1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to public safety; providing for emergency 
  1.3             expenditures for pothole relief; appropriating money. 
  1.4   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.5      Section 1.  [APPROPRIATION FOR POTHOLE RELIEF AFFECTING 
  1.6   PUBLIC SAFETY.] 
  1.7      Subdivision 1.  [POTHOLE RELIEF.] A special pothole relief 
  1.8   appropriation is authorized.  Funding under this section must be 
  1.9   coordinated insofar as possible, and subject to immediate public 
  1.10  safety concerns, with emergency federal funding, if any, for the 
  1.11  same or similar purposes.  Funds are available for filling 
  1.12  potholes because other resources are depleted and because excess 
  1.13  potholes damage vehicles and affect or threaten public safety.  
  1.14  The division of emergency management of the department of public 
  1.15  safety in cooperation with the department of transportation 
  1.16  shall establish a formula or criteria for distribution of funds. 
  1.17     Subd. 2.  [DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS.] The commissioner of 
  1.18  public safety must notify local governments of the availability 
  1.19  of pothole relief funds and of the information that must be 
  1.20  submitted to obtain funds.  Local government units who wish to 
  1.21  obtain pothole relief funds must apply to the commissioner for 
  1.22  the funds.  The commissioner may require documentation of costs 
  1.23  reported by local governments. 
  1.24     Sec. 2.  [APPROPRIATION.] 
  2.1      $20,000,000 in fiscal year 1997 is appropriated from the 
  2.2   budget reserve in the general fund to the commissioner of public 
  2.3   safety to be spent as provided in section 1, except that the 
  2.4   commissioner may use necessary funds for administration of this 
  2.5   program. 
  2.6      Sec. 3.  [NO PRECEDENT SET.] 
  2.7      Funding by the state for costs that would otherwise be a 
  2.8   local fiscal responsibility is not to be considered a precedent 
  2.9   for any future pothole funding.  
  2.10     Sec. 4.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.11     This act is effective the day after its final enactment.