E Providing for funding of transportation projects ARTICLE 1 TRANSPORTATION FINANCEEstablishing a multimodal transportation fund to be used for metropolitan transit and statewide transportation purposes, creating a department of transportation multimodal account within the fund to be available to the commissioner of transportation (DOT) for state transportation costs and a transit account to be available to the metropolitan council for transit operations and capital within the metropolitan area, specifying certain account crediting and use requirements and certain biennial budget document requirements for submittal to the legislature, requiring a certain percentage of money available in the transportation multimodal account to be credited to a small cities municipal account; modifying the apportionment of the county state aid highway fund to counties, providing for an apportionment sum and an excess sum; providing for commissioner apportionment to certain cities of money in the small cities municipal account based on municipal street lane miles, requiring notice of amounts to the commissioner of finance for payment purposes, requiring use of the money for establishment, location, construction, improvement and maintenance of streets within the cities, authorizing use of a portion of the money on state trunk or county state aid highways within the cities upon commissioner consent; increasing the gasoline and special fuels tax rates, requiring annual commissioner of revenue inflation adjustments, requiring crediting of the tax rate adjustments to the trunk highway debt service account in the trunk highway fund; modifying the allocation of motor vehicle sales tax revenues, requiring the crediting of a certain percentage to the multimodal transportation fund; appropriating money to the commissioner of transportation and authorizing the issuance of state trunk highway bonds for the construction, reconstruction and improvement of trunk highways, requiring use of half of the proceeds on projects to relieve bottlenecks or at risk interregional corridors in the metropolitan area and the other half for at risk interregional corridors outside the metropolitan area, authorizing use of a certain percentage for program delivery provided by state employees; appropriating an additional amount to the commissioner from the trunk highway fund for trunk highways construction and improvement and another sum for debt service payments; specifying a projects priority for commissioner expenditure of money from the transportation multimodal account, first for the east end of the St. Paul busway project, second for the purchase of the Union depot in St. Paul and third for the design and engineering for the Red Rock Rush line corridors ARTICLE 2 METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATIONDesignating the counties of Anoka, Carver, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Isanti, Ramsey, Scott, Sherburne, Washington and Wright as the metropolitan transportation area and regulating highway spending in the area; imposing additional sales and motor vehicle excise sales taxes in the area, providing for collection by the commissioner of revenue; establishing a metropolitan transportation fund for deposit of amounts collected, authorizing use by the metropolitan council for acquisition of buses, highway shoulder improvements and other capital expenses relating to transit and by the commissioner of transportation (DOT) for highway system improvements in the metropolitan transportation area, authorizing the metropolitan council to provide grants to the commissioner for implementation of transit capital improvements outside the metropolitan area but inside the metropolitan transportation area; voter approval requirement and sunset ARTICLE 3 STREAMLINING AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONRequiring the commissioner of transportation (DOT) to use a deicing solution derived from agricultural products for snow and ice control on trunk highways upon determination of economic feasibility and environmental and public safety, requiring the commissioner in determining the materials to be used to consider the effect on the environment and on the deterioration of bridges and other structures; authorizing and providing for reimbursement to municipal or volunteer fire departments by the commissioner from the motor vehicle fire revolving account to be created in the special fund for certain expenses incurred in extinguishing motor vehicle fires within trunk or interstate highway rights-of-way, limit, requiring commissioner deposit into the account of reimbursements received for costs of extinguishing the fires; providing for commissioner grants to new transit systems from excess property tax replacement aid; increasing the amount required to be transferred by the commissioner from the state airports fund to the hangar construction revolving account; expanding the authority of towns to collect unpaid service charges; requiring and providing for legislative review of metropolitan airports commission (MAC) annual budgets and planned actions to abate airport related noise; increasing the amount allowed to be spent by the city of Rochester from local sales tax proceeds and the bonding authority for construction of a regional recreation and sports center and associated facilities and specifying a deadline for termination of the local taxes; requiring the commissioner to create a technical advisory group to conduct research, evaluate alternatives, and make findings and recommendations to the legislature by a certain date on streamlining the process of environmental review for transportation related projects; authorizing and providing for the commissioner to enter into a joint venture with Crow Wing county, the commissioner of natural resources (DNR) and the Brainerd Lakes area chamber of commerce for operation of facilities at the rest area to be constructed between Brainerd and Little Falls on state highway 371; authorizing the commissioner of transportation to enter into contracts or renew existing contracts for professional or technical services not paid for from general funds; requiring the commissioner to by a certain date reserve construction funds to ensure the completion of a southbound exit and northbound entrance ramp connecting I-35W with county state aid highway 3 and a northbound exit ramp connection to east 28th street in the city of Minneapolis (je, ja)