Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                        CHAPTER 580-H.F.No. 1399 
           An act relating to economic development; authorizing 
          certain entities involved in economic development to 
          participate in secondary markets; authorizing the use 
          of appropriated money for secondary market purposes; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, sections 
          41A.023; 116J.982, by adding a subdivision; 469.012, 
          subdivision 1; 469.059, by adding a subdivision; 
          469.101, by adding a subdivision; and 469.146, by 
          adding a subdivision. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
     Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
41A.023, is amended to read:  
    41A.023 [POWERS.] 
    In addition to other powers granted by this chapter, the 
board may: 
    (1) sue and be sued; 
    (2) acquire, hold, lease, and transfer any interest in real 
and personal property for its corporate purposes; 
    (3) sell at public or private sale, at the price or prices 
determined by the board, any note, mortgage, lease, sublease, 
lease purchase, or other instrument or obligation evidencing or 
securing a loan made for the purpose of economic development, 
job creation, redevelopment, or community revitalization by a 
public agency to a business, for-profit or nonprofit 
organization, or an individual; 
    (4) obtain insurance on its property; 
    (5) obtain municipal bond insurance, letters of credit, 
surety obligations, or similar agreements from financial 
institutions; 
    (6) enter into other agreements or transactions, without 
regard to chapter 16B, that the board considers necessary or 
appropriate to carry out the purposes of this chapter with 
federal or state agencies, political subdivisions of the state, 
or other persons, firms, or corporations; 
    (7) establish and collect fees without regard to chapter 14 
and section 16A.128; 
     (8) accept appropriations, gifts, grants, and bequests; 
     (9) use money received from any source for any legal 
purpose or program of the board; 
     (10) participate in loans for agricultural resource 
projects in accordance with section 41A.035; 
     (11) provide small business development loans in accordance 
with section 41A.036; and 
     (12) guarantee or insure bonds or notes issued by the board.
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
116J.982, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 6a.  [SECONDARY MARKET.] A community development 
corporation may sell, at private or public sale, at the price or 
prices determined by the corporation, any note, mortgage, lease, 
sublease, lease purchase, or other instrument or obligation 
evidencing or securing a loan made for the purpose of economic 
development, job creation, redevelopment, or community 
revitalization by a public agency to a business, for-profit or 
nonprofit organization, or an individual. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
469.012, subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
     Subdivision 1.  [SCHEDULE OF POWERS.] An authority shall be 
a public body corporate and politic and shall have all the 
powers necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of 
sections 469.001 to 469.047, except that the power to levy and 
collect taxes or special assessments is limited to the power 
provided in sections 469.027 to 469.033.  Its powers include the 
following powers in addition to others granted in sections 
469.001 to 469.047:  
     (1) to sue and be sued; to have a seal, which shall be 
judicially noticed, and to alter it; to have perpetual 
succession; and to make, amend, and repeal rules consistent with 
sections 469.001 to 469.047;  
     (2) to employ an executive director, technical experts, and 
officers, agents, and employees, permanent and temporary, that 
it requires, and determine their qualifications, duties, and 
compensation; for legal services it requires, to call upon the 
chief law officer of the city or to employ its own counsel and 
legal staff; so far as practicable, to use the services of local 
public bodies in its area of operation, provided that those 
local public bodies, if requested, shall make the services 
available; 
     (3) to delegate to one or more of its agents or employees 
the powers or duties it deems proper; 
     (4) within its area of operation, to undertake, prepare, 
carry out, and operate projects and to provide for the 
construction, reconstruction, improvement, extension, 
alteration, or repair of any project or part thereof; 
     (5) subject to the provisions of section 469.026, to give, 
sell, transfer, convey, or otherwise dispose of real or personal 
property or any interest therein and to execute leases, deeds, 
conveyances, negotiable instruments, purchase agreements, and 
other contracts or instruments, and take action that is 
necessary or convenient to carry out the purposes of these 
sections; 
     (6) within its area of operation, to acquire real or 
personal property or any interest therein by gifts, grant, 
purchase, exchange, lease, transfer, bequest, devise, or 
otherwise, and by the exercise of the power of eminent domain, 
in the manner provided by chapter 117, to acquire real property 
which it may deem necessary for its purposes, after the adoption 
by it of a resolution declaring that the acquisition of the real 
property is necessary to eliminate one or more of the conditions 
found to exist in the resolution adopted pursuant to section 
469.003 or to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing for 
persons of low and moderate income, or is necessary to carry out 
a redevelopment project.  Real property needed or convenient for 
a project may be acquired by the authority for the project by 
condemnation pursuant to this section.  This includes any 
property devoted to a public use, whether or not held in trust, 
notwithstanding that the property may have been previously 
acquired by condemnation or is owned by a public utility 
corporation, because the public use in conformity with the 
provisions of sections 469.001 to 469.047 shall be deemed a 
superior public use.  Property devoted to a public use may be so 
acquired only if the governing body of the municipality has 
approved its acquisition by the authority.  An award of 
compensation shall not be increased by reason of any increase in 
the value of the real property caused by the assembly, clearance 
or reconstruction, or proposed assembly, clearance or 
reconstruction for the purposes of sections 469.001 to 469.047 
of the real property in an area;  
     (7) within its area of operation, and without the adoption 
of an urban renewal plan, to acquire, by all means as set forth 
in clause (6) but without the adoption of a resolution provided 
for in clause (6), real property, and to demolish, remove, 
rehabilitate, or reconstruct the buildings and improvements or 
construct new buildings and improvements thereon, or to so 
provide through other means as set forth in Laws 1974, chapter 
228, or to grade, fill, and construct foundations or otherwise 
prepare the site for improvements.  The authority may dispose of 
the property pursuant to section 469.029, provided that the 
provisions of section 469.029 requiring conformance to an urban 
renewal plan shall not apply.  The authority may finance these 
activities by means of the redevelopment project fund or by 
means of tax increments or tax increment bonds or by the methods 
of financing provided for in section 469.033 or by means of 
contributions from the municipality provided for in section 
469.041, clause (9), or by any combination of those means.  Real 
property with buildings or improvements thereon shall only be 
acquired under this clause when the buildings or improvements 
are substandard.  The exercise of the power of eminent domain 
under this clause shall be limited to real property which 
contains buildings and improvements which are vacated and 
substandard.  For the purpose of this clause, substandard 
buildings or improvements mean hazardous buildings as defined in 
section 463.15, subdivision 3, or buildings or improvements that 
are dilapidated or obsolescent, faultily designed, lack adequate 
ventilation, light, or sanitary facilities, or any combination 
of these or other factors that are detrimental to the safety or 
health of the community; 
     (8) within its area of operation, to determine the level of 
income constituting low or moderate family income.  The 
authority may establish various income levels for various family 
sizes.  In making its determination, the authority may consider 
income levels that may be established by the federal housing 
administration or a similar or successor federal agency for the 
purpose of federal loan guarantees or subsidies for persons of 
low or moderate income.  The authority may use that 
determination as a basis for the maximum amount of income for 
admissions to housing development projects or housing projects 
owned or operated by it; 
     (9) to provide in federally assisted projects any 
relocation payments and assistance necessary to comply with the 
requirements of the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance and 
Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, and any 
amendments or supplements thereto; 
     (10) to make, or agree to make, payments in lieu of taxes 
to the city or the county, the state or any political 
subdivision thereof, that it finds consistent with the purposes 
of sections 469.001 to 469.047;  
     (11) to cooperate with or act as agent for the federal 
government, the state or any state public body, or any agency or 
instrumentality of the foregoing, in carrying out any of the 
provisions of sections 469.001 to 469.047 or of any other 
related federal, state, or local legislation; and upon the 
consent of the governing body of the city to purchase, lease, 
manage, or otherwise take over any housing project already owned 
and operated by the federal government; 
     (12) to make plans for carrying out a program of voluntary 
repair and rehabilitation of buildings and improvements, and 
plans for the enforcement of laws, codes, and regulations 
relating to the use of land and the use and occupancy of 
buildings and improvements, and to the compulsory repair, 
rehabilitation, demolition, or removal of buildings and 
improvements.  The authority may develop, test, and report 
methods and techniques, and carry out demonstrations and other 
activities for the prevention and elimination of slums and 
blight; 
     (13) to borrow money or other property and accept 
contributions, grants, gifts, services, or other assistance from 
the federal government, the state government, state public 
bodies, or from any other public or private sources; 
     (14) to include in any contract for financial assistance 
with the federal government any conditions that the federal 
government may attach to its financial aid of a project, not 
inconsistent with purposes of sections 469.001 to 469.047, 
including obligating itself (which obligation shall be 
specifically enforceable and not constitute a mortgage, 
notwithstanding any other laws) to convey to the federal 
government the project to which the contract relates upon the 
occurrence of a substantial default with respect to the 
covenants or conditions to which the authority is subject; to 
provide in the contract that, in case of such conveyance, the 
federal government may complete, operate, manage, lease, convey, 
or otherwise deal with the project until the defaults are cured 
if the federal government agrees in the contract to reconvey to 
the authority the project as then constituted when the defaults 
have been cured; 
     (15) to issue bonds for any of its corporate purposes and 
to secure the bonds by mortgages upon property held or to be 
held by it or by pledge of its revenues, including grants or 
contributions; 
     (16) to invest any funds held in reserves or sinking funds, 
or any funds not required for immediate disbursement, in 
property or securities in which savings banks may legally invest 
funds subject to their control; 
     (17) within its area of operation, to determine where 
blight exists or where there is unsafe, unsanitary, or 
overcrowded housing;  
     (18) to carry out studies of the housing and redevelopment 
needs within its area of operation and of the meeting of those 
needs.  This includes study of data on population and family 
groups and their distribution according to income groups, the 
amount and quality of available housing and its distribution 
according to rentals and sales prices, employment, wages, 
desirable patterns for land use and community growth, and other 
factors affecting the local housing and redevelopment needs and 
the meeting of those needs; to make the results of those studies 
and analyses available to the public and to building, housing, 
and supply industries; 
     (19) if a local public body does not have a planning agency 
or the planning agency has not produced a comprehensive or 
general community development plan, to make or cause to be made 
a plan to be used as a guide in the more detailed planning of 
housing and redevelopment areas; 
     (20) to lease or rent any dwellings, accommodations, lands, 
buildings, structures, or facilities included in any project 
and, subject to the limitations contained in sections 469.001 to 
469.047 with respect to the rental of dwellings in housing 
projects, to establish and revise the rents or charges therefor; 
     (21) to own, hold, and improve real or personal property 
and to sell, lease, exchange, transfer, assign, pledge, or 
dispose of any real or personal property or any interest therein;
     (22) to insure or provide for the insurance of any real or 
personal property or operations of the authority against any 
risks or hazards; 
     (23) to procure or agree to the procurement of government 
insurance or guarantees of the payment of any bonds or parts 
thereof issued by an authority and to pay premiums on the 
insurance; 
     (24) to make expenditures necessary to carry out the 
purposes of sections 469.001 to 469.047;  
     (25) to enter into an agreement or agreements with any 
state public body to provide informational service and 
relocation assistance to families, individuals, business 
concerns, and nonprofit organizations displaced or to be 
displaced by the activities of any state public body; 
     (26) to compile and maintain a catalog of all vacant, open 
and undeveloped land, or land which contains substandard 
buildings and improvements as that term is defined in clause 
(7), that is owned or controlled by the authority or by the 
governing body within its area of operation and to compile and 
maintain a catalog of all authority owned real property that is 
in excess of the foreseeable needs of the authority, in order to 
determine and recommend if the real property compiled in either 
catalog is appropriate for disposal pursuant to the provisions 
of section 469.029, subdivisions 9 and 10; 
     (27) to recommend to the city concerning the enforcement of 
the applicable health, housing, building, fire prevention, and 
housing maintenance code requirements as they relate to 
residential dwelling structures that are being rehabilitated by 
low or moderate income persons pursuant to section 469.029, 
subdivision 9, for the period of time necessary to complete the 
rehabilitation, as determined by the authority; and 
    (28) to recommend to the city the initiation of municipal 
powers, against certain real properties, relating to repair, 
closing, condemnation, or demolition of unsafe, unsanitary, 
hazardous, and unfit buildings, as provided in section 469.041, 
clause (5); and 
    (29) to sell, at private or public sale, at the price or 
prices determined by the authority, any note, mortgage, lease, 
sublease, lease purchase, or other instrument or obligation 
evidencing or securing a loan made for the purpose of economic 
development, job creation, redevelopment, or community 
revitalization by a public agency to a business, for-profit or 
nonprofit organization, or an individual. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
469.059, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 17.  [SECONDARY MARKET.] The port authority may sell, 
at private or public sale, at the price or prices determined by 
the authority, any note, mortgage, lease, sublease, lease 
purchase, or other instrument or obligation evidencing or 
securing a loan made for the purpose of economic development, 
job creation, redevelopment, or community revitalization by a 
public agency to a business, for-profit or nonprofit 
organization, or an individual. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
469.101, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 22.  [SECONDARY MARKET.] An authority may sell, at 
private or public sale, at the price or prices determined by the 
authority, any note, mortgage, lease, sublease, lease purchase, 
or other instrument or obligation evidencing or securing a loan 
made for the purpose of economic development, job creation, 
redevelopment, or community revitalization by a public agency to 
a business, for-profit or nonprofit organization, or an 
individual. 
    Sec. 6.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
469.146, is amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 3.  [SECONDARY MARKET.] An authority may sell, at 
private or public sale, at the price or prices determined by the 
authority, any note, mortgage, lease, sublease, lease purchase, 
or other instrument or obligation evidencing or securing a loan 
made for the purpose of economic development, job creation, 
redevelopment, or community revitalization by a public agency to 
a business, for-profit or nonprofit organization, or an 
individual. 
    Sec. 7.  [41A.051] [AUTHORITY TO USE AGRICULTURAL AND ECONOMIC 
DEVELOPMENT FUND.] 
     The Minnesota agricultural and economic development board 
may use up to $500,000 of the money in the agricultural and 
economic development fund created in Minnesota Statutes, section 
41A.05, subdivision 1, to make a grant to an organization that 
is engaged, or is planning to be engaged, in the purchase, 
packaging, insurance, or sale of loans, securities, or other 
obligations that are secured by loans primarily made for 
economic development purposes.  The money authorized by this 
section must be used to establish a credit reserve to support a 
secondary market for economic development, job creation, 
redevelopment, or community revitalization loans.  In the 
selection of the organization to receive the grant, the 
Minnesota agricultural and economic development board must 
consider the potential for raising private money to supplement 
the money of the Minnesota agricultural and economic development 
fund. 
    Approved April 21, 1988