SF 2397

1st Engrossment - 83rd Legislature (2003 - 2004) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

  1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to highways; requiring commissioner of 
  1.3             transportation to prepare toll facilities plan; 
  1.4             prohibiting noncompete provisions in toll facility 
  1.5             development agreements from restricting or prohibiting 
  1.6             development, design, construction, or operation of 
  1.7             public transit; amending Minnesota Statutes 2002, 
  1.8             sections 160.84, subdivision 9; 160.86; proposing 
  1.9             coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 160. 
  1.10  BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.11     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 160.84, 
  1.12  subdivision 9, is amended to read: 
  1.13     Subd. 9.  [TOLL FACILITY.] "Toll facility" means a bridge, 
  1.14  causeway, or tunnel, and its approaches; a road, street, or 
  1.15  highway or lane thereon; an appurtenant building, structure, or 
  1.16  other improvement; land lying within applicable rights-of-way; 
  1.17  and other appurtenant rights or hereditaments that together 
  1.18  comprise a project for which a road authority or private 
  1.19  operator is authorized to develop, finance, design, operate, and 
  1.20  impose tolls under sections 160.84 to 160.92. 
  1.21     Sec. 2.  [160.851] [TOLL FACILITIES PLAN.] 
  1.22     Subdivision 1.  [PLAN REQUIRED.] By June 30, 2005, the 
  1.23  commissioner shall adopt a draft toll facilities plan to cover a 
  1.24  20-year period.  The plan must ensure that when toll facilities 
  1.25  are authorized they will be consistent with regional 
  1.26  transportation plans, be coordinated with other highway and 
  1.27  transportation improvements, and will be constructed only to 
  2.1   meet transportation needs that cannot reasonably be met in any 
  2.2   other way.  The plan must include (1) all toll facilities that 
  2.3   have been identified in responses received by the commissioner 
  2.4   to a request for project proposals for toll facility 
  2.5   development, and (2) all toll facilities that the commissioner 
  2.6   determines are under active consideration for development 
  2.7   agreements by local road authorities.  Neither the commissioner 
  2.8   nor a local road authority may enter into a development 
  2.9   agreement under section 160.86 until the initial plan has been 
  2.10  completed and approvals obtained under subdivision 4. 
  2.11     Subd. 2.  [COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS.] The plan must require 
  2.12  that before a development agreement may be signed for a toll 
  2.13  facility project the road authority must perform an analysis of 
  2.14  the project that compares (1) the total cost of the project to 
  2.15  its developer and users, and the benefits of the toll facility 
  2.16  to its users and users of other highways, to (2) the total costs 
  2.17  that the road authority would incur if it were to construct the 
  2.18  project itself and operate it without toll, and the benefits of 
  2.19  the nontoll facility to its users and users of other highways.  
  2.20  The analysis must include vehicle use projections from an 
  2.21  independent source.  
  2.22     Subd. 3.  [TRANSIT AND HIGH-OCCUPANCY VEHICLE 
  2.23  ADVANTAGES.] The plan must require that each development 
  2.24  agreement made by the commissioner must provide significant 
  2.25  advantages, benefits, or preferences to public transit and other 
  2.26  high-occupancy vehicles. 
  2.27     Subd. 4.  [APPROVAL OF PLAN.] The draft toll facilities 
  2.28  plan must be approved by the metropolitan planning organization 
  2.29  in each metropolitan area in which the plan shows a toll 
  2.30  facility may potentially be located.  The commissioner shall 
  2.31  submit the draft plan to each such metropolitan planning 
  2.32  organization by July 15, 2005.  Failure by a metropolitan 
  2.33  planning organization to act on the draft plan by December 31, 
  2.34  2005, constitutes approval.  The plan is not effective until all 
  2.35  approvals required under this subdivision have been secured. 
  2.36     Subd. 5.  [OPERATIONAL ASPECTS OF PLAN.] The toll 
  3.1   facilities plan must not only specify locations of potential 
  3.2   facilities but also provide for operational aspects of toll 
  3.3   facilities, including: 
  3.4      (1) design standards for toll facilities that are unique to 
  3.5   those facilities; 
  3.6      (2) methods of toll collection; 
  3.7      (3) determination of tolls; 
  3.8      (4) maintenance of and law enforcement on toll facilities; 
  3.9   and 
  3.10     (5) standards to be met before toll facilities are 
  3.11  transferred to a road authority. 
  3.12     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 160.86, is 
  3.13  amended to read: 
  3.14     160.86 [TOLL FACILITY DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT; REQUIREMENTS.] 
  3.15     A development agreement must include the following 
  3.16  provisions: 
  3.17     (a) The toll facility must meet the road authority's 
  3.18  standards of design and construction for roads and bridges of 
  3.19  the same functional classification. 
  3.20     (b) The commissioner must review and approve the location 
  3.21  and design of a bridge over navigable waters as if the bridge 
  3.22  were constructed by a road authority.  This requirement does not 
  3.23  diminish the private operator's responsibility for bridge safety.
  3.24     (c) The private operator shall manage and operate the toll 
  3.25  facility in cooperation with the road authority and subject to 
  3.26  the development agreement. 
  3.27     (d) The toll facility is subject to regular inspections by 
  3.28  the road authority and the commissioner. 
  3.29     (e) The agreement must provide the terms and conditions of 
  3.30  maintenance, snow removal, and police services to the toll 
  3.31  facility.  The road authority must provide the services.  The 
  3.32  services must meet at least the road authority's standards for 
  3.33  facilities of the same functional classification. 
  3.34     (f) The agreement must establish a reasonable rate of 
  3.35  return on investment and capital during the term of the 
  3.36  agreement. 
  4.1      (g) A toll facility agreement that contains a provision 
  4.2   that prohibits or restricts construction of a competing 
  4.3   transportation facility in proximity to the toll facility may 
  4.4   not prohibit or restrict the development, design, construction, 
  4.5   or operation of public transit facilities or service, including 
  4.6   commuter rail lines. 
  4.7      Sec. 4.  [160.865] [TOLL FACILITIES; ADDITIONAL PLANNING 
  4.8   REQUIREMENTS.] 
  4.9      Subdivision 1.  [INCLUSION IN STATEWIDE TRANSPORTATION 
  4.10  IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.] The commissioner of transportation may not 
  4.11  make a development agreement for a toll facility unless the 
  4.12  facility is included in the commissioner's statewide 
  4.13  transportation improvement program for the federal fiscal year 
  4.14  in which construction of the facility would begin. 
  4.15     Subd. 2.  [BUDGET SUBMISSION.] In each biennial budget 
  4.16  document for the Department of Transportation submitted to the 
  4.17  legislature, the commissioner shall include a description of 
  4.18  each toll facility developed under a development agreement 
  4.19  between the commissioner and a private operator that the 
  4.20  commissioner determines is likely to have construction begun in 
  4.21  that biennium.  The description must include the design and 
  4.22  location of each such facility.  If a development agreement has 
  4.23  been signed for the facility, the description must summarize the 
  4.24  major points of the agreement.  If no development agreement has 
  4.25  been signed, the description must summarize the major points of 
  4.26  all project proposals that have been received for the project.