Session Year 2015, Special Session 1

Bill Name: SF0001

Relating to state government

ARTICLE 1 - OUTDOOR HERITAGE
FUND

Appropriating money from the outdoor heritage fund for prairies,
forests, wetlands, habitat, administration, states that money appropriated may
not be spent on activities unless they are directly related to and necessary for
a specific appropriation and are specified in the accomplishment plan and may
not be spent on indirect costs or other institutional overhead charges that are
not directly related to a, provides for the availability of funding depending on
the use of the funds and whether or not federal funds are also used; requires
all agreements to be administered on a reimbursement basis unless otherwise
provided; allows reasonable amounts to be advanced in some circumstances if
approved as part of an accomplishment plan; requires capital expenditures that
exceed $10,000 to be itemized and approved as part of an accomplishment plan;
requires recipients of an appropriation to submit geographic
information on
lands acquired in fee that are open to the public for hunting and fishing
to
the DNR for mapping; requires recipients of an appropriation to make progress
towards providing greater access to programs, print publications and digital
media for
people with disabilities related to programs funded with
appropriations; states that, when feasible, a recipient of funds appropriated in
this section is encouraged to use conservation practices that promote monarch
butterfly habitat; states that the DNR is encouraged to plant milkweed when
feasible; gives the authority to appoint council
staff and contract with
consultants to the Legislative Coordinating Commission (LCC); requires an owner
of land purchased with funds from the outdoor heritage fund that is transferred
to the state to submit the total net revenues (profit) made from the land prior
to the transfer to the state within 60 days of the transfer; prohibits a
recipient of funds from the outdoor heritage fund that were used to purchase
land from accepting a monetary donation or a payment from the landowner that
exceeds the recipient's documented expenses unless approved by the LSOHC;
prohibits lands acquired with funds from the outdoor heritage fund from being
hayed or grazed in response to a federal or state disaster declaration; amends a
previous appropriation to the DNR to allow the acquisition of easements for
aquatic habitat and specifies that a portion of the funds may be used for
establishing a monitoring and enforcement fund; modifies previous appropriations
for the conservation partners programs to adjust the amount available for
administration of the grants more evenly between the metro and general programs;
requires the commissioner of management and budget to examine alternatives to
payment-in-lieu of tax payments (PILT) for lands acquired with money from the
outdoor heritage fund and other dedicated funds and provide recommendations to
the legislature by January 15, 2016

ARTICLE 2 - CLEAN WATER
FUND

Appropriating money for clean water funds; states that the money
appropriated
may not be spent on activities unless they are directly related
to and necessary for a specific appropriation; makes the funds available for two
years or, when federal funds are involved, for the time period equal to the
federal funding availability; requires recipients of an appropriation to make
progress towards providing greater access to programs, print publications and
digital media for people with disabilities related to programs funded with
appropriations in this article; appropriating money to the department of
agriculture, the public facilities authority, the pollution control agency
(PCA), the department of natural resources (DNR), the board of water and soil
resources (BWSR), the department of health, and the metropolitan council for
various purposes; adding the term soil health to the soil and water conservation
policy; requiring BWSR to work with various stakeholders to foster mutual
understanding and provide recommendations on water quality and soil conservation
protection and improvement practices/projects; requires BWSR to develop policies
for coordination and
development of comprehensive watershed management plans
and specifies the
minimum requirements for the policies; requires BWSR to
develop content requirements for comprehensive watershed management plans and
specifies minimum requirements for the plans; requires BWSR to adopt a plan to
transition to comprehensive watershed management plans by 2025; states that
existing authorities of BWSR are retained when a
comprehensive watershed
management plan is adopted as a substitute for another type
of plan; defining
soil health as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living
system that sustains plants, animals, and humans; adding to the duties of BWSR
the requirement to develop and implement a state-led technical training and
certification program; allows soil and water conservation districts to provide
financial assistance to land occupiers for nonstructural land management
practices that are part of a planned erosion control and water quality
improvement plan; removes the voting authority for
two members of the Clean
Water Council (the member representing the Metropolitan
Council and the member
representing the University of Minnesota or a Minnesota state
university);
modifies the appointment process for those two members to require the

appointments to be made by the entity they represent instead of the Governor;
modifies a previous appropriation to the DNR to allow the use of funds to assess
additional contaminants of fish (instead of only mercury as allowed under the
current appropriation) and eliminates a previous appropriation totaling
$1,000,000 for grants to counties for adoption and implementation of advanced
shoreland protection measures; cancels two prior appropriations to the PFA for
the phosphorus reduction grant program totaling approximately $12.6

ARTICLE
3 - PARKS AND TRAILS FUND

Appropriating money for parks and trails; states
that money appropriated may not be spent on activities unless they are directly
related to and necessary for a specific appropriation and must not be spent on
indirect costs or other institutional overhead charges that are not directly
related to and necessary for a specific appropriation; makes the funds available
for two years or, when federal funds are involved for the time period equal to
the federal funding availability; requires recipients of an appropriation to
make progress towards providing greater access to programs, print publications,
and digital media for people with disabilities related to programs funded with
appropriations in this article, where appropriate; appropriating money to the
department of natural resources (DNR) for parks and trails purposes, for
regional parks and trails in greater Minnesota under the parks and trails legacy
grant program, based on recommendations of the Greater Minnesota Regional Parks
and Trails Commission and for operation costs of the Greater Minnesota Regional
Parks and Trails Commission and for coordination between the DNR, Greater
Minnesota Regional Parks and Trails Commission, and the Metropolitan Council and
other activities; requires the commissioner to contract with the
Conservation
Corps Minnesota and implementing agencies receiving funds to give consideration
to contracting with the Conservation Corps Minnesota; appropriating money to the
metropolitan council for metropolitan regional parks and trails to be
distributed to implementing agencies according to the parks and trails fund
metropolitan park distribution formula under current law; modifies a previous
appropriation for a grant to Three Rivers Park District to allow for a safe
trail crossing, rather than a trail bridge, of county state-aid highway; extends
the availability of a previous appropriation for the Mesabi Trail

ARTICLE 4 -
ARTS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE FUND

Appropriating money for the arts and cultural
heritage for the Minnesota state arts board, the Minnesota historical society,
the department of administration, the
Minnesota humanities center, the
Minnesota zoological gardens, the Perpich center for
arts education, the
Indian Affairs council, the University of Minnesota board of regents
and the
Legislative Coordinating Commission for the maintenance of the Legacy Fund

Website; amends a capital investment bond appropriation from 2014 for the
Minnesota Children's Museum to clarify that the amount needed from nonstate
resources is $4,000,000 in order for the project to proceed

ARTICLE 5 -
GENERAL PROVISIONS; ALL LEGACY FUNDS

Requires the commissioner of the
department of administration to provide free
rehearsal space in one place in
the capitol area complex to the Minnesota state band; amends the statute on the
parks and trails fund and requires the legislative auditor to list legacy fund
recipients that it has found out of compliance with state laws or rules and to
provide that list to the committees in the house and senate that have

jurisdiction over legacy funds; requires the state auditor to remove the fund
recipients from the list once the entity has demonstrated to the auditor's
satisfaction that they
are no longer out of compliance; amends the outdoor
heritage fund and requires the
legislative auditor to list legacy fund
recipients that it has found out of compliance with state laws or rules and to
provide that list to the committees in the house and senate that have
jurisdiction over legacy funds; requires the state auditor to remove the fund

recipients from the list once the entity has demonstrated to the auditor's
satisfaction that they are no longer out of compliance; amends the statute on
the clean water
fund and requires the legislative auditor to list legacy fund
recipients that it has found out of compliance with state laws or rules and to
provide that list to the committees in the house and senate that have
jurisdiction over legacy funds; requires the state auditor to remove the fund
recipients from the list once the entity has demonstrated to the auditor's
satisfaction that they are no longer out of compliance; amends the statute on
the arts and cultural heritage fund and requires the legislative auditor to list
legacy fund recipients that it has found out of compliance with state laws or
rules and to provide that list to the committees in the house and senate that
have jurisdiction over legacy funds; requires the state auditor to remove the
fund recipients from the list once the entity has demonstrated to the auditor's
satisfaction that they are no longer out of compliance
(ra)