Minnesota Session Laws - 1997, Regular Session

                            CHAPTER 249-S.F.No. 117 
                  An act relating to the military; adding an exclusion 
                  to the tort claims act; amending Minnesota Statutes 
                  1996, section 3.736, subdivision 3. 
        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
           Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 3.736, 
        subdivision 3, is amended to read: 
           Subd. 3.  [EXCLUSIONS.] Without intent to preclude the 
        courts from finding additional cases where the state and its 
        employees should not, in equity and good conscience, pay 
        compensation for personal injuries or property losses, the 
        legislature declares that the state and its employees are not 
        liable for the following losses: 
           (a) a loss caused by an act or omission of a state employee 
        exercising due care in the execution of a valid or invalid 
        statute or rule; 
           (b) a loss caused by the performance or failure to perform 
        a discretionary duty, whether or not the discretion is abused; 
           (c) a loss in connection with the assessment and collection 
        of taxes; 
           (d) a loss caused by snow or ice conditions on a highway or 
        public sidewalk that does not abut a publicly owned building or 
        a publicly owned parking lot, except when the condition is 
        affirmatively caused by the negligent acts of a state employee; 
           (e) a loss caused by wild animals in their natural state, 
        except as provided in section 3.7371; 
           (f) a loss other than injury to or loss of property or 
        personal injury or death; 
           (g) a loss caused by the condition of unimproved real 
        property owned by the state, which means land that the state has 
        not improved, state land that contains idled or abandoned mine 
        pits or shafts, and appurtenances, fixtures, and attachments to 
        land that the state has neither affixed nor improved; 
           (h) a loss incurred by a user arising from the 
        construction, operation, or maintenance of the outdoor 
        recreation system, as defined in section 86A.04, or for a loss 
        arising from the construction, operation, maintenance, or 
        administration of grants-in-aid trails as defined in section 
        85.018, or for a loss arising from the construction, operation, 
        or maintenance of a water access site created by the iron range 
        resources and rehabilitation board, except that the state is 
        liable for conduct that would entitle a trespasser to damages 
        against a private person.  For the purposes of this clause, a 
        water access site, as defined in section 86A.04 or created by 
        the iron range resources and rehabilitation board, that provides 
        access to an idled, water filled mine pit, also includes the 
        entire water filled area of the pit and, further, includes 
        losses caused by the caving or slumping of the mine pit walls; 
           (i) a loss of benefits or compensation due under a program 
        of public assistance or public welfare, except if state 
        compensation for loss is expressly required by federal law in 
        order for the state to receive federal grants-in-aid; 
           (j) a loss based on the failure of a person to meet the 
        standards needed for a license, permit, or other authorization 
        issued by the state or its agents; 
           (k) a loss based on the usual care and treatment, or lack 
        of care and treatment, of a person at a state hospital or state 
        corrections facility where reasonable use of available 
        appropriations has been made to provide care; 
           (l) loss, damage, or destruction of property of a patient 
        or inmate of a state institution; 
           (m) a loss for which recovery is prohibited by section 
        169.121, subdivision 9; 
           (n) a loss caused by an aeration, bubbler, water 
        circulation, or similar system used to increase dissolved oxygen 
        or maintain open water on the ice of public waters, that is 
        operated under a permit issued by the commissioner of natural 
        resources; 
           (o) a loss incurred by a visitor to the Minnesota 
        zoological garden, except that the state is liable for conduct 
        that would entitle a trespasser to damages against a private 
        person; and 
           (p) a loss arising out of a person's use of a logging road 
        on public land that is maintained exclusively to provide access 
        to timber on that land by harvesters of the timber, and is not 
        signed or otherwise held out to the public as a public highway; 
        and 
           (q) a loss incurred by a user of property owned, leased, or 
        otherwise controlled by the Minnesota National Guard or the 
        department of military affairs, except that the state is liable 
        for conduct that would entitle a trespasser to damages against a 
        private person. 
           The state will not pay punitive damages. 
           Presented to the governor May 30, 1997 
           Signed by the governor June 3, 1997, 2:10 p.m.