HF 1686

2nd Engrossment - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to capital investment; appropriating money 
  1.3             for a personal rapid transit demonstration project; 
  1.4             authorizing the issuance of general obligation bonds. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [PERSONAL RAPID TRANSIT DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.] 
  1.7      Subdivision 1.  [APPROPRIATION.] Up to $8,000,000 is 
  1.8   appropriated from the bond proceeds fund to the commissioner of 
  1.9   transportation for a grant to a local government to design, 
  1.10  acquire, construct, furnish, and equip a personal rapid transit 
  1.11  safety certification and training facility, subject to Minnesota 
  1.12  Statutes, section 16A.695.  The facility, at a minimum, must 
  1.13  consist of a 2,200-foot oval guideway, one off-line station, and 
  1.14  a maintenance and control center.  The facility must be 
  1.15  developed in accord with plans for a future personal rapid 
  1.16  transit system serving the area within the jurisdiction of the 
  1.17  local government.  The commissioner of transportation must 
  1.18  ensure that of the $24,000,000 total project cost, the state 
  1.19  must not contribute more than $8,000,000 and nonstate sources 
  1.20  must contribute the remaining $16,000,000 with a contribution in 
  1.21  private funds of at least $8,000,000.  The commissioner of 
  1.22  transportation must award the grant to a local government based 
  1.23  on the following criteria: 
  1.24     (1) the local government has committed at least $8,000,000 
  1.25  in nonstate funds to the project; 
  2.1      (2) the local government has an agreement with a 
  2.2   postsecondary educational institution that the educational 
  2.3   institution will provide technical support and training for 
  2.4   planning, design, operation, and maintenance of personal rapid 
  2.5   transit systems; 
  2.6      (3) the local government has a commitment of at least 
  2.7   $8,000,000 in private funding from an entity located in 
  2.8   Minnesota with the licensing and technological capacity to 
  2.9   provide at least three personal rapid transit vehicles, training 
  2.10  services for engineers, engineering work, and six months of 
  2.11  operational testing to prove the technology's safety for public 
  2.12  use; and 
  2.13     (4) a local public transit provider has agreed to cooperate 
  2.14  with the local government to plan for personal rapid transit 
  2.15  services to be available to the public. 
  2.16     Subd. 2.  [PROJECT PURPOSE, SCOPE.] This appropriation is 
  2.17  made to certify the safety of the patented personal rapid 
  2.18  transit technology for sustainable public transit service, to 
  2.19  provide an opportunity for engineers to be trained in its design 
  2.20  and use, and to establish a new and economically 
  2.21  self-sustaining, viable technology in Minnesota so that the 
  2.22  University of Minnesota may realize royalty benefits from an 
  2.23  existing agreement. 
  2.24     Sec. 2.  [BOND SALE.] 
  2.25     To provide the money appropriated in section 1 from the 
  2.26  bond proceeds fund, the commissioner of finance shall sell and 
  2.27  issue bonds of the state in an amount up to $8,000,000 in the 
  2.28  manner, on the terms, and with the effect prescribed by 
  2.29  Minnesota Statutes, sections 16A.631 to 16A.675, and by the 
  2.30  Minnesota Constitution, article XI, sections 4 to 7. 
  2.31     Sec. 3.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.32     Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final 
  2.33  enactment.