1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to education; providing for school districts 
  1.3             to opt out of certain state mandates; proposing coding 
  1.4             for new law as Minnesota Statutes, chapter 471B. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [471B.01] [DEFINITIONS.] 
  1.7      Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] For the purposes of this chapter, 
  1.8   the terms defined in this section have the meanings given them. 
  1.9      Subd. 2.  [LOCAL GOVERNMENT INCLUDES A SCHOOL 
  1.10  DISTRICT.] "Local government" includes a common, independent, or 
  1.11  special school district and excludes charter schools. 
  1.12     Subd. 3.  [STATE MANDATE.] "State mandate" means a state 
  1.13  law or rule that is specifically directed at or related to local 
  1.14  government structure, operation, services, programs, or 
  1.15  financing that: 
  1.16     (1) imposes a cost on a local government, whether or not 
  1.17  the state appropriates money for the local government to cover 
  1.18  the costs, or authorizes the local government to impose a tax or 
  1.19  fee to cover the costs; 
  1.20     (2) decreases revenue available to a local government 
  1.21  without a commensurate decrease in services and programs 
  1.22  required by the law or rule; 
  1.23     (3) establishes goals or policies a local government must 
  1.24  follow; 
  1.25     (4) makes a local government, or its officers or employees, 
  2.1   civilly or criminally liable for failure to follow or enforce 
  2.2   the law or rule; 
  2.3      (5) restricts the ability of a local government to 
  2.4   establish services, programs, policies, plans, or goals or 
  2.5   restricts its ability to raise revenue or finance its services, 
  2.6   programs, policies, plans, or goals; or 
  2.7      (6) implements or interprets federal law and, by its 
  2.8   implementation or interpretation, increases or decreases program 
  2.9   or service levels beyond the level required by federal law. 
  2.10     Sec. 2.  [471B.02] [OPT-OUT PROPOSALS AND PROCEDURES.] 
  2.11     Subdivision 1.  [LOCAL PROCEDURE.] (a) A school district 
  2.12  may, by written resolution of the school board after public 
  2.13  notice and hearing, propose that a state mandate imposed on 
  2.14  school districts, except a state mandate under section 471B.03, 
  2.15  should not apply to it.  A school board also may include in a 
  2.16  resolution recommendations for reforming a mandate.  A school 
  2.17  board must adopt a separate resolution for each mandate that it 
  2.18  proposes should not apply to the district.  The resolution must: 
  2.19     (1) specifically cite the state law or rule that imposes 
  2.20  the mandate on the school district; 
  2.21     (2) identify the costs of complying with the mandate and 
  2.22  the total amount of federal and state funds available for 
  2.23  purposes of the mandate; 
  2.24     (3) state the reasons the school district wants to opt out 
  2.25  of the state mandate and any recommendations for reforming the 
  2.26  mandate to achieve greater efficiencies; and 
  2.27     (4) indicate how the school district will otherwise meet 
  2.28  the objectives of the mandate or why the objectives do not apply 
  2.29  to the school district. 
  2.30     (b) The school board must hold at least one public hearing 
  2.31  on the proposed resolution and afford the public opportunity for 
  2.32  comment.  Before voting on the resolution, the school board must 
  2.33  give adequate public notice of the proposed resolution, 
  2.34  including information on whether state or federal funding for 
  2.35  the school district might be adversely affected.  The school 
  2.36  board must encourage teachers and parents to participate in the 
  3.1   hearing in order to determine the extent of public support for 
  3.2   the proposed resolution. 
  3.3      (c) The proponent of the proposed resolution at least must 
  3.4   identify at the hearing: 
  3.5      (1) the costs of complying with the mandate that exceed the 
  3.6   state and federal funds allocated to the district for purposes 
  3.7   of the mandate and recommend reforms for achieving greater 
  3.8   efficiencies; 
  3.9      (2) any potential loss of state or federal revenue that 
  3.10  might result from opting out of the state mandate; and 
  3.11     (3) other policy issues or effects that might result. 
  3.12     (d) A school district that adopts a resolution must file 
  3.13  the resolution with the state auditor.  At the time of filing, 
  3.14  the school district must pay the state auditor a fee of $75 per 
  3.15  resolution to cover costs the state auditor incurs in performing 
  3.16  the duties under this section.  The state auditor must deposit 
  3.17  the fees in the general fund.  All fees collected under this 
  3.18  section are appropriated to the state auditor for the purposes 
  3.19  of this section.  On July 1, 2003, and each July 1 thereafter, 
  3.20  using the powers granted under chapter 6, the auditor must 
  3.21  determine the actual cost of performing the duties under this 
  3.22  section and adjust the amount of the fee to reflect the 
  3.23  auditor's actual costs. 
  3.24     Subd. 2.  [STATE PROCEDURE.] (a) The state auditor must: 
  3.25     (1) list on the state auditor's Web site all state mandates 
  3.26  cited in a resolution filed with the state auditor, identifying 
  3.27  for each mandate the school districts that have adopted and 
  3.28  filed a resolution to opt out of a mandate, and whether the 
  3.29  threshold under subdivision 3 for opting out has been met; 
  3.30     (2) keep a running total of the number and percent of 
  3.31  school districts that have filed a resolution to opt out; 
  3.32     (3) notify the legislature and the school districts that 
  3.33  have filed resolutions to opt out when the threshold under 
  3.34  subdivision 3 for opting out has been met; and 
  3.35     (4) each year before the Minnesota Statutes or Minnesota 
  3.36  Statutes Supplement is published, at a time determined by the 
  4.1   revisor of statutes, provide to the revisor of statutes a list 
  4.2   of all laws and rules that school districts may opt out, 
  4.3   consistent with legislative action under subdivision 3. 
  4.4      (b) The revisor of statutes must: 
  4.5      (1) publish a list of the affected laws, rules, and school 
  4.6   districts; and 
  4.7      (2) provide appropriate means, including cross-references, 
  4.8   for the public to use the statutes and rules in the context of 
  4.9   the list in clause (1). 
  4.10     Subd. 3.  [THRESHOLD AND CERTIFICATION FOR OPTING OUT; 
  4.11  LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT.] (a) The state auditor must notify the 
  4.12  house and senate when the auditor certifies that ten percent or 
  4.13  more of the school districts in the state have filed resolutions 
  4.14  in accordance with the requirements of this chapter seeking to 
  4.15  be relieved of a state mandate.  The opt-out resolutions 
  4.16  referred to in a notice delivered by the auditor to the 
  4.17  legislature before the regular session convenes in any year are 
  4.18  considered to be accepted for implementation under subdivision 4 
  4.19  when the legislature adjourns the regular session that year, 
  4.20  unless the legislature by law has either forbidden 
  4.21  implementation of the resolutions or amended the mandate to 
  4.22  which they refer.  
  4.23     (b) The house of representatives and senate must adopt 
  4.24  rules ensuring that bills to forbid implementation of the 
  4.25  resolutions or to amend the mandate to which they refer are 
  4.26  given a priority status and are presented to the house and 
  4.27  senate for consideration and action by the body in a timely 
  4.28  manner during the regular session that year. 
  4.29     Subd. 4. [OPT-OUT IMPLEMENTATION AND LATER OPTING 
  4.30  OUT.] Opt-out resolutions accepted for implementation under 
  4.31  subdivision 3 take effect 30 days after the adjournment of the 
  4.32  regular session, and the mandate referred to in the resolutions 
  4.33  ceases to apply to districts.  After the initial opt-out 
  4.34  resolutions take effect, other districts may file resolutions to 
  4.35  opt out of the same mandate.  Each of these takes effect 30 days 
  4.36  after the auditor accepts the filing.  
  5.1      Sec. 3.  [471B.03] [EXCEPTIONS.] 
  5.2      Subdivision 1.  [SCOPE.] The state laws listed in this 
  5.3   section are not subject to section 471B.02 and no school 
  5.4   district may opt out of complying with them. 
  5.5      Subd. 2.  [ELECTION LAW.] A school district may not opt out 
  5.6   of Minnesota election law, as defined in section 200.01, and any 
  5.7   other law governing elections. 
  5.8      Subd. 3.  [ADMINISTRATION OF THE PROPERTY TAX SYSTEM.] A 
  5.9   school district may not opt out of any laws governing 
  5.10  administration of the property tax system, including provisions 
  5.11  in chapters 270, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 276A, 277, 278, and 
  5.12  473F. 
  5.13     Subd. 4.  [ACCOUNTING, FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES; 
  5.14  AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.] A school district may not opt out of any 
  5.15  law governing the accounting, financial management, and audit 
  5.16  requirements of school districts, including the accounting, 
  5.17  expenditures, and budgeting required under sections 123B.76 and 
  5.18  123B.77.  However, a school district may opt out of a 
  5.19  state-mandated account or fund restriction, consistent with the 
  5.20  requirements of this section. 
  5.21     Subd. 5.  [NONPUBLIC STUDENTS.] A school district may not 
  5.22  opt out of sections 123B.40 to 123B.48 governing the rights of 
  5.23  nonpublic school students and other law related to nonpublic 
  5.24  schools or students. 
  5.25     <b>[EFFECTIVE DATE.]</b> This section is effective for the 
  5.26  2003-2004 school year and later.