Minnesota Session Laws - 1990, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1990 

                        CHAPTER 564-S.F.No. 1925 
           An act relating to the environment; changing certain 
          requirements for municipal wastewater treatment 
          grants; increasing bonding authority; amending 
          Minnesota Statutes 1988, sections 116.18, subdivision 
          3c; 446A.07, subdivision 2; 446A.12, subdivision 1; 
          and Minnesota Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 
          116.16, subdivisions 2 and 5. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 
116.16, subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [DEFINITIONS.] In this section and sections 
116.17 and 116.18: 
    (1) Agency means the Minnesota pollution control agency 
created by this chapter; 
    (2) Municipality means any county, city, and town, the 
metropolitan waste control commission established in chapter 473 
and the metropolitan council when acting under the provisions of 
that chapter or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal 
organization, and any other governmental subdivision of the 
state responsible by law for the prevention, control, and 
abatement of water pollution in any area of the state; 
    (3) Water pollution control program means the Minnesota 
state water pollution control program created by subdivision 1; 
    (4) Bond account means the Minnesota state water pollution 
control bond account created in the state bond fund by section 
116.17, subdivision 4; 
    (5) Terms defined in section 115.01 have the meanings 
therein given them; 
    (6) The eligible cost of any municipal project, except as 
otherwise provided in clauses clause (7) and (8), includes (a) 
preliminary planning to determine the economic, engineering, and 
environmental feasibility of the project; (b) engineering, 
architectural, legal, fiscal, economic, sociological, project 
administrative costs of the agency and the municipality, and 
other investigations and studies; (c) surveys, designs, plans, 
working drawings, specifications, procedures, and other actions 
necessary to the planning, design, and construction of the 
project; (d) erection, building, acquisition, alteration, 
remodeling, improvement, and extension of disposal systems; (e) 
inspection and supervision of construction; and (f) all other 
expenses of the kinds enumerated in section 475.65; 
    (7) For state independent grant and matching grant purposes 
hereunder, the eligible cost for grant applicants shall be the 
eligible cost as determined by the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 
United States Code, title 33, sections 1281 to 1299; 
    (8) Notwithstanding clause (7), For state grants under the 
state independent grants program, the eligible cost includes the 
acquisition of land for stabilization ponds, the construction of 
collector sewers for totally unsewered statutory and home rule 
charter cities and towns described under section 368.01, 
subdivision 1 or 1a, that are in existence on January 1, 1985, 
and the provision of reserve capacity sufficient to serve the 
reasonable needs of the municipality for 20 years in the case of 
treatment works and 40 years in the case of sewer systems.  
Notwithstanding clause (7), For state grants under the state 
independent grants program, the eligible cost does not include 
the provision of service to seasonal homes, or cost increases 
from contingencies that exceed three percent of as-bid costs or 
cost increases from unanticipated site conditions that exceed an 
additional two percent of as-bid costs; 
    (9) (8) Authority means the Minnesota public facilities 
authority established in section 446A.03. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1989 Supplement, section 
116.16, subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [RULES.] (a) The agency shall promulgate 
permanent rules and may promulgate emergency rules for the 
administration of grants and loans authorized to be made under 
the water pollution control program, which rules, however, shall 
not be applicable to the issuance of bonds by the commissioner 
of finance as provided in section 116.17.  The rules shall 
contain as a minimum: 
    (1) procedures for application by municipalities; 
    (2) conditions for the administration of the grant or loan; 
    (3) criteria for the ranking of projects in order of 
priority for grants or loans, based on factors including the 
extent and nature of pollution, technological feasibility, 
assurance of proper operation, maintenance and replacement, and 
participation in multimunicipal systems; and 
    (4) such other matters as the agency and the commissioner 
find necessary to the proper administration of the grant program.
    (b) Except as otherwise provided in sections 116.16 to 
116.18, the rules for the administration of state independent 
grants must comply, to the extent practicable, with provisions 
relating directly to protection of the environment contained in 
the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, and 
regulations and guidelines of the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency promulgated under the act, except provisions 
regarding allocation contained in section 205 of the act and 
regulations and guidelines promulgated under section 205 of the 
act.  This provision does not require approval from federal 
agencies for the issuance of grants or for the construction of 
projects under the state independent grants program. 
    (c) For purposes of awarding independent state grants, the 
agency may by rule waive the federal 20-year planning 
requirement for municipalities with a population of less than 
1,500. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 116.18, 
subdivision 3c, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 3c.  [INDIVIDUAL ON-SITE TREATMENT SYSTEMS PROGRAM.] 
(a) Beginning in fiscal year 1989, up to ten percent of the 
money to be awarded as grants under subdivision 3a in any single 
fiscal year, up to a maximum of $1,000,000, may be set aside for 
the award of grants by the authority to municipalities to 
reimburse owners of individual on-site wastewater treatment 
systems for a part of the costs of upgrading or replacing the 
systems. 
    (b) An individual on-site treatment system is a wastewater 
treatment system, or part thereof, serving one or two less than 
six dwellings or other establishments, which utilizes subsurface 
soil treatment and disposal.  
    (c) Municipalities may apply yearly for grants of up to 50 
percent of the cost of replacing or upgrading individual on-site 
treatment systems within their jurisdiction.  Upon application 
for a grant Before agency approval of the grant application, a 
municipality must certify that:  
    (1) it has adopted and is enforcing the requirements of 
Minnesota Rules governing individual sewage treatment systems; 
    (2) the existing systems for which application is made do 
not conform to those rules, were constructed prior to January 1, 
1977, do not serve seasonal residences, and were not constructed 
with state or federal funds; and 
    (3) that the costs requested do not include planning and 
engineering costs, administrative costs, and costs for 
improvements or replacements made before the application is 
submitted to the authority unless it pertains to the plan 
finally adopted, and planning and engineering costs other than 
those for the individual site evaluations and system design.  
    (d) The federal and state regulations regarding the award 
of state and federal wastewater treatment grants do not apply to 
municipalities or systems funded under this subdivision, except 
as provided in this subdivision.  
    (e) The authority shall award individual on-site wastewater 
treatment grants to municipalities selected by the state 
pollution control commissioner upon certification by the state 
pollution control commissioner that the municipalities' 
applications have been reviewed and approved in accordance with 
this subdivision and agency rules adopted under paragraph (f). 
    (f) The agency shall adopt permanent rules regarding 
priorities, distribution of funds, payments, inspections, the 
maximum number of dwellings or other establishments that may be 
served by an individual on-site treatment system, and other 
matters that the agency finds necessary for proper 
administration of grants awarded under this subdivision.  
    (g) The commissioner of trade and economic development may 
adopt rules containing procedures for administration of the 
authority's duties as set forth in paragraph (e). 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 446A.07, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [STATE FUNDS.] A state matching fund is 
established to be used in compliance with federal matching 
requirements specified in the Federal Water Pollution Control 
Act.  A state grant and loan fund is established to provide 
grants and loans to governmental units for the planning and 
construction of treatment works as specified in section 116.16, 
subdivision 2, paragraphs (6), and (7), and (8). 
     Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1988, section 446A.12, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [BONDING AUTHORITY.] The authority may 
issue negotiable bonds in a principal amount that the authority 
determines necessary to provide sufficient funds for achieving 
its purposes, including the making of loans and purchase of 
securities, the payment of interest on bonds of the authority, 
the establishment of reserves to secure its bonds, the payment 
of fees to a third party providing credit enhancement, and the 
payment of all other expenditures of the authority incident to 
and necessary or convenient to carry out its corporate purposes 
and powers, but not including the making of grants.  Bonds of 
the authority may be issued as bonds or notes or in any other 
form authorized by law.  The principal amount of bonds issued 
and outstanding under this section at any time may not 
exceed $100,000,000 $150,000,000. 
    Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Section 5 is effective the day following final enactment. 
    Presented to the governor April 26, 1990 
    Signed by the governor May 4, 1990, 11:35 p.m.