Minnesota Session Laws - 1988, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1988 

                        CHAPTER 698-S.F.No. 1590 
           An act relating to transportation; providing that 
          uniform relocation assistance standards comply with 
          recent amendments to federal law; authorizing 
          commissioner of transportation to accept gifts to 
          department; authorizing star county signs on highways; 
          appropriating gift funds to commissioner; exempting 
          lessees of highway easement property from tax on its 
          use and possession; providing that governmental body 
          may file deed conveying partial parcel of land without 
          current taxes having been paid on whole parcel; 
          increasing complement of department of public safety; 
          repealing conflicting provision related to charges for 
          users of air transportation services provided by the 
          commissioner of transportation; amending Minnesota 
          Statutes 1986, sections 161.20, by adding a 
          subdivision; and 173.085; Minnesota Statutes 1987 
          Supplement, sections 117.52, subdivision 1; 272.01, 
          subdivision 3; and 272.121; Laws 1987, chapter 358, 
          section 5, subdivision 1; repealing Minnesota Statutes 
          1986, section 360.015, subdivision 20. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
117.52, subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  [LACK OF FEDERAL FUNDING.] In all 
acquisitions undertaken by any acquiring authority and in all 
voluntary rehabilitation carried out by a person pursuant to 
acquisition or as a consequence thereof, in which, due to the 
lack of federal financial participation, relocation assistance, 
services, payments and benefits under the Uniform Relocation 
Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 
1970, Statutes at Large, volume 84, page 1894 (1971), United 
States Code, title 42, section 4601, et seq. sections 4601 to 
4655, as amended by the Surface Transportation and Uniform 
Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, Statutes at Large, volume 
101, pages 246 to 256 (1987), are not available, the acquiring 
authority, as a cost of acquisition, shall provide all 
relocation assistance, services, payments and benefits required 
by the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property 
Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended by the Surface 
Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of 1987, 
and those regulations adopted pursuant thereto by the United 
States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and either 
(1) in effect as of January 1, 1984 July 1, 1988, or (2) 
becoming effective after January 1, 1984, following a public 
hearing and comment.  Comments received by an acquiring 
authority within 30 days after the public hearing must be 
reviewed and a written response provided to the individual or 
organization who initiated the comment.  The response and 
comments may be addressed in another public hearing by the 
acquiring authority before approval. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 161.20, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [ACCEPTANCE OF PRIVATE FUNDS.] Notwithstanding 
sections 7.09 to 7.12, the commissioner may accept on behalf of 
the state, gifts, grants, or contributions for purposes 
pertaining to the activities of the department.  Funds received 
under this subdivision must be deposited in the trunk highway 
fund and are annually appropriated to the commissioner for the 
purpose for which they are given.  
     Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 173.085, is 
amended to read:  
    173.085 [STAR CITY SIGNS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORITY TO ERECT.] (a) A county or 
lesser populated statutory or home rule charter city of 
Minnesota that has received instruction and expertise from the 
department of energy and economic development on attracting and 
retaining businesses for the county or city and subsequently has 
been designated and annually recertified as a star county or 
star city for economic development by that department may erect 
star county or star city signs upon payment of a fee required 
under section 173.13, subdivision 4, to the department of 
transportation.  In the case of star cities, one sign may be 
erected at each approach to the city within the right-of-way of 
an interstate or other highway that passes inside the city 
limits.  In the case of star counties, one sign may be erected 
within the right-of-way of an interstate or other highway at or 
near the point where the highway enters the county. 
    (b) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a), a 
lesser populated statutory or home rule charter city that has an 
official sign in an adjacent area of an approach of an 
interstate highway passing through or near the city as of August 
1, 1985 may replace that sign with a star city sign upon payment 
of a fee required under section 173.13, subdivision 4, to the 
department of transportation.  A county that has an official 
sign on the right-of-way or adjacent area of an interstate 
highway at the point where the highway enters the county may 
replace that sign with a star county sign on payment of a fee 
required under section 173.13, subdivision 4, to the department 
of transportation.  
    Subd. 2.  [SIGN STANDARDS.] The department of 
transportation shall design and manufacture the star county and 
star city sign signs to specifications not contrary to other 
federal and state highway sign standards and substantially 
similar to those star city signs approved for display on state 
highways as of August 1, 1985. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
272.01, subdivision 3, is amended to read:  
    Subd. 3.  The provisions of subdivision 2 shall not apply 
to: 
    (a) Federal property for which payments are made in lieu of 
taxes in amounts equivalent to taxes which might otherwise be 
lawfully assessed; 
    (b) Real estate exempt from ad valorem taxes and taxes in 
lieu thereof which is leased, loaned, or otherwise made 
available to telephone companies or electric, light and power 
companies upon which personal property consisting of 
transmission and distribution lines is situated and assessed 
pursuant to sections 273.37, 273.38, 273.40 and 273.41, or upon 
which are situated the communication lines of express, railway, 
telephone or telegraph companies, and pipelines used for the 
transmission and distribution of petroleum products; 
    (c) Property presently owned by any educational institution 
chartered by the territorial legislature; 
    (d) Indian lands; 
    (e) Property of any corporation organized as a tribal 
corporation under the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 
1934, (Statutes at Large, volume 48, page 984); 
    (f) Real property owned by the state and leased pursuant to 
section 161.23 or 161.431, and acts amendatory thereto; 
    (g) Real property owned by a seaway port authority on June 
1, 1967, upon which there has been constructed docks, 
warehouses, tank farms, administrative and maintenance 
buildings, railroad and ship terminal facilities and other 
maritime and transportation facilities or those directly related 
thereto, together with facilities for the handling of passengers 
and baggage and for the handling of freight and bulk liquids, 
and personal property owned by a seaway port authority used or 
usable in connection therewith, when said property is leased to 
a private individual, association or corporation, but only when 
such lease provides that the said facilities are available to 
the public for the loading and unloading of passengers and their 
baggage and the handling, storage, care, shipment, and delivery 
of merchandise, freight and baggage and other maritime and 
transportation activities and functions directly related 
thereto, but not including property used for grain elevator 
facilities; it being the declared policy of this state that such 
property when so leased is public property used exclusively for 
a public purpose, notwithstanding the one-year limitation in the 
provisions of section 273.19;  
    (h) Notwithstanding the provisions of clause (g), when the 
annual rental received by a seaway port authority in any 
calendar year for such leased property exceeds an amount 
reasonably required for administrative expense of the authority 
per year, plus promotional expense for the authority not to 
exceed the sum of $100,000 per year, to be expended when and in 
the manner decided upon by the commissioners, plus an amount 
sufficient to pay all installments of principal and interest 
due, or to become due, during such calendar year and the next 
succeeding year on any revenue bonds issued by the authority, 
plus 25 percent of the gross annual rental to be retained by the 
authority for improvement, development, or other contingencies, 
the authority shall make a payment in lieu of real and personal 
property taxes of a reasonable portion of the remaining annual 
rental to the county treasurer of the county in which such 
seaway port authority is principally located.  Any such payments 
to the county treasurer shall be disbursed by the treasurer on 
the same basis as real estate taxes are divided among the 
various governmental units, but if such port authority shall 
have received funds from the state of Minnesota and funds from 
any city and county pursuant to Laws 1957, chapters 648, 831 and 
849 and acts amendatory thereof, then such disbursement by the 
county treasurer shall be on the same basis as real estate taxes 
are divided among the various governmental units, except that 
the portion of such payments which would otherwise go to other 
taxing units shall be divided equally among the state of 
Minnesota and said county and city.  
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1987 Supplement, section 
272.121, is amended to read:  
    272.121 [CURRENT TAX ON DIVIDED PARCELS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [CERTIFICATION OF PAYMENT.] Except as 
provided in subdivision 2, if a deed or other instrument conveys 
a parcel of land that is less than a whole parcel of land as 
described in the current tax list, the county auditor shall not 
transfer or divide the land in the auditor's official records, 
and the county recorder shall not file and record the 
instrument, unless the instrument of conveyance contains a 
certification by the county treasurer that the taxes due in the 
current tax year for the whole parcel have been paid.  This 
certification is in addition to the certification for delinquent 
tax required by section 272.12.  
    Subd. 2.  [EXCEPTIONS.] No certification of current tax 
paid is required when the parcel is being conveyed to a 
governmental body or for any sheriff's or referee's certificate 
of sale or other instrument if a certification of delinquent tax 
for the instrument is not required under section 272.12.  For 
purposes of this section, "governmental body" means the state, 
an agency of the state, a county, a home rule charter city, a 
statutory city, and a town. 
    Sec. 6.  Laws 1987, chapter 358, section 5, subdivision 1, 
is amended to read: 
     Sec. 5.  PUBLIC SAFETY
     Subdivision 1.  Total
Appropriation                           81,888,100     81,990,800
   Approved Complement - 1,676.4 1,686.4
   General - 393.7
   Special Revenue - 3
   Trunk Highway - 1,060.8 1,070.8
   Highway User - 173.6
   Federal - 48.3
 The above approved complement includes 
511 521 for state-funded, unclassified 
patrol officers and supervisors of the 
state patrol.  Nothing in this 
provision is intended to limit the 
authority of the commissioner of public 
safety to transfer personnel, with the 
approval of the commissioner of 
finance, among the various units and 
divisions within this section, provided 
that the above complement must be 
reduced accordingly. 
                Summary by Fund
 General                   $ 20,905,800  $ 20,977,500
 For 1987 - $900,000 
 Trunk Highway             $ 52,517,200  $ 52,456,400
 Highway User              $  9,565,500  $  9,645,700
 Special Revenue           $    500,000  $    550,000
 Transfers to Other 
    Direct                ($  1,600,400)($  1,638,800)
 The amounts that may be spent from this 
appropriation for each program are 
specified in the following subdivisions.
 The amounts shown in the program totals 
are reduced by $87,500 the first year 
and $87,500 the second year from the 
general fund.  Reductions must be made 
from appropriations that will not 
reduce revenue to the general fund. 
    Sec. 7.  [REPEALER.] 
    Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 360.015, subdivision 20, 
is repealed.  
    Sec. 8.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 1 and 2 are effective July 1, 1988.  Sections 4 to 
7 are effective the day following final enactment. 
    Approved April 28, 1988