit corporation under certain conditions; expanding the definition of qualified housing district for state tax increment financing aid offset exemption eligibility purposes; changing the Dakota county housing and redevelopment authority to the community development agency and modifying powers; authorizing commissioner of revenue waiver of the limit on border city development zone tax reduction allocations under certain conditions, reporting requirements; prohibiting the use of TIF for social or recreational facilities; authorizing and providing for the transfer of available increments from one TIF district to another to eliminate deficits caused by property tax classification rate reductions subject to certain limits and conditions; expanding local tax abatement authority to the deferral of certain taxes and the abatement of interest and penalties on the deferred taxes; extending the TIF deficit grant program and expanding authorized grant uses; extending the duration of enterprise zones receiving flood relief allocations; making retroactive a certain provision authorizing the inclusion of certain green acres, open space or agricultural preserves property in TIF districts; authorizing and providing for the establishment of airport impact zones and tax increment financing districts in the cities of Richfield, Bloomington, Minneapolis and Eagan and for the metropolitan airports commission (MAC) to impose a sales tax on sales at the Minneapolis-St. Paul international airport; authorizing the city of Brooklyn Center to change the fiscal disparities election relating to a certain TIF district; extending or authorizing the extension of the duration of certain TIF districts in the cities of Inver Grove Heights, Columbia Heights, Dawson, Fridley and Nisswa; authorizing the city of Garrison to elect a local contribution for a certain TIF district in lieu of the state aid offset; authorizing and providing for Itasca county to create an economic development TIF district to contain an electric power plant adjacent to a taconite mine direct reduction plant and steel mill; authorizing the city of Medford to use economic development district tax increment revenues to assist certain commercial facilities; ratifying the expenditure of tax increments on administrative expenses and public utility or other improvements by the city of Minneota for a certain TIF district; authorizing the Mountain Iron HRA to establish an economic development TIF district for a large commercial facility; extending the time limit for the commencement of certain activities in a certain TIF district in the city of Onamia; excepting certain TIF districts established by the St. Cloud HRA from pooling restrictions; providing for determination of the duration limit for the Williams Hill TIF district in the city of St. Paul; authorizing and providing for the city of Woodbury to levy a tax on commercial industrial properties within the city; specifying certain phrase change instructions to the revisor of statutes ARTICLE 12 - TAX DELINQUENCY AND FORFEITURE PROCEDURES Modifying certain property tax forfeiture and delinquency procedures; eliminating certain state lands delinquent tax sale redemption provisions; prohibiting the composition into one item or amount by confession of judgment of certain reclassified residential rental property in the cities of Minneapolis or St. Paul; requiring the payment of current year taxes and penalty on certain commercial industrial property due at the time of entry of confession of judgment; modifying and specifying certain content and service requirements for notice of expiration of redemption; modifying the time limits for city or town objections to county board classification or reclassification and sale of tax-forfeited lands and reducing the time limit for county board withholding of the land from public sale, requiring the local unit to pay maintenance costs incurred by the county during the withholding period under certain conditions; authorizing installment payments for tax-forfeited lands according to county board policy, restrictions; authorizing county auditors to provide for the maintenance of tax-forfeited lands before sale; eliminating a certain provision providing for expenditures from forfeited tax sale funds for the eradication of noxious weeds; requiring persons repurchasing land after tax-forfeiture to pay maintenance costs incurred by the county auditor during the time of tax-forfeiture; authorizing county auditors with county board approval to impose limits on the use of parcels subject to repurchase; eliminating the requirement for county board referral of tax reductions or abatements to the commissioner of revenue for consideration upon school board or city objection and the requirement for the St. Louis county auditor to reveal the name of tax sale purchasers in certain records searches; repealing certain provisions relating to refunds of tax certificates on reform school lands, applications for state tax deeds, redemption, tax judgment or sale set asides and right to purchase and to quiet titles and the dismissal of certain actions involving minors, wards or the mentally ill ARTICLE 13 - TACONITE TAXATION Continuing the freeze on the taconite production tax and extending the special distribution of tax proceeds used for grants to taconite producers; authorizing the use of money from the corpus of the northeast Minnesota economic protection trust fund for grants or equity investments and eliminating the expiration of the authority of the iron range resources and rehabilitiation board (IRRRB) to make loans or grants from the fund for direct reduced iron processing facilities or new mines ARTICLE 14 - WATER AND SANITARY SEWER DISTRICTS Establishing the Cedar Lake area water and sanitary sewer district in Scott county and the Banning junction area water and sanitary sewer district in Pine county under the control and management of respective water and sanitary sewer boards ARTICLE 15 - AUTOMATIC REBATE IN ENACTED BUDGET Providing for automatic rebate of certain excess positive unrestricted budgetary general fund balances to taxpayers at the close of the biennium; specifying certain rebate requirements, certain duties of the commissioner of finance and certain plan preparation requirements of the governor for enactment, modification or rejection by the legislature; appropriating money to the commissioner of revenue for the rebates; abolishing the tax reform and reduction account, balance to revert to the unrestricted general fund balance ARTICLE 16 - MISCELLANEOUS Authorizing and providing for certain hospitals and clinics to bill the county of residence for uncompensated care of patients; specifying the assessment date for dishonored checks resulting in erroneous refunds; providing for the accrual of interest on the penalty for failure to make tax payments by electronic funds transfer (EFT); expanding the definition of claimant agency under the revenue recapture act to private nonprofit hospitals leasing a building from the county; exempting from revenue recapture settoff claim hearing requirements issues relating to the validity of claims previously raised at hearings conducted by the federal department of housing and urban development (HUD) or public agencies responsible for the administration of low income housing programs; providing for divorced and innocent spouse taxpayer liability relief; suspending the time period for filing refund claims during periods of disability; eliminating the time limit for bringing action in the district or tax court relating to nondenied refund claims; authorizing the director of the office of strategic and long range planning to require alternative dispute resolution processes in annexation disputes; authorizing local government units to issue bonds to refund existing debt of indoor ice arenas used for youth athletic activities under certain conditions; extending the expiration date of a certain provision requiring Washington county to inform property taxpayers of the possibility of release of personal information for business purposes and the time limit for Chisago county to certify approval of an aggregate removal tax; providing a contingent appropriation to the Minnesota minerals st century fund, iron range resources and rehabilitation board (IRRRB) match requirement ARTICLE 17 - BUSINESS SUBSIDIES Regulating local and state business subsidies; requiring subsidies to meet a public purpose other than increasing the tax base and restricting the use of job retention as a public purpose; requiring grantors to adopt criteria for awarding business subsidies, public hearing requirement; requiring recipients to enter into subsidy agreements with grantors, specifying certain content requirements, requiring subsidies in the form of grants to be structured as forgivable loans and specifying certain wage and job goal requirements; requiring public hearings on certain larger subsidies; requiring grantors to monitor progress by recipients in achieving agreement goals, specifying certain reporting requirements of recipients and coordination, compilation and summary publication requirements of the commissioner of trade and economic development (DTED); requiring appropriation riders to the department for particular businesses to contain a statement of the expected benefits associated with the grant; repealing certain existing wage and job growth requirements of businesses receiving government assistance (ja)