Minnesota Session Laws - 1991, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1991 

                        CHAPTER 339-H.F.No. 606 
           An act relating to transportation; authorizing state 
          departments to cancel uncollectible debts up to $200 
          in certain cases; allowing department of 
          transportation to employ debt collection services; 
          allowing department of transportation to make direct 
          expenditures from state aid funds for administrative 
          expenses; providing penalty for failure to pay fee for 
          sign permit more than 30 days after fee is due; 
          providing when estimates of certain construction 
          projects are nonpublic data; directing the 
          commissioner of transportation to adopt rules 
          governing the location and breakaway standards for 
          mailbox installations; allowing white strobe lamps to 
          be used on highway maintenance vehicles; authorizing 
          exchange of lands with Grand Portage Band of Chippewa 
          Indians; abolishing conflicting requirements related 
          to market artery highways; adding a route and changing 
          the description of a route in the state highway 
          system; amending Minnesota Statutes 1990, sections 
          10.12; 13.72, subdivision 1; 161.20, subdivision 4; 
          162.06, subdivision 2; 162.12, subdivision 2; 169.64, 
          by adding a subdivision; and 173.13, subdivision 7; 
          proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 
          chapter 169; repealing Minnesota Statutes 1990, 
          section 169.833. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 10.12, is 
amended to read: 
    10.12 [UNCOLLECTIBLE DRAFTS CANCELED.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [OVER $100 $200.] When any draft or account 
for a sum in excess of $100 $200 due to the state is found to be 
uncollectible by any department, it shall report such fact to 
the executive council, and the executive council may cancel such 
draft or account upon the approval of the attorney general.  
    Subd. 2.  [TO $100 $200.] When any draft or account for a 
sum of not more than $100 $200 due to the state is found to be 
uncollectible by an agency, the agency head may cancel the draft 
or account upon the approval of the attorney general.  When 
drafts or accounts are canceled under this subdivision the head 
of the canceling agency shall send a certified list of them to 
the commissioner of finance, who shall enter the cancellations 
on the department of finance's records.  
    Subd. 3.  [TO $100.] When any draft or account for a sum of 
not more than $100 due to the state is found to be uncollectible 
by an agency, the agency head or authorized representative may 
cancel the draft or account.  When drafts or accounts are 
canceled under this subdivision the agency head shall send a 
certified list of them to the commissioner of finance, who shall 
enter the cancellations on the department of finance's records. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 13.72, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [ESTIMATES FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.] 
Estimates An estimate of the cost of a construction projects 
project of the Minnesota department of transportation prepared 
by department employees are is nonpublic data and are is not 
available to the public from the time of final design until 
the bids are opened for the project is awarded.  
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 161.20, 
subdivision 4, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 4.  [DEBT COLLECTION.] The commissioner shall make 
reasonable and businesslike efforts to collect money owed for 
licenses, fines, penalties, and permit fees or arising from 
damages to state-owned property or other causes related to the 
activities of the department of transportation.  When a debt has 
been reduced to a money judgment, The commissioner may contract 
for debt collection services for the purpose of collecting the a 
money judgment or legal indebtedness.  The commissioner may 
enter into an agreement with the commissioner of public safety 
to use debt collection services authorized by this subdivision 
when civil penalties relating to the use of highways have been 
reduced to money judgment.  Money received as full or partial 
payment shall be deposited to the appropriate fund.  When money 
is collected through contracted services, the commissioner may 
make payment for the service from the money collected.  The 
amount necessary for payment of contractual collection costs is 
appropriated from the fund in which money so collected is 
deposited. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 162.06, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [REIMBURSEMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS OF STATE 
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION.] From the total of such sums the 
commissioner shall deduct a sum equal to 1-1/2 percent of the 
total sum.  The sum so deducted shall be set aside in a separate 
account and shall be used to reimburse the trunk highway fund 
for administrative costs incurred by the state transportation 
department in carrying out the provisions relating to the county 
state-aid highway system.  On the 31st day of December of each 
year any money remaining in the account not needed to reimburse 
the trunk highway fund as heretofore provided for administrative 
costs shall be transferred to the county state-aid highway fund. 
    Sec. 5.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 162.12, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  [ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS OF STATE TRANSPORTATION 
DEPARTMENT.] From the total of such sums the commissioner, each 
year, shall deduct a sum of money equal to one and one-half 
percent of the total sums.  The sum so deducted shall be set 
aside in a separate account and shall be used to reimburse the 
trunk highway fund for administration costs incurred by the 
state transportation department in carrying out the provisions 
relating to the municipal state-aid street system.  On the 31st 
day of December of each year, any money remaining in the account 
not needed to reimburse the trunk highway fund as heretofore 
provided for administrative costs shall be transferred to the 
municipal state-aid street fund.  
    Sec. 6.  [169.072] [UNAUTHORIZED MAILBOX INSTALLATIONS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [PUBLIC HAZARD.] A mailbox installation or 
support on a public highway that does not meet the breakaway and 
location standards contained in rules adopted under subdivision 
2 is declared to be a public nuisance, a road hazard, and a 
danger to the health and safety of the traveling public. 
    Subd. 2.  [STANDARDS; RULEMAKING.] The commissioner shall 
by January 1, 1993, adopt rules that provide for standards and 
permissible locations of mailbox installations and supports on a 
street or highway.  The commissioner shall base the rules 
substantially on federal highway administration regulations or 
recommendations, or other national standards or recommendations 
regarding the location and construction of safe, breakaway 
mailbox installations or supports.  In adopting the rules, the 
commissioner shall consider the safety of the traveling public 
relative to the convenience and expense of owners of 
nonconforming mailbox installations or supports.  The 
commissioner may provide for alternative standards to allow 
variances from the rules. 
    Subd. 3.  [REMOVAL, NOTICE.] (a) After adoption of the 
rules authorized under subdivision 2, the commissioner or a road 
authority as defined in section 160.02, subdivision 9, may 
remove and replace a mailbox installation or support that is (1) 
located on a street or highway under the jurisdiction of the 
commissioner or road authority, and (2) does not conform to the 
rules adopted under subdivision 2.  The commissioner or road 
authority may remove and replace a nonconforming mailbox 
installation or support not less than 60 days after giving 
notice, by personal notice or certified mail to the owner or the 
resident at the address served by the mailbox, of its intent to 
remove and replace the installation or support.  The 
commissioner or road authority may charge the owner or resident 
not more than $75 for the cost of the removal and replacement.  
    (b) The notice must at a minimum: 
     (1) inform the owner of the nonconforming installation or 
support; 
    (2) inform the owner or resident of the applicable law and 
rules, including the rules that contain the standards for 
mailbox installations and supports on public streets and 
highways; 
    (3) inform the owner or resident that the owner or resident 
must remove the installation or support or bring it into 
compliance with the rules within 60 days of the date of the 
notice; 
    (4) inform the owner or resident of the applicable laws and 
rules and the standards for mailbox installations and supports 
on public streets and highways, and provide plans or diagrams of 
examples of conforming installations or supports; 
    (5) inform the owner or resident that if the nonconforming 
installation or support is not removed or replaced within 60 
days of the date of the notice, the commissioner or road 
authority may remove and replace the installation or support at 
a cost of up to $75 to the owner or resident; and 
    (6) inform the owner or resident that where the replacement 
is made in conjunction with certain federally aided highway 
construction projects the replacement may be made at partial or 
no cost to the owner or resident. 
    Sec. 7.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 169.64, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 8.  [WHITE STROBE LAMPS.] Notwithstanding sections 
169.55, subdivision 1, 169.57, subdivision 3, clause (b), or any 
other law to the contrary, a vehicle may be equipped with a 
360-degree flashing strobe lamp that emits a white light with a 
flash rate of 60 to 120 flashes a minute, and the lamp may be 
used as provided in this subdivision, if the vehicle is: 
    (1) a school bus that is subject to and complies with the 
color and equipment requirements of section 169.44, subdivision 
1a.  The lamp shall be permanently mounted on the longitudinal 
center line of the bus roof not less than five feet nor more 
than seven feet forward of the rear roof edge.  It shall operate 
from a separate switch containing an indicator lamp to show when 
the strobe lamp is in use.  The strobe lamp may be lighted only 
when atmospheric conditions or terrain restrict the visibility 
of school bus lamps and signals so as to require use of the 
bright strobe lamp to alert motorists to the presence of the 
school bus.  A strobe lamp may not be lighted unless the school 
bus is actually being used as a school bus; or 
    (2) a road maintenance vehicle owned or under contract to 
the department of transportation or a road authority of a 
county, home rule or statutory city, or town, but the strobe 
lamp may only be operated while the vehicle is actually engaged 
in snow removal during daylight hours.  
    The strobe lamp shall be of a double flash type certified 
to the commissioner of public safety by the manufacturer as 
being weatherproof and having a minimum effective light output 
of 200 candelas as measured by the Blondel-Rey formula. 
    Sec. 8.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 173.13, 
subdivision 7, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 7.  A penalty equal to one-half the annual fee shall 
be charged upon failure to pay the annual permit fee for renewal 
on or before August July 1 of each year. 
    Sec. 9.  [LAND EXCHANGE WITH CHIPPEWA INDIANS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [AUTHORITY; CONSIDERATION.] Notwithstanding 
contrary provisions of Minnesota Statutes, sections 94.341 to 
94.349, 161.20, 161.23, and 161.44, or other law, and subject to 
approval of the land exchange board, the commissioner of the 
department of transportation shall convey a part of State Pit 
174, as described in subdivision 3, to the United States of 
America, on behalf of and as trustee for the Grand Portage Band 
of Chippewa Indians and with the concurrence of the Grand 
Portage Reservation Business Committee, for a consideration of 
lands and interests in real property described in subdivision 
4.  Upon executing the necessary deeds, grants, resolutions, or 
other forms required by Minnesota Statutes, sections 161.20, 
subdivision 2, and 161.44, subdivision 1, and Code of Federal 
Regulations, title 25, parts 151, 152, and 169, the parties 
shall exchange lands and interests in lands, described in 
subdivisions 3 and 4, without additional monetary consideration 
and in recognition of the substantially equal values of the 
parcels being exchanged. 
    Subd. 2.  [FORM.] The conveyance authorized by this section 
must be in a form approved by the attorney general, after the 
attorney general has determined, in the manner provided for in 
Minnesota Statutes, section 94.343, subdivision 9, that the 
title to the land proposed to be conveyed to the state is good 
and marketable. 
    Subd. 3.  [LAND TO BE CONVEYED.] In exchange and for 
consideration of lands and interests in real property described 
in subdivision 4, the commissioner of transportation shall 
convey that part of tract A of State Pit 174, S.P. 1604 
(61=1-47-3), in Cook county, described as follows: 
That part of Tract A described below:  
Tract A.  Government Lot 8 of Section 6, Township 62 North, 
Range 5 East, Cook County, Minnesota; 
which lies southerly of a line run parallel with and distant 200 
feet southeasterly of Line 1 described below: 
Line 1.  Beginning at a point on the east line of said Section 
6, distant 150.9 feet north of the east quarter corner thereof; 
thence run southwesterly at an angle of 72 degrees 08 minutes 00 
seconds from said east section line (measured from south to 
west) for 25.7 feet; thence deflect to the left on a 00 degree 
30 minute 00 second curve (delta angle 06 degrees 48 minutes 00 
seconds) for 1360 feet; thence on tangent to said curve for 200 
feet and there terminating; 
containing 19.16 acres, more or less. 
    Subd. 4.  [LAND AND INTERESTS TO BE ACQUIRED.] The 
commissioner of transportation shall convey the land described 
in subdivision 3 in exchange for land and property interests in 
certain tracts in parcel 301, S.P. 1604 (61=1-47-4), in Cook 
county, described as follows: 
All of Tracts A and B described below: 
Tract A.  That part of Government Lots 2 and 3 of Section 4, 
Township 63 North, Range 6 East, Cook County, Minnesota, which 
lies northerly of the northwesterly right-of-way line of Trunk 
Highway No. 61 as now located and established and easterly of a 
line run parallel with and distant 650 feet westerly of the east 
line of said Government Lot 3; excepting therefrom that part 
contained within the following described tract:  Beginning at 
the northwest corner of said Government Lot 2; thence east 363 
feet; thence south 360 feet; thence west 363 feet; thence north 
360 feet to the point of beginning; 
Tract B.  The southerly 450 feet of the Southwest Quarter of the 
Southeast Quarter and the southerly 450 feet of the easterly 650 
feet of the Southeast Quarter of the Southwest Quarter, both in 
Section 33, Township 64 North, Range 6 East, Cook County, 
Minnesota; excepting therefrom the right-of-way of Trunk Highway 
No. 61 as now located and established; 
containing 22.09 acres, more or less; 
together with a grant of Right-of-Way for sewer and water 
purposes in perpetuity over that part of Tract C described below:
Tract C.  The North Half of the Southwest Quarter of the 
Northeast Quarter and that part of Government Lot 2, lying 
southerly of the southerly right of way line of Trunk Highway 
No. 61 as now located and established, both in Section 4, 
Township 63 North, Range 6 East, Cook County, Minnesota; 
which lies within a distance of 50 feet southwesterly and 
westerly and 60 feet northeasterly and easterly of Line 1 
described below: 
Line 1.  Beginning at a point on the north line of said Section 
4, distant 335 feet east of the north quarter corner thereof; 
thence run southeasterly at an angle of 52 degrees 40 minutes 00 
seconds from said north section line (measured from east to 
south) for 660 feet; thence run southerly along a line which 
intersects the south line of said Government Lot 2 at a point 
thereon, distant 680 feet east of the southwest corner thereof, 
for 1240 feet and there terminating; 
together with that part of Tract C hereinbefore described, 
adjoining and northeasterly of the last above described strip, 
which lies westerly of a line run parallel with and distant 60 
feet easterly of the following described line:  Beginning at a 
point on Line 1 described above, distant 1140 feet north of its 
point of termination; thence run north on said Line 1 for 100 
feet; thence continue north on the last described course for 400 
feet and there terminating; 
containing 4.26 acres, more or less. 
    Subd. 5.  [LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND DECLARATION.] The 
legislature finds that the department of transportation has 
constructed a tourist information center under permit adjacent 
to trunk highway marked No. 61 at Grand Portage, Minnesota 
(Grand Portage Bay rest area) and requires certain lands within 
the reservation of the Grand Portage Band of Chippewa Indians, 
now owned by the United States in trust for the Grand Portage 
Band, for a rest area site together with a sewer and water 
easement in perpetuity; that the United States presently owns 
land in trust for the Grand Portage Band on both sides of that 
part of State Pit 174 lying southeasterly of trunk highway 
marked No. 61 and wishes to obtain ownership of that part of 
State Pit 174, now owned by the state, for the benefit of the 
Grand Portage Band; and, that a land exchange would be mutually 
beneficial.  The legislature declares that the exchange 
authorized by this section is in the public interest and for a 
public purpose. 
    Sec. 10.  [TRUNK HIGHWAY SYSTEM; NEW ROUTE SUBSTITUTED FOR 
EXISTING ROUTE.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [ROUTE.] There is added to the trunk 
highway system a new route in Minnesota Statutes, section 
161.115, described as follows:  
    Route No. 297.  Beginning at a point on Route No. 392 
northwest of Fergus Falls; thence extending in a general 
southeasterly direction to a point at or near the intersection 
of West Fir Avenue and North Oak Street in the city of Fergus 
Falls; thence in a general northwesterly direction into and 
through the grounds of the Fergus Falls Regional Treatment 
Center; thence in a general southeasterly direction to a point 
at or near the intersection of West Fir Avenue and North Union 
Avenue in the city of Fergus Falls.  
    Subd. 2.  [SUBSTITUTION; AGREEMENT REQUIRED.] The route 
established in subdivision 1 is substituted for Route No. 297 as 
contained and described in Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 
161.115.  Route No. 297 as contained and described in that 
section is discontinued and removed from the trunk highway 
system.  No transfer is effective until an agreement to transfer 
jurisdiction of a portion of the old route has been agreed to by 
the commissioner of transportation and Otter Tail county and the 
city of Fergus Falls and signed by the commissioner and the 
chair of the Otter Tail county board and the mayor of Fergus 
Falls and filed in the office of the commissioner. 
    Subd. 3.  [REVISOR INSTRUCTION.] The revisor of statutes, 
in compiling the next and subsequent editions of Minnesota 
Statutes, shall substitute the route established in subdivision 
1 for the route discontinued and removed from the trunk highway 
system according to subdivision 2. 
    Sec. 11.  [TRUNK HIGHWAY SYSTEM; ROUTE NO. 336 ADDED.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [ADDITIONAL ROUTE.] On execution of the 
agreement required by subdivision 2, there is added to the trunk 
highway system a new route in Minnesota Statutes, section 
161.115, described as follows: 
    Route No. 336.  Beginning at a point on Route No. 2 at or 
near Dilworth; thence extending in a general southerly direction 
following generally the location of present County State-Aid 
Highway No. 11 to a point on Route No. 392.  
    Subd. 2.  [AGREEMENT REQUIRED.] Legislative Route No. 336 
is added to the trunk highway system only when an agreement to 
transfer jurisdiction has been approved by the commissioner of 
transportation and the Clay county board and a copy of the 
agreement, signed by the commissioner and the chair of the Clay 
county board, has been filed in the office of the commissioner. 
    Subd. 3.  [REVISOR INSTRUCTION.] Following execution of the 
agreement required in subdivision 2, the revisor of statutes, in 
compiling the next and subsequent editions of Minnesota 
Statutes, shall add the route identified in subdivision 1. 
    Sec. 12.  [REPEALER.] 
    Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 169.833, is repealed. 
    Sec. 13.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 10 and 11 are effective the day following final 
enactment. 
    Presented to the governor May 31, 1991 
    Signed by the governor June 4, 1991, 8:45 p.m.