Article 1:  Appropriations of Bond Proceeds

Section 1 [Capital Improvement Appropriations] specifies that appropriations are from the bond proceeds fund, unless otherwise specified. Constrains the use of these appropriations to those permitted by the constitution to acquire and better public land; permits the appropriation to be used until the project is completed or abandoned, subject to a four-year limit; and precludes use of the funds for projects that could be financed through the state energy improvement program or the guaranteed energy-savings program. Summarizes the appropriations by agency.

Sections 2-27 appropriate money for capital projects and bond sale expenses.  See the spreadsheet for details.

Section 28 [Bond Sale Authorizations] authorizes the Commissioner of Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) to authorize the sale of bonds for the projects in this bill.

Section 29 [Cancellations; Bond Sale Authorization Reductions] cancels appropriations in earlier bonding bills that have not been spent within four years of authorization and have not been extended.

Section 30 [Bond Sale Schedule] lowers the capped amount that MMB is permitted to move from the general fund to make principal and interest payments on bonds coming due.

Section 31 [Appropriations Given Effect Once] is a safeguard against a project receiving appropriations in more than one bill in this legislative session. Only one appropriation will be effective, if an appropriation is enacted more than once.

Section 31 [Effective Date] makes this article effective the day after enactment.

Article 2:  Miscellaneous

Section 1 [Waivers Authorized] modifies a cross-reference to reflect a change in the local bridge grant program made in this bill and for grants under the fracture-critical bridges provision, Minnesota Statutes, section 174.50, subdivision 6c, that was added to the statutes when the state assistance after a natural disaster statute was first enacted.

Section 2 [Negotiated Sales Authority] gives MMB the authority to sell bonds through negotiated sales until June 30, 2016. 

Section 3 [Reports] adds appropriation bonds to the cancellation report. Currently, MMB has to report to the chairs of the Senate Committee on Finance and the House Committee on Ways and Means with a list of laws that authorized the issuance of bonds or appropriations of general fund money that were enacted more than four years earlier.  This is the so-called “cancellation report.” This section adds to that list of laws any law that authorizes bonds supported by a state appropriation (i.e. so-called “appropriation bonds”) that is enacted or amended after December 31, 2013.

Section 4 [Cancellations] add certain appropriation bonds to the commissioner’s cancellation authorization.  Current law permits the Commissioner of MMB to cancel remaining bond sale authorizations or appropriations if the commissioner determines that the purposes for which general obligation bonds were issued have been accomplished or abandoned.  This section permits the commissioner to cancel appropriation bond sale authorizations under the same circumstances and conditions, if the appropriation bond was authorized or amended after December 31, 2013. Requires reporting the cancellation to the chairs of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.

Section 5 [Iron, Steel, and Other Materials Used in Capital Projects] requires public entities to use iron, steel, and manufactured goods produced in the U.S. and obtained through local suppliers and manufactures on capital improvement projects that receive state appropriations.  A project may receive an exception to this requirement if the required materials or labor are not available in sufficient quantities or satisfactory quality, if the requirement would increase the overall cost, is otherwise impracticable, or is in conflict with federal law.

Section 6 [Construction and Major Remodeling], Section 7 [Other Projects] and Section 8 [Information Technology] adds the chair of the Senate Capital Investment Committee and the ranking members of the Senate and House capital Investment Committees to the list of legislators who receive certain reports and notifications that the chair of the House of Representatives Capital Investment Committee receives.

Section 9 [Qualification; Improvement Grant] allows grants under the library improvement program to be used to remediate conditions that are hazardous to health or safety.

Section 10 [Capital Projects] specifies that the list of factors, already in statute, that the University of Minnesota and MNSCU uses to set priorities for their capital projects, is not in priority order.

Section 11 [Bridge Costs in Smaller Cities] and Section 12 [Bridge Grant Program] revive and modify an expired grant program for cities under 5,000 population to receive money from the state transportation fund for the design, engineering, and construction of bridges on city streets.  These sections make several changes to the bridge program: eliminates a threshold that the city have less than $200,000 in net tax capacity; specifies that the grants can be used for design and engineering costs in excess of $10,000, approach work in excess of $10,000, and all bridge construction work costs; and eliminates a limit of $200,000 for these grants.

Section 12 [Bridge Grant Program; Rulemaking] puts into statute language that has typically been included in the rider for appropriations to this program:  specifies the uses to which political subdivisions may put bridge grant money to use; permits use of the money to match federal aid grants, pay the costs to abandon a deficient bridge, and pay the cost to construct a road or street to facilitate the abandonment of an existing deficient bridge.  

Section 13 [Advisory Committee] changes the name of the advisory committee for the local road improvement program.   Adds the following accounts to the list of accounts about which the committee is to recommend expenditures: the local road account for routes of regional significance and the rural road safety account.

Section 14 [Plan Development Criteria] requires the Commissioner of the Amateur Sports Commission to give priority to grant applications under the Mighty Ducks Ice Arena improvement program for indoor air quality improvements and projects that eliminate R-22.  Increases the cap on a grant under this program from $100,000 to $200,000.

Section 15 [Single-Family Dwelling; Fire Sprinklers] states that state building and fire codes and local government ordinances must not require installation of fire sprinklers or systems in new or existing single-family detached dwelling unit.

Section 16 [Timeline for Compliance with Elevator Code] sets December 31, 2017, as the deadline for complying with certain elevator code changes, for elevators installed before January 27, 2007, in a residential common interest ownership property having five or fewer floors.

Section 17 [Written Contract Required] requires licensed contractors to offer customers sprinkler systems as an option before entering into a construction contract.  The offer must be included in the construction contract and a copy of the fire sprinkler opt-in form is added to the list of copies of documents that the contractor must provide to the customer.

Section 18 [Authorization] permits housing infrastructure bonds to be issued by the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to fund loans that finance the acquisition of any property – not just abandoned or foreclosed property – that is attributable to the land to be leased by community land trusts to low and moderate-income homebuyers.  Gives a preference to veterans meeting certain criteria for permanent supportive housing. These changes are effective the day after final enactment for bonds authorized in 2014 and after.

Section 19 [Additional Authorization] authorizes the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency to issue up to $70,000,000 in housing infrastructure bonds.

Section 20 [Additional Appropriation] requires the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency (MHA) to certify to MMB the amount of annual debt service on bonds issues under the authorization in the previous section.  Provides for the state’s payment of debt service on the bonds issued by MHA, capped at $5,600,000 annually, establishes a standing appropriation for this payment, and permits the MHA to pledge the state’s appropriation to the payment of the bonds.

Sections 21 [State Trail Acquisition, Rehabilitation, and Development] extends an earlier appropriation for the Stagecoach Trail until December 30, 2016.

Section 22 [Minnesota Valley Railroad Track Rehabilitation], Section 23 [Minnesota Valley Railroad Track Rehabilitation], and Section 24 [Minnesota Valley Railroad Track Rehabilitation] make adjustments to earlier appropriations for the Minnesota Valley Railroad Track Rehabilitation to allow the money to be used for bridges.

Section 25 [Minneapolis – Orchestra Hall] extends a 2010 appropriation for Peavey Plaza until December 31, 2018.

Section 26 [Hennepin County - MN African American History Museum] permits a prior appropriation to be used to acquire land and buildings.

Section 27 [Austin Port Authority] permits use of a prior appropriation to be used for a parking lot, for the Hormel Institute project.

Section 28 [Flood Hazard Mitigation, Stream Restoration Grants] permits a 2012 appropriation for flood hazard mitigation to be used for stream restoration in a specified disaster area (2012 Duluth area storm and flooding).

Section 29 [Reforestation] permits the use of a 2012 appropriation for reforestation to be used for reforestation in a specified disaster area (2011 storms, flooding and tornadoes in Kandiyohi, Lincoln, Lyon, McLeod, Meeker, Pine, Pipestone, Redwood, Renville, Stearns, and Yellow Medicine Counties).

Section 30 [Veterans Affairs] modifies a 2013 appropriation for renovations at the Minneapolis Veterans Home to permit a portion (up to $1,750,000) to be used to construct a new distribution and service tunnel between Building 17 North, Building 18, and the future 17 South, and to construct steam and electrical connections, infrastructure, site work, a canopy with vestibule, and required modification to Building 18’s drop-off and entry.

Section 31 [Conveyance of Surplus State Land; Washington County] permits the Commissioner of Administration to convey certain surplus state land to the city of Bayport.  At least a portion of this land was purchased by the state with general obligation bonds.  This provision is the same as section 33 of S.F. No. 2449 (the “lands” bill) that passed in the Senate on a vote of 65-0 on April 23, 2014.

Section 32 [East Metro Integration District, Property Conveyance] permits the transfer of the Harambee School from the East Metro Integration District to the Roseville School District for operation of a multidistrict integration facility that serves students from early education through grade 12, and permits the transfer of the Crosswinds School from the East Metro Integration District to the Perpich Center for Arts Education for use as an east metropolitan area integration magnet school. 

Section 33 [Revisor’s Instruction] requires the Revisor to change the headnote of a certain statute section to “Library Construction Grants.”

Section 34 [Effective Date] makes this article effective the day following final enactment.