1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to transportation; changing county state-aid 
  1.3             highway apportionment formula; increasing gasoline tax 
  1.4             rate; increasing portion of motor vehicle sales tax 
  1.5             receipts allotted to transit assistance fund; 
  1.6             providing for distribution of money from the transit 
  1.7             assistance fund; appropriating money; amending 
  1.8             Minnesota Statutes 1994, sections 162.07, subdivisions 
  1.9             1, 2, 3, 5, and 6; 174.32, subdivision 2; 296.02, 
  1.10            subdivision 1b; and 297B.09, subdivision 1; repealing 
  1.11            Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, subdivision 4.
  1.12  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.13     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  1.14  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.15     Subdivision 1.  [FORMULA.] After deducting for 
  1.16  administrative costs and for the disaster account and research 
  1.17  account and state park roads as heretofore provided, the 
  1.18  remainder of the total sum provided for in section 162.06, 
  1.19  subdivision 1, shall be identified as the apportionment sum and 
  1.20  shall be apportioned by the commissioner to the several counties 
  1.21  on the basis of the needs of the counties as determined in 
  1.22  accordance with the following formula: 
  1.23     (1) An amount equal to ten five percent of the 
  1.24  apportionment sum shall be apportioned equally among the 87 
  1.25  counties.  
  1.26     (2) An amount equal to ten 20 percent of the apportionment 
  1.27  sum shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  1.28  county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  2.1   motor vehicle registration for the calendar year preceding the 
  2.2   one last past, determined by residence of registrants, bears to 
  2.3   the total statewide motor vehicle registration.  
  2.4      (3) An amount equal to 30 35 percent of the apportionment 
  2.5   sum shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  2.6   county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  2.7   total existing lane miles of approved county state-aid highways 
  2.8   bears to the total existing lane miles of approved statewide 
  2.9   county state-aid highways.  
  2.10     (4) An amount equal to 50 40 percent of the apportionment 
  2.11  sum shall be apportioned among the several counties so that each 
  2.12  county shall receive of such amount the percentage that its 
  2.13  money needs bears to the sum of the money needs of all of the 
  2.14  individual counties; provided, that the percentage of such 
  2.15  amount that each county is to receive shall be adjusted so that 
  2.16  each county shall receive in 1958 a total apportionment at least 
  2.17  ten percent greater than its total 1956 apportionments from the 
  2.18  state road and bridge fund; and provided further that those 
  2.19  counties whose money needs are thus adjusted shall never receive 
  2.20  a percentage of the apportionment sum less than the percentage 
  2.21  that such county received in 1958.  
  2.22     In 1995 and thereafter, no county shall receive more than 
  2.23  its apportionment for the previous year plus 30 percent, and in 
  2.24  1995 and thereafter, no county shall receive less than its 
  2.25  apportionment for 1994 plus three percent.  The three percent 
  2.26  shall be decreased proportionately among the counties if the 
  2.27  total apportionment sum is insufficient. 
  2.28     Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  2.29  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  2.30     Subd. 2.  [MONEY NEEDS DEFINED.] For the purpose of this 
  2.31  section, money needs of each county are defined as the estimated 
  2.32  total annual costs of constructing, over a period of 25 years, 
  2.33  the county state-aid highway system in that county, as reduced 
  2.34  according to subdivision 3.  Costs incidental to construction, 
  2.35  or a specified portion thereof as set forth in the 
  2.36  commissioner's rules may be included in determining money 
  3.1   needs.  To avoid variances in costs due to differences in 
  3.2   construction policy, construction costs shall be estimated on 
  3.3   the basis of the engineering standards developed cooperatively 
  3.4   by the commissioner and the county engineers of the several 
  3.5   counties.  Any variance granted pursuant to section 162.02, 
  3.6   subdivision 3a shall be reflected in the estimated construction 
  3.7   costs in determining money needs.  
  3.8      Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  3.9   subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
  3.10     Subd. 3.  [COMPUTATIONS FOR RURAL COUNTIES CONSTRUCTION 
  3.11  NEEDS DEDUCTION.] An amount equal to a levy of 0.01596 1.5 
  3.12  percent on each rural county's total taxable market 
  3.13  value adjusted net tax capacity for the last preceding calendar 
  3.14  year shall be computed and shall be subtracted from the county's 
  3.15  total estimated construction costs.  The result thereof shall be 
  3.16  the money needs of the county.  For the purpose of this section, 
  3.17  "rural counties" means all counties having a population of less 
  3.18  than 175,000.  
  3.19     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  3.20  subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  3.21     Subd. 5.  [SCREENING BOARD.] On or before September 1 of 
  3.22  each year the county engineer of each county shall forward to 
  3.23  the commissioner, on forms prepared by the commissioner, all 
  3.24  information relating to the mileage in lane miles of the county 
  3.25  state-aid highway system in the county, and the money needs of 
  3.26  the county that the commissioner deems necessary in order to 
  3.27  apportion the county state-aid highway fund in accordance with 
  3.28  the formula heretofore set forth.  Upon receipt of the 
  3.29  information the commissioner shall appoint a board consisting of 
  3.30  nine county engineers.  The board shall be so selected that each 
  3.31  county engineer appointed shall be from a different state 
  3.32  highway construction district, except that two county engineers 
  3.33  may be appointed from the metropolitan district.  No county 
  3.34  engineer shall be appointed so as to serve consecutively for 
  3.35  more than two four years.  The board shall investigate and 
  3.36  review the information submitted by each county and shall on or 
  4.1   before the first day of November of each year submit its 
  4.2   findings and recommendations in writing as to each county's lane 
  4.3   mileage and money needs to the commissioner on a form prepared 
  4.4   by the commissioner.  Final determination of the lane mileage of 
  4.5   each system and the money needs of each county shall be made by 
  4.6   the commissioner.  
  4.7      Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, 
  4.8   subdivision 6, is amended to read: 
  4.9      Subd. 6.  [ESTIMATES TO BE MADE IF INFORMATION NOT 
  4.10  PROVIDED.] In the event that any county shall fail to submit the 
  4.11  information provided for herein, the commissioner shall estimate 
  4.12  the lane mileage and the money needs of the county.  The 
  4.13  estimate shall be used in determining the apportionment 
  4.14  formula.  The commissioner may withhold payment of the amount 
  4.15  apportioned to the county until the information is submitted.  
  4.16     Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 174.32, 
  4.17  subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
  4.18     Subd. 2.  [TRANSIT ASSISTANCE FUND; DISTRIBUTION.] The 
  4.19  transit assistance fund receives money distributed under section 
  4.20  297B.09.  Eighty percent of As appropriated from time to time by 
  4.21  law, the receipts of the fund must be placed into a metropolitan 
  4.22  account for distribution to recipients located in the 
  4.23  metropolitan area and 20 percent into a separate account for 
  4.24  distribution to recipients located outside of the metropolitan 
  4.25  area.  Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, the 
  4.26  metropolitan council is responsible for distributing assistance 
  4.27  from the metropolitan account, and the commissioner is 
  4.28  responsible for distributing assistance from the other account.  
  4.29     Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 296.02, 
  4.30  subdivision 1b, is amended to read: 
  4.31     Subd. 1b.  [RATES IMPOSED.] The gasoline excise tax is 
  4.32  imposed at the following rate:  
  4.33     For the period On and after May June 1, 1988 1995, 
  4.34  gasoline is taxed at the rate of 20 23 cents per gallon.  
  4.35     Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 297B.09, 
  4.36  subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  5.1      Subdivision 1.  [GENERAL FUND SHARE.] (a) Money collected 
  5.2   and received under this chapter must be deposited in the state 
  5.3   treasury and credited to the general fund.  The amounts 
  5.4   collected and received shall be credited as provided in this 
  5.5   subdivision, and transferred from the general fund on July 15 
  5.6   and February 15 of each fiscal year.  The commissioner of 
  5.7   finance must make each transfer based upon the actual receipts 
  5.8   of the preceding six calendar months and include the interest 
  5.9   earned during that six-month period.  The commissioner of 
  5.10  finance may establish a quarterly or other schedule providing 
  5.11  for more frequent payments to the transit assistance fund if the 
  5.12  commissioner determines it is necessary or desirable to provide 
  5.13  for the cash flow needs of the recipients of money from the 
  5.14  transit assistance fund.  
  5.15     (b) Twenty-five Thirty percent of the money collected and 
  5.16  received under this chapter after June 30, 1990, and before July 
  5.17  1, 1991, must be transferred to the highway user tax 
  5.18  distribution fund and the transit assistance fund for 
  5.19  apportionment as follows:  75 percent must be transferred to the 
  5.20  highway user tax distribution fund for apportionment in the same 
  5.21  manner and for the same purposes as other money in that fund, 
  5.22  and the remaining 25 percent of the money must be transferred to 
  5.23  the transit assistance fund to be appropriated to the 
  5.24  commissioner of transportation for transit assistance within the 
  5.25  state and to the metropolitan council for transit assistance 
  5.26  within the metropolitan area as defined in section 473.121, 
  5.27  subdivision 2.  
  5.28     (c) The distributions under this subdivision to the highway 
  5.29  user tax distribution fund until June 30, 1991, and to the trunk 
  5.30  highway fund thereafter, must be reduced by the amount necessary 
  5.31  to fund the appropriation under section 41A.09, subdivision 1.  
  5.32  For the fiscal years ending June 30, 1988, and June 30, 1989, 
  5.33  the commissioner of finance, before making the transfers 
  5.34  required on July 15 and January 15 of each year, shall estimate 
  5.35  the amount required to fund the appropriation under section 
  5.36  41A.09, subdivision 1, for the six-month period for which the 
  6.1   transfer is being made.  The commissioner shall then reduce the 
  6.2   amount transferred to the highway user tax distribution fund by 
  6.3   the amount of that estimate.  The commissioner shall reduce the 
  6.4   estimate for any six-month period by the amount by which the 
  6.5   estimate for the previous six-month period exceeded the amount 
  6.6   needed to fund the appropriation under section 41A.09, 
  6.7   subdivision 1, for that previous six-month period.  If at any 
  6.8   time during a six-month period in those fiscal years the amount 
  6.9   of reduction in the transfer to the highway user tax 
  6.10  distribution fund is insufficient to fund the appropriation 
  6.11  under section 41A.09, subdivision 1, for that period, the 
  6.12  commissioner shall transfer to the general fund from the highway 
  6.13  user tax distribution fund an additional amount sufficient to 
  6.14  fund the appropriation for that period, but the additional 
  6.15  amount so transferred to the general fund in a six-month period 
  6.16  may not exceed the amount transferred to the highway user tax 
  6.17  distribution fund for that six-month period. 
  6.18     Sec. 9.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  6.19     $....... is appropriated from the transit assistance fund 
  6.20  to the commissioner of transportation for the purposes in 
  6.21  Minnesota Statutes, section 174.32. 
  6.22     $....... is appropriated from the transit assistance fund 
  6.23  to the metropolitan council for the purposes in Minnesota 
  6.24  Statutes, section 174.32. 
  6.25     Sec. 10.  [REPEALER.] 
  6.26     Minnesota Statutes 1994, section 162.07, subdivision 4, is 
  6.27  repealed. 
  6.28     Sec. 11.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  6.29     Sections 1 to 5 and 10 are effective for county state-aid 
  6.30  fund apportionment payments in 1995 and thereafter.  Sections 6, 
  6.31  8, and 9 are effective July 1, 1995.  Section 7 is effective 
  6.32  June 1, 1995, and applies to gasoline and special fuel in 
  6.33  distributor storage on that date.