1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to commerce; providing for the relocation of 
  1.3             an existing new motor vehicle dealership under certain 
  1.4             specified conditions. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [RELOCATION OF EXISTING NEW MOTOR VEHICLE 
  1.7   DEALERSHIP.] 
  1.8      (a) When a new motor vehicle dealership is located in a 
  1.9   city in the taconite relief area and a portion of the city has 
  1.10  been displaced by mining activities, Minnesota Statutes, section 
  1.11  80E.14, does not apply to a proposed relocation of the 
  1.12  dealership provided the new location is within a three mile 
  1.13  radius of the existing location and a request to relocate is 
  1.14  made before December 31, 1996. 
  1.15     (b) The manufacturer may not withhold consent to a 
  1.16  relocation satisfying the requirements of paragraph (a) unless 
  1.17  the physical facility to which the existing new motor vehicle 
  1.18  dealership proposes to relocate fails to meet the reasonable 
  1.19  standards consistently applied by the manufacturer in its 
  1.20  establishment or relocation of other new motor vehicle 
  1.21  dealerships in the five years immediately preceding the request 
  1.22  for relocation.  Factors apart from the facility itself, 
  1.23  including but not limited to the proximity of the proposed 
  1.24  facility to other existing dealerships, may not be considered in 
  1.25  determining whether the facility meets the reasonable standards 
  2.1   used by the manufacturer.  The burden of proof shall be upon the 
  2.2   manufacturer to show that the proposed facility does not meet 
  2.3   the standards consistently applied by the manufacturer in the 
  2.4   past five years, and that those standards are reasonable in 
  2.5   light of the harm that would be suffered by the existing new 
  2.6   motor vehicle dealership if the relocation is not approved. 
  2.7      Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.8      Section 1 is effective the day following final enactment.