2009 Minnesota Statutes

85.53 PARKS AND TRAILS FUND.

Subdivision 1.Establishment.

The parks and trails fund is established in the Minnesota Constitution, article XI, section 15. All money earned by the parks and trails fund must be credited to the fund.

Subd. 2.Expenditures; accountability.

(a) A project or program receiving funding from the parks and trails fund must meet or exceed the constitutional requirement to support parks and trails of regional or statewide significance. A project or program receiving funding from the parks and trails fund must include measurable outcomes, as defined in section 3.303, subdivision 10, and a plan for measuring and evaluating the results. A project or program must be consistent with current science and incorporate state-of-the-art technology, except when the project or program is a portrayal or restoration of historical significance.

(b) Money from the parks and trails fund shall be expended to balance the benefits across all regions and residents of the state.

(c) All information for funded projects, including the proposed measurable outcomes, must be made available on the Web site required under section 3.303, subdivision 10, as soon as practicable. Information on the measured outcomes and evaluation must be posted as soon as it becomes available.

(d) Grants funded by the parks and trails fund must be implemented according to section 16B.98 and must account for all expenditures. Proposals must specify a process for any regranting envisioned. Priority for grant proposals must be given to proposals involving grants that will be competitively awarded.

(e) A recipient of money from the parks and trails fund must display a sign on lands and capital improvements purchased, restored, or protected with money from the parks and trails fund that includes the logo developed by the commissioner of natural resources to identify it as a project funded with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

(f) Money from the parks and trails fund may only be spent on projects located in Minnesota.

Subd. 3.Metropolitan area distribution formula.

Money appropriated from the parks and trails fund to the Metropolitan Council shall be distributed to implementing agencies, as defined in section 473.351, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), as grants according to the following formula:

(1) 45 percent of the money must be disbursed according to the allocation formula in section 473.351, subdivision 3, to each implementing agency;

(2) 31.5 percent of the money must be distributed based on each implementing agency's relative share of the most recent estimate of the population of the metropolitan area;

(3) 13.5 percent of the money must be distributed based on each implementing agency's relative share of nonlocal visits based on the most recent user visitation survey conducted by the Metropolitan Council; and

(4) ten percent of the money must be distributed as grants to implementing agencies for land acquisition within Metropolitan Council approved regional parks and trails master plan boundaries under the council's park acquisition opportunity grant program. The Metropolitan Council must provide a match of $2 of the council's park bonds for every $3 of state funds for the park acquisition opportunity grant program.

Subd. 4.Data availability.

Data collected by the projects funded with money from the parks and trails fund that have value for planning and management of natural resources, emergency preparedness, and infrastructure investments must conform to the enterprise information architecture developed by the Office of Enterprise Technology. Spatial data must conform to geographic information system guidelines and standards outlined in that architecture and adopted by the Minnesota Geographic Data Clearinghouse at the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office. A description of these data that adheres to the Office of Enterprise Technology geographic metadata standards must be submitted to the Minnesota Geospatial Information Office to be made available online through the clearinghouse and the data must be accessible and free to the public unless made private under chapter 13. To the extent practicable, summary data and results of projects and programs funded with money from the parks and trails fund should be readily accessible on the Internet and identified as a parks and trails fund project.

History:

2008 c 363 art 5 s 10; 2009 c 101 art 2 s 107; 2009 c 172 art 5 s 6

NOTE: This section, as added by Laws 2008, chapter 363, article 5, section 10, is effective July 1, 2009, if the constitutional amendment proposed in Laws 2008, chapter 151, is adopted by the voters. Laws 2008, chapter 363, article 5, section 10, the effective date.