as introduced - 90th Legislature (2017 - 2018) Posted on 04/12/2018 02:35pm
A bill for an act
relating to capital investment; appropriating money for extending the fiber network
to connect Willow River to Pine City and Cromwell to Aitkin; authorizing the sale
and issuance of state bonds.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
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For purposes of this section, "fiber optic infrastructure" means
the land, buildings, fiber optic connection cable, and endpoint hardware, including routers
and switches. It does not include computers, telephones, or cameras.
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The fiber optic infrastructure project for which bond proceeds
are appropriated in this section is needed to deliver high-speed Internet service to areas of
the state that do not currently have high-speed Internet access due to the absence of fiber
optic infrastructure.
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Article XI, section
5, clause (a), of the Minnesota Constitution requires that state general obligation bonds be
issued to finance only the acquisition or betterment of public land, buildings, and other
public improvements of a capital nature. The legislature has determined that many fiber
optic infrastructure projects will constitute betterments and capital improvements within
the meaning of the Minnesota Constitution and capital expenditures under generally accepted
accounting principles, and will be financed more efficiently and economically under this
section than by direct appropriations for specific projects.
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$2,300,000 is appropriated from the bond proceeds fund to
the commissioner of employment and economic development for a grant to the Mountain
Iron Economic Development Authority to prepare land on which the fiber optic infrastructure
will be located, including demolition of structures and remediation of any hazardous
conditions on the land, and for predesign, design, acquisition, and installation of fiber optic
infrastructure on land that is publicly owned or for which a public entity has a permanent
easement, with a useful life of at least ten years, in and extending between the cities of
Willow River and Pine City and in and between the cities of Cromwell and Aitkin. This
appropriation is available when the commissioner of management and budget determines
that sufficient resources have been committed to complete the project, as required by
Minnesota Statutes, section 16A.502.
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To provide the money appropriated in this section from the bond
proceeds fund, the commissioner of management and budget shall sell and issue bonds of
the state in an amount up to $2,300,000 in the manner, upon the terms, and with the effect
prescribed by Minnesota Statutes, sections 16A.631 to 16A.675, and by the Minnesota
Constitution, article XI, sections 4 to 7.
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This section is effective the day following final enactment.
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