1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to transportation; designating appraisals by 
  1.3             road authorities for transportation projects as 
  1.4             private data on individuals; requiring appraisals by 
  1.5             road authorities to be provided to landowners; 
  1.6             providing for review of appraisals by Department of 
  1.7             Transportation; providing for direct billing of road 
  1.8             authority for appraisal costs; authorizing 
  1.9             reimbursement for legal fees of landowners in certain 
  1.10            circumstances; amending Minnesota Statutes 2003 
  1.11            Supplement, section 117.036, subdivision 2, by adding 
  1.12            a subdivision; proposing coding for new law in 
  1.13            Minnesota Statutes, chapter 117. 
  1.14  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.15     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  1.16  117.036, subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  1.17     Subd. 2.  [APPRAISAL.] (a) Before commencing an eminent 
  1.18  domain proceeding under this chapter, the acquiring authority 
  1.19  must obtain at least one appraisal for the property proposed to 
  1.20  be acquired.  In making the appraisal, the appraiser must confer 
  1.21  with one or more of the owners of the property, if reasonably 
  1.22  possible.  At least 20 days before presenting a petition under 
  1.23  section 117.055, the acquiring authority must provide the owner 
  1.24  with a copy of the appraisal and inform the owner of the owner's 
  1.25  right to obtain an appraisal under this section. 
  1.26     (b) The owner may obtain an appraisal by a qualified 
  1.27  appraiser of the property proposed to be acquired.  The owner is 
  1.28  entitled to reimbursement for the reasonable costs of the 
  1.29  appraisal from the acquiring authority up to a maximum of $1,500 
  2.1   within 30 days after the owner submits to the acquiring 
  2.2   authority the information necessary for reimbursement, provided 
  2.3   that the owner does so within 60 days after the owner receives 
  2.4   the appraisal from the authority under paragraph (a).  As an 
  2.5   alternative to reimbursement, the qualified appraiser making the 
  2.6   appraisal for the owner may submit a bill directly to the 
  2.7   acquiring authority, if the appraiser includes with the bill a 
  2.8   copy of the appraisal for which payment is sought.  The bill may 
  2.9   not be for an amount greater than the maximum reimbursement 
  2.10  allowed under this paragraph. 
  2.11     (c) Appraisals made by or for an acquiring authority under 
  2.12  this section are private data on individuals as defined in 
  2.13  section 13.02, subdivision 12.  All such appraisals on the 
  2.14  owner's property must be made available to the owner in a timely 
  2.15  manner on the owner's request. 
  2.16     (d) When an appraisal under this section is made by an 
  2.17  appraiser employed by the Department of Transportation, any 
  2.18  appraisal review done on behalf of the department must be 
  2.19  performed by a qualified review appraiser who is not an employee 
  2.20  of the department. 
  2.21     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 2003 Supplement, section 
  2.22  117.036, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
  2.23     Subd. 4.  [INFORMATION TO BE PREPARED.] The commissioner of 
  2.24  transportation, in consultation with the attorney general and 
  2.25  one or more professional associations of real estate appraisers, 
  2.26  shall prepare a publication of not more than two pages that 
  2.27  describes the eminent domain process for transportation 
  2.28  projects, including the reasons for condemnation, the procedures 
  2.29  followed by condemnors, how property owners and citizens may 
  2.30  influence the condemnation process, and the rights of property 
  2.31  owners and citizens affected by condemnation.  The commissioner 
  2.32  shall make this publication available to all persons on whose 
  2.33  property the commissioner has made an appraisal or to whom the 
  2.34  commissioner has made an offer to purchase.  The commissioner 
  2.35  may make the publication available to other acquiring 
  2.36  authorities and may charge a price to recover the commissioner's 
  3.1   costs. 
  3.2      Sec. 3.  [117.233] [RECOVERY OF LEGAL COSTS.] 
  3.3      An owner whose property is acquired by eminent domain is 
  3.4   entitled to reimbursement by the acquiring authority for 
  3.5   reasonable legal fees related to the acquisition, up to a 
  3.6   maximum of $2,000, if: 
  3.7      (1) the acquisition is subject to section 117.036; and 
  3.8      (2) the final award of damages to the owner for the 
  3.9   property exceeds the acquiring authority's highest offer by at 
  3.10  least 20 percent.