HF 2441

as introduced - 84th Legislature (2005 - 2006) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to agriculture; establishing a statutory
appropriation for value-added agricultural projects;
creating an agricultural farm to market account;
providing for the construction, reconstruction, or
maintenance of town roads serving the needs of
livestock operations; amending Minnesota Statutes
2004, sections 17.101, by adding a subdivision;
41A.09, subdivision 3a.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 17.101, is
amended by adding a subdivision to read:

new text begin Subd. 7. new text end

new text begin Agricultural farm to market account. new text end

new text begin (a) An
agricultural farm to market account is established as an account
in the agricultural fund. Money in the account is annually
appropriated to the commissioner of agriculture for expenditure
as specified in this subdivision. Money in the account must be
used as grants or loans to towns to assist in paying the costs
of constructing, reconstructing, or rehabilitating town roads
that have not been fully funded through other state, federal, or
local funding sources. The commissioner shall establish
procedures for towns to apply for grants or loans from the
account and criteria to be used to select projects for funding.
Priority for grants or loans from this account must be given to
town road projects that will help meet the specific
transportation needs and issues of livestock operations.
new text end

new text begin (b) The sum of 0.25 percent of the amount in the account is
available to be used for administrative costs incurred by the
department in carrying out the provisions of this subdivision.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2004, section 41A.09,
subdivision 3a, is amended to read:

Subd. 3a.

Ethanol producer payments new text begin ; rural infrastructure
investments new text end .

(a) The commissioner shall make cash payments to
producers of ethanol located in the state that have begun
production by June 30, 2000. For the purpose of this
subdivision, an entity that holds a controlling interest in more
than one ethanol plant is considered a single producer. The
amount of the payment for each producer's annual production,
except as provided in paragraph (c), is 20 cents per gallon for
each gallon of ethanol produced on or before June 30, 2000, or
ten years after the start of production, whichever is later.
Annually, within 90 days of the end of its fiscal year, an
ethanol producer receiving payments under this subdivision must
file a disclosure statement on a form provided by the
commissioner. The initial disclosure statement must include a
summary description of the organization of the business
structure of the claimant, a listing of the percentages of
ownership by any person or other entity with an ownership
interest of five percent or greater, and a copy of its annual
audited financial statements, including the auditor's report and
footnotes. The disclosure statement must include information
demonstrating what percentage of the entity receiving payments
under this section is owned by farmers or other entities
eligible to farm or own agricultural land in Minnesota under the
provisions of section 500.24. Subsequent annual reports must
reflect noncumulative changes in ownership of ten percent or
more of the entity. The report need not disclose the identity
of the persons or entities eligible to farm or own agricultural
land with ownership interests, individuals residing within 30
miles of the plant, or of any other entity with less than ten
percent ownership interest, but the claimant must retain
information within its files confirming the accuracy of the data
provided. This data must be made available to the commissioner
upon request. Not later than the 15th day of February in each
year the commissioner shall deliver to the chairs of the
standing committees of the senate and the house of
representatives that deal with agricultural policy and
agricultural finance issues an annual report summarizing
aggregated data from plants receiving payments under this
section during the preceding calendar year. Audited financial
statements and notes and disclosure statements submitted to the
commissioner are nonpublic data under section 13.02, subdivision
9. Notwithstanding the provisions of chapter 13 relating to
nonpublic data, summaries of the submitted audited financial
reports and notes and disclosure statements will be contained in
the report to the committee chairs and will be public data.

(b) No payments shall be made for ethanol production that
occurs after June 30, 2010.

(c) If the level of production at an ethanol plant
increases due to an increase in the production capacity of the
plant, the payment under paragraph (a) applies to the additional
increment of production until ten years after the increased
production began. Once a plant's production capacity reaches
15,000,000 gallons per year, no additional increment will
qualify for the payment.

(d) Total payments under paragraphs (a) and (c) to a
producer in a fiscal year may not exceed $3,000,000.

(e) By the last day of October, January, April, and July,
each producer shall file a claim for payment for ethanol
production during the preceding three calendar months. A
producer that files a claim under this subdivision shall include
a statement of the producer's total ethanol production in
Minnesota during the quarter covered by the claim. For each
claim and statement of total ethanol production filed under this
subdivision, the volume of ethanol production must be examined
by an independent certified public accountant in accordance with
standards established by the American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants.

(f) Payments shall be made November 15, February 15, May
15, and August 15. A separate payment shall be made for each
claim filed. Except as provided in paragraph (g), the total
quarterly payment to a producer under this paragraph may not
exceed $750,000.

(g) Notwithstanding the quarterly payment limits of
paragraph (f), the commissioner shall make an additional payment
in the fourth quarter of each fiscal year to ethanol producers
for the lesser of: (1) 20 cents per gallon of production in the
fourth quarter of the year that is greater than 3,750,000
gallons; or (2) the total amount of payments lost during the
first three quarters of the fiscal year due to plant outages,
repair, or major maintenance. Total payments to an ethanol
producer in a fiscal year, including any payment under this
paragraph, must not exceed the total amount the producer is
eligible to receive based on the producer's approved production
capacity. The provisions of this paragraph apply only to
production losses that occur in quarters beginning after
December 31, 1999.

(h) The commissioner shall reimburse ethanol producers for
any deficiency in payments during earlier quarters if the
deficiency occurred because new text begin of unallotment or because
new text end appropriated money was insufficient to make timely payments in
the full amount provided in paragraph (a). Notwithstanding the
quarterly or annual payment limitations in this subdivision, the
commissioner shall begin making payments for earlier
deficiencies in each fiscal year that appropriations for ethanol
payments exceed the amount required to make eligible scheduled
payments. Payments for earlier deficiencies must continue until
the deficiencies for each producer are paid in full.

new text begin (i) If in any year the appropriation for value-added
agricultural products under this section is in excess of the
amount required to make scheduled ethanol producer payments and
deficiency payments for payments delayed because of unallotment
or because appropriated funds in earlier fiscal years were
insufficient, the commissioner shall deposit the remaining
balance in the agricultural farm to market account in the
agricultural fund created under section 17.101, subdivision 7.
new text end

new text begin (j) For fiscal years 2006 and thereafter, the dollar amount
of the appropriation for value-added agricultural products in
fiscal year 2005, under Laws 2003, chapter 128, article 3,
section 2, subdivision 4, is annually appropriated from the
general fund to the commissioner of agriculture for purposes of
ethanol producer payments and for deposit in the agricultural
farm to market account as provided in paragraph (i).
new text end