2nd Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am
A bill for an act
relating to state government operations; establishing procedures for state
agencies to assist communities to recover from a natural disaster; proposing
coding for new law as Minnesota Statutes, chapter 12A.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
new text begin
This chapter provides a framework and procedures for state agencies to assist
communities to recover from a natural disaster for areas of Minnesota that are included in
a presidential declaration of major disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The definitions in this section apply to this chapter.
new text end
new text begin
"Appropriation" means an appropriation provided in
law specifically to implement this chapter.
new text end
new text begin
"Commissioner" means the commissioner of the agency
named in the section, unless otherwise specified.
new text end
new text begin
"Disaster" means a presidential declaration of major disaster and
the event or events cited in the declaration.
new text end
new text begin
"Disaster area" means the area of Minnesota included in a
presidential declaration of major disaster whether included in the original declaration or
added later by federal government action.
new text end
new text begin
Appropriations for programs and projects
under this chapter must be made in law. Appropriations from the bond proceeds fund must
be spent to acquire and to better publicly owned land and buildings and other public
improvements of a capital nature. All appropriations must be used to assist communities
within the disaster area to recover.
new text end
new text begin
State assistance under this chapter
may be made available for relief in a disaster area for costs that are not eligible for
assistance through the FEMA Public Assistance Program or the FEMA Individual
Assistance Program, and may not duplicate or replace assistance available from other
federal government agencies, including the Small Business Administration, private
insurance, or flood insurance.
new text end
new text begin
State assistance may not duplicate or supplement eligible FEMA
Public Assistance Program assistance. For eligible Public Assistance Program costs,
any state matching money made available for that assistance must be disbursed by the
Department of Public Safety to a state agency, local political subdivision, Indian tribe, or
other applicant. State assistance distributed by a state agency, other than the Department of
Public Safety, to a political subdivision or other applicant for disaster costs that are eligible
for FEMA Public Assistance Program assistance constitutes an advance of funds. Such
advances must be repaid to the applicable state agency when the applicant has received the
FEMA Public Assistance Program assistance, and whatever state matching money may be
made available for that assistance, from the Department of Public Safety.
new text end
new text begin
A commissioner who provides non-FEMA Public Assistance
Program grants or other assistance under this chapter to local government units or eligible
entities must report to the appropriate finance chairs in the house and the senate on the
criteria and requirements used by local government units or their agencies in the grants,
loans, or assistance programs.
new text end
new text begin
Unused general fund money appropriated for a project or
program in this chapter may be transferred, for assistance in the disaster area, to another
program or project funded in this chapter. Appropriation transfers must be used to cover
unmet need in a program or project under this chapter. The commissioner of finance must
approve all transfers under this section and must report each transfer to the chairs of the
senate Finance Committee and house of representatives Ways and Means Committee.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use state appropriations for disaster assistance. The
commissioner, in consultation with the chairs of the house and senate committees with
responsibility for agriculture finance, must develop eligibility criteria to distribute disaster
assistance to affected agricultural producers according to need. Assistance may be
provided for, but is not limited to, the following: livestock investment grants, organic
certification assistance, forage production loss offsets for livestock producers, no-interest
disaster recovery loans, other costs related to the disaster, and mental health counseling
support to farm families and business operators through farm business management
programs. To be eligible for disaster assistance under this section, a producer must operate
an agricultural operation in the disaster area.
new text end
new text begin
The board
may use appropriations to acquire easements from landowners on marginal lands in the
disaster area to protect soil and water quality and to support fish and wildlife habitat
as provided in section 103F.515.
new text end
new text begin
The board may use an appropriation, as provided in law, to implement the program.
new text end
new text begin
The board may use appropriations to install, repair, or rehabilitate erosion and sediment
control projects in the disaster area to protect soil and water quality and to support fish
and wildlife habitat.
new text end
new text begin
The board may use an appropriation, as provided in law, to implement the program.
new text end
new text begin
(a) The board may waive the provisions of
Minnesota Rules, chapter 8400, in the disaster area on land damaged by the disaster. The
waiver applies to all existing and future contracts to address critical conservation problems
resulting from the disaster that are funded in whole or in part with state money, to the
extent that combined federal and state funding does not exceed 100 percent. All existing
state cost-share grant agreements in the disaster area are extended, as provided in law.
new text end
new text begin
(b) The payment maximums for improvements to the land under section 103F.515,
subdivision 6, paragraph (a), clause (1), are waived for easements acquired in the disaster
area on land damaged by the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may pay
disaster enrollment impact aid to a school district in an amount set in law times the
number of pupils lost as a result of the disaster. An eligible district must provide to the
commissioner documentation of the number of pupils in average daily membership lost
as a result of the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may make grants to an
eligible district for the costs of facilities cleanup, repair, and replacement that are related
to the disaster and are not covered by the district's insurance settlement or through federal
agency payments. Before a grant is awarded, the eligible school district must provide the
commissioner with information as requested.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may make grants to an
eligible district for additional school operating costs related to the disaster that are not
covered by the district's insurance settlement or through Federal Emergency Management
Agency payments. Before a grant is awarded, the eligible school district must provide the
commissioner with information as requested.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may make grants to eligible
districts for the increased costs associated with transporting students as a result of the
disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use state
appropriations for grants to local units of government for locally administered grants or
loan programs as provided in this section for assistance to eligible organizations directly
and adversely affected by the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
Criteria and requirements must be locally established with
the approval of the commissioner. Local plans must specify the type of assistance to
be provided to eligible organizations. Within the limits of the available grant amounts,
assistance may be provided as loans with or without interest and as forgivable loans. The
criteria must, at a minimum, specify that an organization receiving a forgivable loan must
remain in the local community a minimum of ten years after the date of the loan. Loans
made under this section must not be used to refinance debt that existed on the date of the
disaster. Repayment of loan amounts is made to the local community.
new text end
new text begin
Assistance through a local grant agreement may
be provided to businesses, cooperatives, utilities, and nonprofit organizations including,
but not limited to, those that provide residential, health care, child care, social, or other
services on behalf of the Department of Human Services to residents of the disaster area.
new text end
new text begin
The expenditure of any national
emergency grant from the United States Department of Labor for a disaster is approved
and the amount of the grant is appropriated to the commissioner for the purposes for
which it was received.
new text end
new text begin
To ensure the efficient use of disaster money, the commissioner must encourage
contractors working on projects funded under this chapter to hire employees who are
available through a grant under this subdivision, to the extent practicable.
new text end
new text begin
For the purposes of subdivisions 1 to 4, sections
116J.8731, subdivisions 3, 4, 5, and 7; 116J.993; 116J.994; and 116J.995 are waived.
Businesses that receive grants or loans under this subdivision must set goals for jobs
retained and wages paid within the disaster area.
new text end
new text begin
In disaster-affected communities,
the commissioner may provide for necessary assessment and evaluation of the following:
access to health care; mental health concerns and needs; infectious disease concerns;
indoor environments of public and nonprofit buildings and facilities including nursing
homes and mass care facilities; food safety, lodging and shelter; public swimming pools;
community and other drinking water systems; and private drinking water supply wells.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may take necessary steps to remediate
the effects of a disaster to ensure public health is maintained.
new text end
new text begin
To implement the requirements of this section, the
commissioner may cooperate with private health care providers and facilities and
community health boards or boards of health as defined in section 145A.02, provide
grants to assist community health boards or boards of health, use volunteer services of
individuals qualified to provide public health services, and enter into cooperative or
mutual aid agreements to provide public health services.
new text end
new text begin
The economic
development and housing challenge program under section 462A.33 may provide for
housing assistance in the disaster area as provided in this section.
new text end
new text begin
Within the limits of state appropriations, assistance is provided
to homeowners and rental property owners as forgivable loans up to a maximum set in
law. Loans may be used for capital improvements to housing damaged by the disaster,
including rehabilitation, replacement on the owner's site, or replacement on a different
site within the disaster area. Loans are forgiven for owner-occupied housing if the home
remains the borrower's primary residence for a period of time determined by the agency
to encourage continued residence in the community after the date of the loan. Loans are
forgiven for rental properties if the rents remain affordable to the local work force for at
least ten years after the date of the loan. The agency may set income limits in excess of the
limits established in section 462A.33, subdivision 5. Eligible applicants for assistance
under this subdivision must apply for and accept assistance from federal programs.
new text end
new text begin
Grants may be made under section 462A.21,
subdivision 3b, to local units of government, including regional consortia, in the disaster
area and nonprofit organizations working in the disaster area to assess housing and related
needs, develop and implement community or regional plans to meet those needs, and
provide capacity to implement recovery plans.
new text end
new text begin
For assistance under subdivision 2, the requirements
of section 462A.33, subdivision 3, and Minnesota Rules, parts 4900.3632 and 4900.3634,
subdivision 4, are waived.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may pay parties under contract, provider agreement, or
other arrangement with the commissioner as of the date of the disaster for the costs
of evacuation, transportation, or medical or remedial services provided to vulnerable
residents. Costs eligible for payment under this section are those necessary to ensure the
health and safety of medical assistance recipients during and up to 60 days following the
disaster. To the extent allowed under the state's Medicaid state plan, the commissioner
shall pay these costs from the medical assistance account.
new text end
new text begin
The Minnesota Historical Society may use state appropriations for the costs of
cleanup, renovation, repair, and replacement of historic structures or other historic
resources damaged by the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use
state appropriations to rehabilitate and replace state facilities damaged by the disaster and
to restore natural resources in the disaster area.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use state
appropriations for the state's share of flood hazard mitigation grants for capital
improvements to prevent or alleviate flood damage under section 103F.161 in the disaster
area. The commissioner shall determine project priorities, as appropriate, based on need.
These funds may also be used to buy out substantially damaged structures.
new text end
new text begin
To the extent that the cost of a project funded under this subdivision in a given
municipality exceeds two percent of the median household income in the municipality,
multiplied by the number of households in the municipality, the commissioner may also
use the appropriation for the local share of the project.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use
appropriations for grants to remove debris attributable to the disaster from lakes and
streams.
new text end
new text begin
The maximum grant award under section 103F. 161,
subdivision 2, is waived for grants for the disaster area.
new text end
new text begin
Notwithstanding sections 115C.08, subdivision 4, and 115C.09, subdivision 3i, the
commissioner may use an appropriation, as provided in law, from the petroleum tank
release cleanup fund to make grants to safely rehabilitate buildings if a portion of the
rehabilitation cost is attributable to petroleum contamination resulting from the disaster
or to buy out property substantially damaged by a petroleum tank release resulting from
the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The Public Facilities Authority may make
grants to local units of government to assist with the cost of rehabilitation and replacement
of publicly owned infrastructure, including storm sewers, wastewater systems, municipal
utility services, and drinking water systems. The grants must be used for costs related
to the disaster for damage that occurred on or after the date of the disaster. A general
fund appropriation may be used for grants to assess underground wastewater and storm
water collection systems for damages related to the disaster or for feasibility studies to
address the possibility of extending municipal service to residential areas with septic
systems damaged as a result of the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
For the purposes of this section, criteria, limitations,
and repayment requirements in sections 446A.07, 446A.072, and 446A.081 are waived.
new text end
new text begin
State appropriations may be
used for payment of the state match for federal disaster assistance to state agencies. If
authorized in law, state appropriations may be used to pay all or a portion of the local
share of the match for federal funds for political subdivisions under section 12.221. An
appropriation from the bond proceeds fund may be used to fund federal match obligations
for publicly owned capital improvement projects resulting from the receipt of federal
disaster assistance.
new text end
new text begin
Within the limits of general fund
appropriations in law, the commissioner may make grants to counties for costs related to
the burial and removal of debris resulting from the disaster from residences and farms.
The commissioner may require documentation of costs. Grants are available for debris
removal and burial costs not covered by private insurance or federal reimbursement.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may use
appropriations from the trunk highway fund for transportation infrastructure operation and
maintenance related to a disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner is
responsible to reconstruct and repair trunk highways and trunk highway bridges located in
the disaster area and damaged by the disaster.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner may make grants to
local governments for the capital costs of reconstructing and replacing local roads and
bridges damaged or destroyed by the disaster. Before the commissioner releases grant
money, a grantee must submit final plans to the commissioner for each project under this
subdivision. The commissioner must determine project priorities, review project plans in
light of those priorities, and, if necessary, require changes to the project plans to ensure the
most prudent use of limited state resources.
new text end
new text begin
The commissioner, in consultation with the
commissioner of public safety, must develop guidelines for local governments to use to
respond to natural disasters in order to maximize the use of federal disaster assistance.
The guidelines must address the use of local employees and equipment and contracted
employees and equipment in the disaster response and the relative eligibility for federal
reimbursement.
new text end
new text begin
The requirements of section 174.50, subdivisions 5,
6, 6a, and 7, are waived for grants under subdivision 3.
new text end