3E Relating to the organization, operation and financing of state government, appropriating money for transportation purposes

ARTICLE 1 - APPROPRIATIONS, TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER AGENCIES

Providing a summary of appropriations by fund; reducing the appropriation to the commissioner of transportation (DOT) for state road construction, requiring a certain other appropriation to be used to construct concrete or cable median safety barriers on interstate or trunk highways in the metropolitan area; appropriating money to the commissioner of public safety for the state patrol, for driver and vehicle services and for traffic safety, requiring use for traffic and pedestrian safety; requiring a certain fund transfer

ARTICLE 2 - CAPITAL PROJECTS

Appropriating money to the commissioner of transportation (DOT) and authorizing the issuance of state bonds for repair and renovation of the exterior of the department building, for construction of the Mankato headquarters building and for certain smaller department capital projects

ARTICLE 3 - PUBLIC SAFETY ACTIVITIES, FEES, ACCOUNTS

Authorizing the commissioner of administration to approve the performance of mail related functions by outside agencies under the central mail handling unit under certain conditions; modifying certain vehicle registration tax and fee provisions and certain fee or tax deposit requirements of the commissioner of public safety; increasing fees for motor vehicle transfers and for certain driver and vehicle services; reducing drivers license and identification (ID) card fees and imposing an additional filing fee and certain repeat examination fees; modifying or clarifying certain special license plate and motor vehicle dealer license provisions; providing for expedited driver and vehicle services and for record copies, fees; modifying certain procedures for the appointment of deputy registrars; creating the driver and vehicle services operating accounts in the special revenue fund for the deposit of certain fees and providing annual appropriations from the accounts to the commissioner for driver and vehicle services administration purposes; making certain technical and clarifying amendments; specifying certain reference change or correction and renumbering instructions to the revisor of statutes; repealing the definition of off peak hours for metropolitan transit purposes and the bicycle registration program

ARTICLE 4 - MISCELLANEOUS FINANCE POLICY

Requiring the department of transportation to include on business panels of retail businesses selling E85 gasoline a symbol or logo indicating the availability of E85 at the business; authorizing the commissioner of the DOT to bill highway operations units of the department and local road authorities for the costs of a centrally managed highway sign program, requiring the deposit of receipts in a special account to be established in the trunk highway fund for payment of the costs; establishing county and municipal principal arterial accounts in the county state aid highway and municipal state aid street funds respectively for commissioner grants to counties and cities to assist in paying costs of capital improvement projects on county or municipal state aid highways or streets classified as principal arterials and authorizing use of money in the flexible highway account for construction and maintenance of principal arterial roads or streets; establishing a rural road safety account in the county state aid highway fund for commissioner grants to counties to assist in paying for capital improvement projects on county state aid highways intended to reduce traffic crashes, deaths, injuries and property damage; designating the interstate bridge between the cities of Moorhead and Fargo, North Dakota as the veterans memorial bridge; increasing the county state aid highway fund set aside for department administrative costs; expanding the definition of recreational vehicle combination for permit free operation purposes to pickup trucks hauling equestrian equipment and supplies; modifying certain highway gross weight limits for vehicles hauling raw or unfinished forest products; authorizing the issuance of special permits for the movement of manufactured storage buildings and for the hauling of certain special paper products; exempting housing and redevelopment authority (HRA) facilities built to facilitate the operation of public transit from competitive bidding requirements; authorizing the metropolitan council to enter into agreements with cities or
towns to join the metropolitan transit taxing district, specifying certain
agreement content requirements and certain property tax levy options;
prohibiting the commissioner from implementing a new formula for allocating federal transportation funds resulting in a reduction of construction district receipts and requiring the commissioner to study and report to the legislature by a certain date on alternative methods of funding local road maintenance and reconstruction, specifying certain study requirements; requiring and providing for the commissioner to develop and implement a town road sign replacement program, authorizing the establishment of a pilot program; requiring the commissioner to place directional signs for the Northwestern health sciences university in certain locations on interstate highways 494 and 35W and to erect a specific service sign on trunk highway #52 for a certain retail establishment blocked by a noise wall; prohibiting the commissioner from requiring the city of Willmar to repay the state airports fund for acquisition costs of land previously used for aviation purposes; suspending the automobile insurance coverage verification sampling program, requiring reinstatement of suspended drivers licenses and refund of reinstatement fees, dismissal of charges, purging of violation notations on driving records and vacation of convictions, prohibiting insurers from increasing premiums based on violations under the program, requiring remediations, requiring the commissioner of public safety to report to the legislature by a certain date with recommendations for a vehicle insurance verification program identifying and reducing the number of uninsured motorists, providing for funding of the requirements; repealing certain rules governing regular route common and petroleum carriers

ARTICLE 5 - SPECIAL PLATES

Modifying and clarifying certain provisions providing for the issuance of special motor vehicle license plates; prohibiting the charging of license plate replacement fees for special plates issued to medal of honor recipients or former prisoners of war; authorizing the issuance of special firefighter motorcycle license plates, of personalized license plates for veterans and of special veterans license plates for a certain additional type of pickup truck and imposing a temporary surcharge on the issuance of the special plates for deposit in the highway user tax distribution fund; providing for the issuance of special veterans license plates for recipients of the Iraq or Afghanistan campaign medals or the global war on terrorism expeditionary or service medals and for disabled veterans and for the issuance of special support our troops and knights of columbus member license plates

ARTICLE 6 - TRANSPORTATION FINANCE

Establishing a multimodal transportation fund to be used for multimodal surface transportation projects and purposes; modifying the county state aid highway fund apportionment formula, providing for the calculation and apportionment of the excess sum and the apportionment sum; modifying the imposition of the motor vehicle registration tax on passenger automobiles in subsequent years; phasing in increases in the gasoline and special fuels tax rates; modifying the distribution of motor vehicle sales tax proceeds to the highway user tax distribution fund; establishing a right-of-way advance acquisition loan account in the transportation revolving loan fund for loans to the state, counties, cities and towns to purchase property within the rights-of-way of state trunk highways, restrictions, specifying certain factors to be considered by the commissioner of transportation (DOT) in evaluating projects to be certified for the loans and prescribing the purchase procedure; appropriating money to the commissioner and authorizing the issuance of state transportation bonds to construct trunk highways and state roads and for county and municipal state aids; establishing the general fund budget base for metropolitan and greater Minnesota transit for fiscal years 2008 and 2009 at zero
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