Bill Summary

1         

Mitigation of transportation construction impacts on business.  Amends a provision in the enacted Transportation Finance bill to require a transportation authority to designate a business liaison in cases of substantial business impacts caused by road or rail transit projects.

2         

Prohibited activities at rest areas.  Prohibits certain acts at rest stops, which include:

•  Failure to dispose of travel-related trash except if depositing in a designated 

    receptacle;

•  Dumping household or commercial trash;

•  Draining or dumping refuse, except for trash intended for waste receptacles;

•  Remaining for more than six hours, except for certain commercial vehicle

   operators and rest area employees;

•  Pitching tents or sleeping overnight outside a vehicle; and

•  Leaving at the rest stop a vehicle or trailer that is unattended.

Violation of the prohibitions is a petty misdemeanor (which carries no prison sentence and a maximum fine of $300).

3         

Clearwater County Veterans Memorial Highway.  Clarifies the route for a named highway established earlier this session.

4         

Veterans Memorial Highway.  Designates a segment of Trunk Highway 200 from the North Dakota border to Mahnomen as the “Veterans Memorial Highway.”

5         

Becker County Veterans Memorial Highway.  Designates segments of marked Trunk Highways 34 and 87 in Becker County as the “Becker County Veterans Memorial Highway.”

6         

Granite City Crossing.  Officially names the bridge over the Mississippi River on marked Trunk Highway 23 in St. Cloud the “Granite City Crossing.” Signs must be paid for by nonstate sources.

7         

Prioritization of bridge projects.  Requires bridge projects in the trunk highway bridge improvement program to include bicycle and pedestrian accommodations if the bridge is in a city or if it links walkways, paths, trails, or bikeways.  Exceptions can be made if assessment shows no need for bicycle or pedestrian accommodations, or if there is a bicycle and pedestrian crossing within one-quarter mile of the bridge. Pedestrian facilities must meet federal accessibility requirements.

8         

Statewide transportation planning report.  Requires the commissioner of transportation’s statewide transportation planning report to include analysis of compliance with accessibility requirements.

9         

Deputy registrars.  Eliminates a 2012 sunset for a private corporation to be able to be appointed as a deputy registrar to handle motor vehicle registration and titling transactions, and makes conforming changes.  Under current law, after January 1, 2012, a private corporation will not be able to become a deputy registrar, but certain previously appointed deputy registrars can only be removed for cause.

10     

Filing fees; allocations.  Allows deputy registrars to add a surcharge on transaction fees up to the amount of the credit card processing fee, in accordance with emergency rules established by the commissioner of public safety.  This section is effective for fees collected on and after August 1, 2009.

11     

Written notice of impound.  Deals with the notice an impound lot operator must provide to the impounded vehicle owner.  This section removes the requirement that the lot operator include in the notice a statement that the person with a household income below a stated threshold is eligible to retrieve contents from an impounded vehicle.

12     

Retrieval of contents.  Removes the household income threshold from the conditions of owner eligibility to retrieve contents from an impounded vehicle.

13     

Mini truck.  Defines a “mini truck” in the chapter on traffic regulations.  Neighborhood electric vehicles and medium-speed electric vehicles are not mini trucks.

14     

Towing prohibited.  Deletes the four-hour waiting period before a vehicle may be towed for expired tabs or multiple unpaid parking tickets.

15     

Special Vehicle Use on Roadway.  Authorizes counties, cities, and towns to issue special permits for mini trucks to be able to be driven on that political subdivision’s roads. 

The special permit is generally the same as provided under current law for motorized golf carts and certain all-terrain vehicles.  Unlike operators of golf carts and eligible all-terrain vehicles, mini truck operators must have a driver’s license and can drive the vehicle at night.  Other requirements, which apply to all of the vehicles allowed to be driven with the permit, include: creation of an ordinance by the local unit of government; authority to cross streets on which the vehicle can not otherwise be driven; application of all relevant traffic regulations to the vehicle; and, allowing for purchasing insurance under the Minnesota Automobile Insurance Plan.

16     

Required equipment on mini trucks.  Identifies required equipment for mini trucks operated under the special permit, including headlamps and taillights, turn signals, rear view mirrors, a windshield, seatbelts, and a parking break.

17     

Impeding traffic; intersection gridlock.  Prohibits driving into an intersection controlled by a signal light until the vehicle is able to move completely through without blocking cross traffic, with exceptions: (1) under direction by a traffic control agent or peace officer, and (2) to accommodate an emergency vehicle.  This provision goes into effect January 1, 2010.

18     

Use of shoulders by buses.  Expands the authority of the Minnesota Department of Transportation to authorize use of shoulders on divided highways, so that such use can be allowed throughout the state by certain transit buses and motor carrier buses that transport people.  Under current law, the authority is restricted to the seven-county metropolitan area.

19     

Prohibitions generally; exceptions.  Authorizes the use of driver feedback and safety-monitoring equipment behind or near the rearview mirror.

20     

Six-axle vehicles.  Corrects a statutory effective date to August 1, 2008.

21     

Cargo tank vehicles.  Exempts from seasonal weight restrictions imposed by the commissioner cargo tank vehicles with two or three permanent axles when they are delivering propane for heating or dyed fuel oil if the tank is loaded at a maximum of 50 percent capacity. To be exempt, a cargo tank vehicle used for propane must: utilize the forward two tank compartments; have a gauge on the tank that shows propane content; and, if it carries dyed fuel oil, must carry documentation of the empty weight of the cargo tank vehicle. To the extent practicable, exempt vehicles must complete deliveries on restricted roads by noon and before the last week of April.

22     

Exception.  Establishes an effective date of July 1, 2009, for a section of law that extends the sunset of the ignition interlock program from 2009 to 2011.

23     

Pilot project established; reports.  Provides for an effective date of July 1, 2009, for a section of 2009 law that modifies and expands the existing DWI ignition interlock device pilot project, making it statewide, and extending it through June 30, 2011.

24     

Pilot project components.  Provides for an effective date of July 1, 2009, for a section of 2009 law that strikes the word “repeat” from the requirement that revocation of the license of an individual participating in the ignition interlock program must be for a repeat impaired driving incident.

25     

Department created.  Amends the section of statute that creates the Department of Transportation to add the purpose of creating an integrated transportation system, including walking and bicycling facilities.

26     

Transportation goals.  Amends the goals for the state's transportation system to minimize fatalities and injuries, increase access, ensure economic well-being and quality of life, enhance economic development, enhance appeal of tourist destinations, provide transit services to all counties, promote accountability, ensure maintenance of the system, and increase walking, bicycling, and use of transit as a percentage of all trips.

27     

Mission; efficiency; legislative report; recommendations.  Includes in MnDOT's mission the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

28     

Minnesota Council on Transportation Access.  Creates the Minnesota Council on Transportation Access to improve coordination, availability, cost-effectiveness, and safety of transit services to the transit-dependent. The section establishes the duties and membership of the council and requires an annual report beginning in 2011. The section expires June 30, 2013.

29     

Passenger Rail; Commissioner’s Duties.  Requires that MnDOT preserve rail employees rights under federal law if MnDOT is authorized with passenger rail powers and duties.

30     

Commuter Rail Corridor Coordinating Committee.  Modifies membership of a Minnesota Department of Transportation committee to provide advice on commuter rail, to include two ex-officio members from labor organizations that are involved with freight and commuter rail lines (one appointed by the House and one by the Senate).

31     

Track Safety Standards; Safety Technology Grants.  Directs the commissioner of transportation to apply in timely fashion to the Federal Railroad Administration for railroad safety technology grants. The commissioner must solicit grant requests from eligible railroads and prioritize grant requests for installation of switch indicator signals where posted speeds are over 20 mph and apply annually for grant funding until all nonsignalized track territory in the state has switch indicator signals installed and in operation. The commissioner must report to the legislative transportation chairs acceptance by a class I or class II railroad of federal grant program funding.

The section requires participating railroads to: provide the 20 percent nonfederal match; cooperate with the commissioner by providing technical documentation; and install rail safety technology obtained under this section in compliance with federal requirements.

32     

Motor carrier of railroad employees.  Defines “motor carrier of railroad employees” as a motor carrier that provides transport of railroad employees under contract with a class I or class II railroad, using vehicles that can transport seven or fewer people including the driver. 

Carriers who transport people for-hire in vehicles that can carry eight or more persons (including the driver) are regulated under current law as motor carriers of passengers.

33     

Small vehicle passenger service.  Excludes a motor carrier of railroad employees from the definition of small vehicle passenger service, which is a category that encompasses taxis and is regulated by local units of government rather than the state.

34     

Motor carrier of railroad employees.  Establishes regulations for motor carriers of motor carrier of railroad employees, similar to other motor carriers, including:

•  licensing and physical examination;

•  annual training and certification;

•  background checks and annual driver’s license verification;

•  liability insurance;

•  certain restrictions of allowed drivers based on past convictions;

•  mandatory controlled substance and alcohol testing; and

•  hours of service requirements.

States that motor carriers of railroad carriers are subject to the section of statute dealing with violations and misdemeanors committed by motor carriers.

35 – 36

Definition of municipality and general powers.  Extends zoning authority to airport authorities.

37  

Loans for acquisition and relocation.  Broadens the capability of the Metropolitan Council to be able to make loans to counties, cities, and towns to purchase homestead property in anticipation of a trunk highway project.  It removes a requirement that the property owner has to be facing certain hardship circumstances.  Loans under this provision are part of the right-of-way acquisition loan fund (RALF) program.

38  

Use of public roadways and appurtenances.  Allows Metropolitan Council buses to use parkways adjacent to the city of Minneapolis for regular route transit service, subject to permission of a joint board consisting of two representatives of the Metropolitan Council, two representatives of the park board, and a fifth member jointly selected by the other members.  The joint board must also include one member from the council of the contiguous city who is non-voting.

39  

Towed motor vehicles.  Makes a change to conform towing language to changes in section 9.

40  

Study of transportation long-range solutions.  Requires study and analysis of the demographic, socioeconomic, and travel trends on transportation system needs, air pollution and revenues.

41  

Nullification of Expedited Town Road Extinguishment.  Modifies a 2008 law that nullified certain abandonment of town roads by towns.  The provision clarifies the criteria for when the nullification is to take place, so that the state or a political subdivision may have either constructed or paid the costs of construction of a road or bridge improvement within the right-of-way.

42  

Trunk Highway 19 Closure in New Prague.  Directs the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) to annually close a portion of Trunk Highway 19 in New Prague for the Dozinky Festival in September.  It requires that MnDOT establish reasonable requirements for traffic control and safety, and mandates the closure from 5:30 p.m. on Friday until 6:00 a.m. on Sunday.

43  

Additional Deputy Registrar of Motor Vehicles for City of Farmington.  Directs the commissioner of public safety to appoint a municipal deputy registrar for the city of Farmington, subject to local approval by the city.  R40 (30.7-30.21)

44  

Environmental Impact Statement Completion.  Requires the commissioner of transportation to submit final environmental impact statements to the Federal Highway Administration for certain segments of trunk highway 14. This section has an immediate effective date.

45  

Rail grant funding.  Requires the commissioner of transportation to work with the state of Wisconsin to apply for economic stimulus grant funding for the high-speed passenger rail line from Chicago to La Crosse to the Twin Cities including the St. Paul Union Depot.

46  

Repealer.  Repeals: (a) statutes establishing the state hazardous materials and hazardous waste registration programs; and (b) two statutory subdivisions related to towing, that are superseded by the language in section 9.

47  

Effective Date.  Makes the mini truck provisions effective August 1, 2009, and expire on July 31, 2012.