SF 336

as introduced - 86th Legislature (2009 - 2010) Posted on 02/09/2010 02:12am

A bill for an act
relating to natural resources; eliminating the need to scale cut forest products on
state land; appropriating money for habitat improvement projects on state land;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.031, subdivision 5; 90.061,
subdivisions 5, 8; 90.14; 90.151, subdivision 4; 90.181, subdivision 1; 90.221;
90.281; 90.41; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.01, subdivision 4;
90.201, subdivision 2; 90.251; 90.252.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.031, subdivision 5, is amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Appointment of agents.

The Executive Council may appoint one or
more agents to gather evidence in any action brought by the state or to investigate the
correctness of any state appraiser's or scaler's report or to ascertain whether any timber
proposed to be sold is subject to sale, or whether any trespass has been committed on
state lands, and may send such the agent to examine such the timber or lands. Such The
agents of the Executive Council, independently of the commissioner, or state appraisers,
or scalers shall report, in writing, to the governor, and the money necessary to defray
expenses in connection therewith shall be paid upon verified accounts from any funds
available for the expenses of the Executive Council.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.061, subdivision 5, is amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Appraiser duties.

The duties of the state appraiser shall be to appraise and
place a valuation upon any state lands or any state timber or any interest therein anywhere;
to check-scale appraise timber cut from state lands in trespass, either situated upon state
lands or removed therefrom; to check-scale any scale of timber cut on state lands; to make
check-scales, by the stump and top, or any other method, of timber removed from state
lands; and to perform such other duties as may be assigned.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.061, subdivision 8, is amended to read:

Subd. 8.

Appraiser authority; form of documents.

State appraisers are
empowered, with the consent of the commissioner, to perform any scaling appraisal, and
generally to supervise the cutting and removal of timber on or from state lands so far as
may be reasonably necessary to insure compliance with the terms of the permits or other
contracts governing the same and protect the state from loss.

The form of appraisal reports, records, and notes to be kept by state appraisers
shall be as the commissioner prescribes.

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.14, is amended to read:

90.14 AUCTION SALE PROCEDURE.

(a) All state timber shall be offered and sold by the same unit of measurement as it
was appraised. No tract shall be sold to any person other than the purchaser in whose name
the bid was made. The commissioner may refuse to approve any and all bids received and
cancel a sale of state timber for good and sufficient reasons.

(b) The purchaser at any sale of timber shall, immediately upon the approval of the
bid, or, if unsold at public auction, at the time of purchase at a subsequent sale under
section 90.101, subdivision 1, pay to the commissioner a down payment of 15 percent
of the appraised value. In case any purchaser fails to make such payment, the purchaser
shall be liable therefor to the state in a civil action, and the commissioner may reoffer the
timber for sale as though no bid or sale under section 90.101, subdivision 1, therefor
had been made.

(c) In lieu of the scaling of state timber required by this chapter, A purchaser of
state timber may shall, at the time of payment by the purchaser to the commissioner of
15 percent of the appraised value, elect in writing on a form prescribed by the attorney
general to purchase a permit based solely on the appraiser's estimate of the volume of
timber described in the permit, provided that the commissioner has expressly designated
the availability of such option for that tract on the list of tracts available for sale as
required under section 90.101. A purchaser who elects in writing on a form prescribed
by the attorney general to purchase a permit based solely on the appraiser's estimate of
the volume of timber described on the permit does not have recourse to the provisions
of section 90.281.

(d) In the case of a public auction sale conducted by a sealed bid process, tracts shall
be awarded to the high bidder, who shall pay to the commissioner a down payment of 15
percent of the appraised value within ten business days of receiving a written award
notice. If a purchaser fails to make the down payment, the purchaser is liable for the down
payment to the state and the commissioner may offer the timber for sale to the next highest
bidder as though no higher bid had been made.

(e) Except as otherwise provided by law, at the time the purchaser signs a permit
issued under section 90.151, the purchaser shall make a bid guarantee payment to the
commissioner in an amount equal to 15 percent of the total purchase price of the permit
less the down payment amount required by paragraph (b). If the bid guarantee payment is
not submitted with the signed permit, no harvesting may occur, the permit cancels, and the
down payment for timber forfeits to the state. The bid guarantee payment forfeits to the
state if the purchaser and successors in interest fail to execute an effective permit.

Sec. 5.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.151, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Permit terms.

The permit shall provide that all timber sold or designated
for cutting shall be cut without damage to other timber; that the permit holder shall remove
all timber authorized to be cut under the permit; that timber sold by board measure but
later determined by the commissioner not to be convertible into board measure shall be
paid for by the piece or cord or other unit of measure according to the size, species, or
value, as may be determined by the commissioner; that all timber products, except as
specified by the commissioner, shall be scaled and the final settlement for the timber cut
shall be made on this scale; and that the permit holder shall pay to the state the permit
price for all timber authorized to be cut, including timber not cut.

Sec. 6.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.181, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Passage of title to timber.

(a) The commissioner shall transmit to
the permit holder a statement of the amount due therefor by the terms of the permit upon
completion of the cutting or at least annually in the case of an auction permit. Any partial
payment received may be applied to any items on the statement as the commissioner
shall determine.

(b) The title to the timber shall not pass from the state until the timber has been
scaled as required by the permit, full payment for the timber has been received, and all
other provisions of the permit have been fully complied with.

Sec. 7.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.221, is amended to read:

90.221 TIMBER SALES RECORDS.

The commissioner shall keep timber sales records, including the description of each
tract of land from which any timber is sold; the date of the report of the state appraisers;
the kind, amount, and value of the timber as shown by such the report; the date of the sale;
the price for which the timber was sold; the name of the purchaser; the number, date of
issuance and date of expiration of each permit; the date of any assignment of the permit;
the name of the assignee; the dates of the filing and the amounts of the respective bonds
by the purchaser and assignee; the names of the sureties thereon; the amount of timber
taken from the land; the date of the report of the scaler and state appraiser; the names of
the scaler and the state appraiser who scaled the timber; and the amount paid for such the
timber and the date of payment.

Sec. 8.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.281, is amended to read:

90.281 RESCALES, RECOUNTS AND REESTIMATES.

(a) Upon complaint of any interested permit holder questioning the accuracy of
any scale, count, or estimate of timber made by any state appraiser, or at any other time
the commissioner determines in the absence of a complaint, the commissioner may
cause a rescale, recount, or reestimate thereof to be made jointly by any two or more
state appraisers, which when made shall supersede and for all purposes take the place of
the original scale, count, or estimate, if and only when the scale or count varies more
than ten percent from the original or the estimate exceeds the standards established by
section 90.045.

(b) As a condition precedent to the making of a rescale, recount, or reestimate upon
the complaint of any person, the commissioner may require the person to make available
such a sum of money as the commissioner deems necessary for the actual expenses thereof
and to forfeit the same to the state if the rescale and recount does not vary more than ten
percent from the original or the reestimate does not exceed the standards established by
section 90.045. All forfeited money shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the
fund or account from which the expenses of the rescale, recount, or reestimate were paid.

Sec. 9.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.41, is amended to read:

90.41 STATE APPRAISER AND SCALER; VIOLATIONS, PENALTIES.

Subdivision 1.

Violations.

Any state scaler or state appraiser who shall accept any
compensation or gratuity for services as such from any other source except the state of
Minnesota, or any state scaler, or other person authorized to scale state timber, or state
appraiser, who shall make any false report, or insert in any such report any false statement,
or shall make any such report without having examined the land embraced therein or
without having actually been upon the land, or omit from any such report any statement
required by law to be made therein, or who shall fail to report any known trespass
committed upon state lands, or who shall conspire with any other person in any manner, by
act or omission or otherwise, to defraud or unlawfully deprive the state of Minnesota of any
land or timber, or the value thereof, shall be guilty of a felony. Any material discrepancy
between the facts and the scale returned by any such person scaling timber for the state
shall be considered prima facie evidence that such person is guilty of violating this statute.

No such appraiser or scaler who has been once discharged for cause shall ever again
be appointed. This provision shall not apply to resignations voluntarily made by and
accepted from such employees.

Subd. 2.

Penalty.

Every person who shall cut timber on state lands and fail to mark
the same, as provided by law, and the permit under which the same was cut, shall be
guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

Sec. 10. APPROPRIATION.

$....... in fiscal year 2010 and $....... in fiscal year 2011 are appropriated from the
outdoor heritage fund to the commissioner of natural resources for habitat improvement
projects on state forest lands.

Sec. 11. REPEALER.

Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.01, subdivision 4; 90.201, subdivision 2;
90.251; and 90.252, are repealed.