Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 184-H.F.No. 909 
           An act relating to waters; changing the posting and 
          publication of notice requirements for aeration 
          operations by a permittee of the commissioner of 
          natural resources; providing an exclusion from 
          government tort liability; amending Minnesota Statutes 
          1986, sections 3.736, subdivision 3; and 378.22, 
          subdivisions 2 and 3, and by adding a subdivision. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 3.736, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [EXCLUSIONS.] Without intent to preclude the 
courts from finding additional cases where the state and its 
employees should not, in equity and good conscience, pay 
compensation for personal injuries or property losses, the 
legislature declares that the state and its employees are not 
liable for the following losses: 
    (a) Any loss caused by an act or omission of a state 
employee exercising due care in the execution of a valid or 
invalid statute or rule; 
    (b) Any loss caused by the performance or failure to 
perform a discretionary duty, whether or not the discretion is 
abused; 
    (c) Any loss in connection with the assessment and 
collection of taxes; 
    (d) Any loss caused by snow or ice conditions on any 
highway or public sidewalk that does not abut a publicly-owned 
building or a publicly-owned parking lot, except when the 
condition is affirmatively caused by the negligent acts of a 
state employee; 
    (e) Any loss caused by wild animals in their natural state; 
    (f) Any loss other than injury to or loss of property or 
personal injury or death; 
    (g) Any loss caused by the condition of unimproved real 
property owned by the state, which means land that the state has 
not improved, and appurtenances, fixtures and attachments to 
land that the state has neither affixed nor improved; 
    (h) Any loss incurred by a user within the boundaries of 
the outdoor recreation system and arising from the construction, 
operation, or maintenance of the system, as defined in section 
86A.04, or from the clearing of land, removal of refuse, and 
creation of trails or paths without artificial surfaces, or from 
the construction, operation, or maintenance of a water access 
site created by the iron range resources and rehabilitation 
board, except that the state is liable for conduct that would 
entitle a trespasser to damages against a private person; 
    (i) Any loss of benefits or compensation due under a 
program of public assistance or public welfare, except where 
state compensation for loss is expressly required by federal law 
in order for the state to receive federal grants-in-aid; 
    (j) Any loss based on the failure of any person to meet the 
standards needed for a license, permit, or other authorization 
issued by the state or its agents; 
    (k) Any loss based on the usual care and treatment, or lack 
of care and treatment, of any person at a state hospital or 
state corrections facility where reasonable use of available 
appropriations has been made to provide care; 
    (l) Any loss, damage, or destruction of property of a 
patient or inmate of a state institution;  
    (m) Any loss for which recovery is prohibited by section 
169.121, subdivision 9; and 
     (n) Any loss caused by an aeration, bubbler, water 
circulation, or similar system used to increase dissolved oxygen 
or maintain open water on the ice of public waters, that is 
operated under a permit issued by the commissioner of natural 
resources.  
    The state will not pay punitive damages. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 378.22, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 2.  [POSTING REQUIREMENTS.] Where an aeration system 
is used on the ice of public waters, signs shall be posted by 
the permittee at a height of from four to six feet in a 
rectangular pattern at each corner of the open water, with at 
least two and additional signs between the corner signs on any 
side exceeding so that a sign is posted at least every 100 feet 
in length. 
    Additional signs shall be posted by the permittee on the 
shoreline of the public waters at each public access point and 
other areas commonly used by the public for access to the lake.  
The signs shall comply with the applicable order of the 
commissioner of natural resources.  
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 378.22, 
subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  [PUBLICATION OF NOTICE.] Advance public notice of 
the commencement of any aeration system, authorized by a permit 
from the commissioner of natural resources during periods of ice 
cover on public waters, shall be given by the permittee.  
Minimum notice shall consist of publication of the location and 
date of commencement of the system in a newspaper of general 
circulation in the area where the system is proposed to be 
operated at least two times between five and 20 60 days prior to 
commencement. 
     Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 378.22, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [WATER AERATION RULES.] The commissioner of 
natural resources shall, by September 1, 1988, adopt rules 
relating to the issuance of permits for aeration, bubbler, water 
circulation, and similar systems used to increase dissolved 
oxygen or to maintain open water on the ice of public waters. 
    Approved May 20, 1987