2007 Minnesota Statutes

161.36 FEDERAL AID.
    Subdivision 1. Commissioner to cooperate with U.S. government. The commissioner
may cooperate with the government of the United States and any agency or department thereof
in the construction, improvement, enhancement, and maintenance of transportation in the state
of Minnesota and may comply with the provisions of the laws of the United States and any
regulations made thereunder for the expenditure of federal moneys.
    Subd. 2. Federal aid, acceptance; commissioner as agent. The commissioner may
accept federal moneys and other moneys, either public or private, for and in behalf of the state
of Minnesota or any governmental subdivision thereof, or any nonpublic organization, for the
construction, improvement, enhancement, or maintenance of transportation upon such terms and
conditions as are or may be prescribed by the laws of the United States and any regulations made
thereunder, and is authorized to act as an agent of that governmental subdivision or nonpublic
organization upon its request in accepting the moneys in its behalf for transportation purposes,
in acquiring right-of-way therefor, and in contracting for the construction, improvement,
enhancement, or maintenance of transportation financed either in whole or in part by federal
moneys. The governing body of any such subdivision or nonpublic organization is authorized to
designate the commissioner as its agent for such purposes and to enter into an agreement with the
commissioner prescribing the terms and conditions of the agency in accordance herewith and
with federal laws and regulations.
    Subd. 3. Commissioner as agent in certain cases. The commissioner may act as the agent
of any political subdivision of the state, or any nonpublic organization, as provided herein, for the
construction of transportation toward the construction of which no federal aid is available in the
event that the construction adjoins, is connected, or in the judgment of the commissioner can be
best and most economically performed in connection with construction upon which federal aid is
available and upon which the commissioner is then acting as agent.
    Subd. 4. State laws govern. All contracts for the construction, improvement, enhancement,
or maintenance of transportation made by the commissioner as the agent of any governmental
subdivision, or any nonpublic organization, shall be made pursuant to the laws of Minnesota
governing the making of contracts for the construction, improvement, enhancement, and
maintenance of transportation on the trunk highway system of the state; provided, where the
construction, improvement, enhancement, or maintenance of any transportation is financed
wholly with federal moneys, the commissioner as the agent of the governmental subdivision or
nonpublic organization may let contracts in the manner prescribed by the federal authorities
acting under the laws of the United States and any regulations made thereunder, notwithstanding
any state law to the contrary.
    Subd. 5. Funds deposited in state treasury. All funds accepted for disbursement by
the commissioner pursuant to this section shall be deposited in the state treasury and, unless
otherwise prescribed by the authority from which the funds are received, kept in separate
accounts designated according to the purposes for which the funds were made available and
held by the state in trust for those purposes. All funds are appropriated for the purposes for
which the funds are made available to be expended in accordance with this section and with
federal laws and regulations. The commissioner may, whether acting for the state of Minnesota
or as the agent of any of its governmental subdivisions or when requested by the United States
government or any agency or department of the United States government, disburse funds for the
designated purposes, but this shall not preclude any other authorized method of disbursement.
For the purpose of providing sufficient funds in the accounts established pursuant to this
subdivision to meet expenditure requirements occurring before federal or other public or private
reimbursements, the commissioner of finance, at the request of the commissioner, may borrow
from available balances of the county state-aid highway fund or the municipal state-aid street
fund. The terms and conditions of any loans shall be determined by the commissioner of finance.
The amount borrowed shall not exceed in the aggregate the amount of federal aid allotted to
the construction of roads and bridges under the jurisdiction of governmental subdivisions and
under project appropriation by the federal government. When there is sufficient money in the
account that received the loan, the commissioner of finance shall transfer from that account to
the other public fund the amount so loaned.
    Subd. 6. No personal liability created. Nothing in this section shall be construed as creating
any personal liability upon the commissioner or in any way authorizing the commissioner
to create any liability on the part of the state of Minnesota when acting as the agent of any
governmental subdivision thereof, or when acting at the request of the United States.
History: 1959 c 500 art 2 s 36; 1981 c 209 s 5; 1982 c 376 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1996 c 455
art 3 s 9-12; 2003 c 112 art 2 s 50