SF 1291

as introduced - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to natural resources; proposing an amendment to the Minnesota
Constitution, article XI, section 14; proposing modification of constitutional
environment and natural resources trust fund provisions; providing for
expenditures from the clean water legacy account and environment and natural
resources trust fund; modifying disposition of state lottery in lieu tax; modifying
disposition of unclaimed lottery prizes; appropriating money; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 114D.45, subdivisions 2, 3, by adding a
subdivision; 116P.08, subdivision 1; 297A.94; 349A.08, subdivision 5; 349A.10,
subdivision 5; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 85.

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

ARTICLE 1

CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

Section 1. new text begin CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROPOSED.
new text end

new text begin An amendment to the Minnesota Constitution is proposed to the people. If the
amendment is adopted, article XI, section 14, will read:
new text end

Sec. 14.

A permanent environment and natural resources trust fund is established
in the state treasury. Loans may be made of up to five percent of the principal of the
fund for water system improvements as provided by law. The assets of the fund shall be
appropriated by law for the public purpose of protection, conservation, preservation, and
enhancement of the state's air, water, land, fish, wildlife, and other natural resources.
The amount appropriated each year of a biennium, commencing on July 1 in each
odd-numbered year and ending on and including June 30 in the next odd-numbered year,
may be up to 5-1/2 percent of the market value of the fund on June 30 one year before
the start of the biennium new text begin and 50 percent of the total deposits to the fund for the preceding
fiscal year new text end . Not less than deleted text begin 40 deleted text end new text begin 80 new text end percent of the net proceeds from any state-operated lottery
must be credited to the fund until the year deleted text begin 2025 deleted text end new text begin 2034 new text end .

Sec. 2. new text begin SUBMISSION TO VOTERS.
new text end

new text begin The proposed amendment must be submitted to the people at the 2008 general
election. The question submitted must be:
new text end

new text begin "Shall the Minnesota Constitution be amended to modify the amount of the
environment and natural resources trust fund that is available for appropriation each
year, to increase the amount of net proceeds from the state lottery to be credited to the
environment and natural resources trust fund from 40 percent to 80 percent, and to extend
the period for which net proceeds from the state lottery are credited to the environment
and natural resources trust fund by nine years?
new text end

new text begin Yes ....... new text end

new text begin No ......." new text end

ARTICLE 2

NATURAL RESOURCES FUNDING

Section 1.

new text begin [85.225] PARKS AND TRAILS ACCOUNT.
new text end

new text begin A parks and trails account is created in the natural resources fund. Money deposited
in the natural resources fund under section 349A.08, subdivision 5, and interest earned
thereon, shall be credited to the account. Money in the account is appropriated to the
commissioner of natural resources for the acquisition, operation, and maintenance of
state parks and trails.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 114D.45, subdivision 2, is amended to read:

Subd. 2.

Sources of revenue.

The following revenues must be deleted text begin deposited in deleted text end new text begin credited
to new text end the clean water legacy account:

(1) money transferred to the account; deleted text begin and deleted text end

new text begin (2) money credited to the account under section 297A.94, paragraph (g); and
new text end

deleted text begin (2) deleted text end new text begin (3) new text end interest accrued on the account.

Sec. 3.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 114D.45, subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Purposes.

new text begin Except as provided in subdivision 4 and new text end subject to appropriation
by the legislature, the clean water legacy account may be spent for the following purposes:

(1) to provide grants, loans, and technical assistance to public agencies and others
who are participating in the process of identifying impaired waters, developing TMDL's,
implementing restoration plans for impaired waters, and monitoring the effectiveness
of restoration;

(2) to support measures to prevent waters from becoming impaired and to improve
the quality of waters that are listed as impaired but do not have an approved TMDL
addressing the impairment;

(3) to provide grants and loans for wastewater and storm water treatment projects
through the Public Facilities Authority;

(4) to support the efforts of public agencies associated with individual sewage
treatment systems and financial assistance for upgrading and replacing the systems; and

(5) to provide funds to state agencies to carry out their responsibilities under this
chapter.

Sec. 4.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 114D.45, is amended by adding a subdivision
to read:

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Lottery proceeds; expenditures. new text end

new text begin Subject to appropriation by the
legislature, money credited to the account according to section 297A.94, paragraph (g),
must be spent for monitoring and assessment of state waters.
new text end

Sec. 5.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 116P.08, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Expenditures.

Money in the trust fund may be spent only for:

(1) the reinvest in Minnesota program as provided in section 84.95, subdivision 2;

(2) research that contributes to increasing the effectiveness of protecting or managing
the state's environment or natural resources;

(3) collection and analysis of information that assists in developing the state's
environmental and natural resources policies;

(4) enhancement of public education, awareness, and understanding necessary for
the protection, conservation, restoration, and enhancement of air, land, water, forests,
fish, wildlife, and other natural resources;

(5) capital projects for the preservation and protection of unique natural resources;

(6) activities that preserve or enhance fish, wildlife, land, air, water, and other natural
resources that otherwise may be substantially impaired or destroyed in any area of the state;

new text begin (7) acquiring natural areas in fee and obtaining permanent conservation easements
from willing landowners;
new text end

new text begin (8) operating and maintaining lands and easements retained by the state;
new text end

deleted text begin (7) deleted text end new text begin (9) new text end administrative and investment expenses incurred by the State Board of
Investment in investing deposits to the trust fund; and

deleted text begin (8) deleted text end new text begin (10) new text end administrative expenses subject to the limits in section 116P.09.

Sec. 6.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 297A.94, is amended to read:

297A.94 DEPOSIT OF REVENUES.

(a) Except as provided in this section, the commissioner shall deposit the revenues,
including interest and penalties, derived from the taxes imposed by this chapter in the state
treasury and credit them to the general fund.

(b) The commissioner shall deposit taxes in the Minnesota agricultural and economic
account in the special revenue fund if:

(1) the taxes are derived from sales and use of property and services purchased for
the construction and operation of an agricultural resource project; and

(2) the purchase was made on or after the date on which a conditional commitment
was made for a loan guaranty for the project under section 41A.04, subdivision 3.

The commissioner of finance shall certify to the commissioner the date on which the
project received the conditional commitment. The amount deposited in the loan guaranty
account must be reduced by any refunds and by the costs incurred by the Department of
Revenue to administer and enforce the assessment and collection of the taxes.

(c) The commissioner shall deposit the revenues, including interest and penalties,
derived from the taxes imposed on sales and purchases included in section 297A.61,
subdivision 3, paragraph (g), clauses (1) and (4), in the state treasury, and credit them
as follows:

(1) first to the general obligation special tax bond debt service account in each fiscal
year the amount required by section 16A.661, subdivision 3, paragraph (b); and

(2) after the requirements of clause (1) have been met, the balance to the general
fund.

(d) The commissioner shall deposit the revenues, including interest and penalties,
collected under section 297A.64, subdivision 5, in the state treasury and credit them to the
general fund. By July 15 of each year the commissioner shall transfer to the highway user
tax distribution fund an amount equal to the excess fees collected under section 297A.64,
subdivision 5, for the previous calendar year.

(e) For deleted text begin fiscal year 2001, 97 percent; for fiscal years 2002 and 2003, 87 percent; and
for deleted text end fiscal year deleted text begin 2004 deleted text end new text begin 2009 new text end and thereafter, percent of the revenues, including
interest and penalties, transmitted to the commissioner under section 297A.65, must be
deposited by the commissioner in the state treasury as follows:

(1) 50 percent of the receipts must be deposited in the heritage enhancement account
in the game and fish fund, and may be spent only on activities that improve, enhance, or
protect fish and wildlife resources, including conservation, restoration, and enhancement
of land, water, and other natural resources of the state;

(2) 22.5 percent of the receipts must be deposited in the natural resources fund, and
may be spent only for state parks and trails;

(3) 22.5 percent of the receipts must be deposited in the natural resources fund, and
may be spent only on metropolitan park and trail grants;

(4) three percent of the receipts must be deposited in the natural resources fund, and
may be spent only on local trail grants; and

(5) two percent of the receipts must be deposited in the natural resources fund,
and may be spent only for the Minnesota Zoological Garden, the Como Park Zoo and
Conservatory, and the Duluth Zoo.

(f) The revenue dedicated under paragraph (e) may not be used as a substitute
for traditional sources of funding for the purposes specified, but the dedicated revenue
shall supplement traditional sources of funding for those purposes. Land acquired with
money deposited in the game and fish fund under paragraph (e) must be open to public
hunting and fishing during the open season, except that in aquatic management areas or
on lands where angling easements have been acquired, fishing may be prohibited during
certain times of the year and hunting may be prohibited. At least 87 percent of the money
deposited in the game and fish fund for improvement, enhancement, or protection of fish
and wildlife resources under paragraph (e) must be allocated for field operations.

new text begin (g) For fiscal year 2009 and thereafter, 22 percent of the revenue, including interest
and penalties, transmitted to the commissioner under section 297A.65 must be deposited
in the state treasury and credited to the clean water legacy account in the environmental
fund for monitoring and assessment of state waters.
new text end

Sec. 7.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 349A.08, subdivision 5, is amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Payment; unclaimed prizes.

A prize in the state lottery must be claimed
by the winner within one year of the date of the drawing at which the prize was awarded
or the last day sales were authorized for a game where a prize was determined in a manner
other than by means of a drawing. If a valid claim is not made for a prize payable directly
by the lottery by the end of this period, the prize money is considered unclaimed and the
winner of the prize shall have no further claim to the prize. A prize won by a person
who purchased the winning ticket in violation of section 349A.12, subdivision 1, or won
by a person ineligible to be awarded a prize under subdivision 7 must be treated as an
unclaimed prize under this section. The director must transfer all unclaimed prize money
at the end of each fiscal year from the lottery cash flow account to the deleted text begin general deleted text end new text begin natural
resources new text end fund new text begin for the public purpose of enhancement of the state's natural resources by
providing for parks and trails acquisitions, operations, and maintenance new text end .

Sec. 8.

Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 349A.10, subdivision 5, is amended to read:

Subd. 5.

Deposit of net proceeds.

Within 30 days after the end of each month, the
director shall deposit in the state treasury the net proceeds of the lottery, which is the
balance in the lottery fund after transfers to the lottery prize fund and credits to the lottery
operations account. Of the net proceeds, deleted text begin 40 deleted text end new text begin 80 new text end percent must be credited to the Minnesota
environment and natural resources trust fund and the remainder must be credited to the
general fund.

Sec. 9. new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE.
new text end

new text begin Sections 1 to 8 are effective July 1, 2009, if the constitutional amendment proposed
in article 1 is adopted by the voters.
new text end