Minnesota Session Laws - 1989, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1989 

                        CHAPTER 218-H.F.No. 786 
           An act relating to employment; requiring the hiring of 
          local workers and the payment of wages equal to those 
          of railroad workers on certain railroad projects 
          assisted with state money; amending Minnesota Statutes 
          1988, section 222.50, subdivision 5. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 222.50, 
subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 5.  In making any contract pursuant to subdivision 4 
the commissioner may: 
    (a) Stipulate minimum operating standards for rail lines 
designed to achieve reasonable transportation service for 
shippers and to achieve best use of funds invested in rail line 
rehabilitation; 
    (b) Require a portion of the total assistance for improving 
a rail line to be loaned to the railroad by rail users and 
require the railroad to reimburse rail users for any loan on the 
basis of use of the line and the revenues produced when the line 
has been improved; 
    (c) Determine the terms and conditions under which all or 
any portion of state funds allocated shall be repaid to the 
department by the railroads.  Reimbursement may be made as a 
portion of the increased revenue derived from the improved rail 
line.  Any reimbursement received by the department pursuant to 
this clause shall be deposited in the rail service improvement 
account and shall be appropriated exclusively for rehabilitating 
other rail lines in the state pursuant to subdivision 4; and 
    (d) Require, in lieu of reimbursement as provided in clause 
(c) of this subdivision, that the railroad establish and 
maintain a separate railroad fund to be used exclusively for 
rehabilitation of other rail lines in Minnesota, to which a 
portion of the increase in revenue derived from the improved 
rail line shall be credited.  The terms and conditions for use 
of money in the fund shall be stipulated in the contract.  The 
contract shall also stipulate a penalty for use of such money in 
a manner other than as set forth in the contract and require the 
railroad to report to the department at such times as the 
commissioner requires, concerning the disbursement of money from 
the fund and the general status of rail line improvements; and 
     (e) To the extent not prohibited by federal law or 
regulation, require that when the railroad elects to contract 
for portions of the rehabilitation work or rail service 
improvement, the railroad must select a contractor who is 
experienced in rail rehabilitation work, and must require the 
contractor to: 
    (1) recruit any new workers from the area where the work is 
to be done; and 
    (2) pay workers under the contract wages that are equal to 
or greater than the wages the railroad pays its own workers for 
similar work, but not less than twice the state minimum wage 
that state-covered employers are required to pay under section 
177.24, subdivision 1, paragraph (b). 
    Presented to the governor May 19, 1989 
    Signed by the governor May 23, 1989, 5:48 p.m.