1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to public construction and remodeling 
  1.3             projects; increasing the construction cost limits 
  1.4             under which capital projects are exempt from 
  1.5             legislative notification and review; amending 
  1.6             Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 16B.335, subdivision 
  1.7             1. 
  1.8   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.9      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2000, section 16B.335, 
  1.10  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.11     Subdivision 1.  [CONSTRUCTION AND MAJOR REMODELING.] (a) 
  1.12  The commissioner, or any other recipient to whom an 
  1.13  appropriation is made to acquire or better public lands or 
  1.14  buildings or other public improvements of a capital nature, must 
  1.15  not prepare final plans and specifications for any construction, 
  1.16  major remodeling, or land acquisition in anticipation of which 
  1.17  the appropriation was made until the agency that will use the 
  1.18  project has presented the program plan and cost estimates for 
  1.19  all elements necessary to complete the project to the chair of 
  1.20  the senate finance committee and the chair of the house ways and 
  1.21  means committee and the chairs have made their recommendations, 
  1.22  and the chair of the house capital investment committee is 
  1.23  notified.  "Construction or major remodeling" means construction 
  1.24  of a new building, a substantial addition to an existing 
  1.25  building, or a substantial change to the interior configuration 
  1.26  of an existing building.  The presentation must note any 
  2.1   significant changes in the work that will be done, or in its 
  2.2   cost, since the appropriation for the project was enacted or 
  2.3   from the predesign submittal.  The program plans and estimates 
  2.4   must be presented for review at least two weeks before a 
  2.5   recommendation is needed.  The recommendations are advisory 
  2.6   only.  Failure or refusal to make a recommendation is considered 
  2.7   a negative recommendation.  The chairs of the senate finance 
  2.8   committee, the house capital investment committee, and the house 
  2.9   ways and means committee must also be notified whenever there is 
  2.10  a substantial change in a construction or major remodeling 
  2.11  project, or in its cost. 
  2.12     (b) Capital projects exempt from the requirements of this 
  2.13  subdivision include demolition or decommissioning of state 
  2.14  assets, hazardous material projects, utility infrastructure 
  2.15  projects, environmental testing, parking lots, exterior 
  2.16  lighting, fencing, highway rest areas, truck stations, storage 
  2.17  facilities not consisting primarily of offices or heated work 
  2.18  areas, roads, bridges, trails, pathways, campgrounds, athletic 
  2.19  fields, dams, floodwater retention systems, water access sites, 
  2.20  harbors, sewer separation projects, water and wastewater 
  2.21  facilities, port development projects for which the commissioner 
  2.22  of transportation has entered into an assistance agreement under 
  2.23  section 457A.04, ice centers, a local government project with a 
  2.24  construction cost of less than $1,500,000, or any other capital 
  2.25  project with a construction cost of less than $500,000 $750,000.