2006 Minnesota Statutes

216E.18 BIENNIAL REPORT; APPLICATION FEES; APPROPRIATION; FUNDING.
    Subdivision 1. Biennial report. Before November 15 of each even-numbered year the
commission shall prepare and submit to the legislature a report of its operations, activities,
findings, and recommendations concerning this chapter. The report shall also contain information
on the commission's biennial expenditures, its proposed budget for the following biennium, and
the amounts paid in permit application fees and in assessments pursuant to this section. The
proposed budget for the following biennium shall be subject to legislative review.
    Subd. 2. Site application fee. Every applicant for a site permit shall pay to the commissioner
of commerce a fee to cover the necessary and reasonable costs incurred by the commission in
acting on the permit application and carrying out the requirements of this chapter. The commission
may adopt rules providing for the payment of the fee. Section 16A.1283 does not apply to
establishment of this fee. All money received pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited in a
special account. Money in the account is appropriated to the commissioner of commerce to pay
expenses incurred in processing applications for site permits in accordance with this chapter and
in the event the expenses are less than the fee paid, to refund the excess to the applicant.
    Subd. 2a. Route application fee; appropriation. Every applicant for a transmission line
route permit shall pay to the commissioner of commerce a fee to cover the necessary and
reasonable costs incurred by the commission in acting on the permit application and carrying out
the requirements of this chapter. The commission may adopt rules providing for the payment of
the fee. Section 16A.1283 does not apply to the establishment of this fee. All money received
pursuant to this subdivision shall be deposited in a special account. Money in the account
is appropriated to the commissioner of commerce to pay expenses incurred in processing
applications for route permits in accordance with this chapter and in the event the expenses are
less than the fee paid, to refund the excess to the applicant.
    Subd. 3. Funding; assessment. The commission shall finance its baseline studies, general
environmental studies, development of criteria, inventory preparation, monitoring of conditions
placed on site and route permits, and all other work, other than specific site and route designation,
from an assessment made quarterly, at least 30 days before the start of each quarter, by the
commission against all utilities with annual retail kilowatt-hour sales greater than 4,000,000
kilowatt-hours in the previous calendar year.
Each share shall be determined as follows: (1) the ratio that the annual retail kilowatt-hour
sales in the state of each utility bears to the annual total retail kilowatt-hour sales in the state
of all these utilities, multiplied by 0.667, plus (2) the ratio that the annual gross revenue from
retail kilowatt-hour sales in the state of each utility bears to the annual total gross revenues from
retail kilowatt-hour sales in the state of all these utilities, multiplied by 0.333, as determined
by the commission. The assessment shall be credited to the special revenue fund and shall be
paid to the state treasury within 30 days after receipt of the bill, which shall constitute notice
of said assessment and demand of payment thereof. The total amount which may be assessed
to the several utilities under authority of this subdivision shall not exceed the sum of the annual
budget of the commission for carrying out the purposes of this subdivision. The assessment for
the second quarter of each fiscal year shall be adjusted to compensate for the amount by which
actual expenditures by the commission for the preceding fiscal year were more or less than the
estimated expenditures previously assessed.
History: 1973 c 591 s 19 subds 1-3; 1975 c 271 s 6; 1977 c 439 s 25; 1981 c 356 s 313-315;
1982 c 482 s 5; 1Sp1985 c 13 s 240; 1987 c 186 s 15; 1987 c 304 s 1; 1988 c 690 art 1 s
4; 1989 c 335 art 1 s 269; 1990 c 597 s 56; 1995 c 220 s 110; 2001 c 212 art 7 s 28; 2005
c 97 art 3 s 11,12,19