1.1 	A bill for an act
1.2 	relating to natural resources; eliminating the need to scale cut forest products on 
1.3 	state land; appropriating money for habitat improvement projects on state land;
1.4 	amending Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.031, subdivision 5; 90.061, 
1.5 	subdivisions 5, 8; 90.14; 90.151, subdivision 4; 90.181, subdivision 1; 90.221; 
1.6 	90.281; 90.41; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.01, subdivision 4; 
1.7 	90.201, subdivision 2; 90.251; 90.252.
1.8 	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

1.9 	Section 1. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.031, subdivision 5, is amended to read:
1.10 		Subd. 5.Appointment of agents. The Executive Council may appoint one or 
1.11 	more agents to gather evidence in any action brought by the state or to investigate the 
1.12 	correctness of any state appraiser's or scaler's report or to ascertain whether any timber 
1.13 	proposed to be sold is subject to sale, or whether any trespass has been committed on 
1.14 	state lands, and may send such the agent to examine such the timber or lands. Such The
1.15 	agents of the Executive Council, independently of the commissioner, or state appraisers, 
1.16 	or scalers shall report, in writing, to the governor, and the money necessary to defray 
1.17 	expenses in connection therewith shall be paid upon verified accounts from any funds 
1.18 	available for the expenses of the Executive Council.

1.19 	Sec. 2. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.061, subdivision 5, is amended to read:
1.20 		Subd. 5.Appraiser duties. The duties of the state appraiser shall be to appraise and 
1.21 	place a valuation upon any state lands or any state timber or any interest therein anywhere; 
1.22 	to check-scale appraise timber cut from state lands in trespass, either situated upon state 
1.23 	lands or removed therefrom; to check-scale any scale of timber cut on state lands; to make 
2.1 	check-scales, by the stump and top, or any other method, of timber removed from state 
2.2 	lands; and to perform such other duties as may be assigned.

2.3 	Sec. 3. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.061, subdivision 8, is amended to read:
2.4 		Subd. 8.Appraiser authority; form of documents. State appraisers are 
2.5 	empowered, with the consent of the commissioner, to perform any scaling appraisal, and 
2.6 	generally to supervise the cutting and removal of timber on or from state lands so far as 
2.7 	may be reasonably necessary to insure compliance with the terms of the permits or other 
2.8 	contracts governing the same and protect the state from loss.
2.9 	The form of appraisal reports, records, and notes to be kept by state appraisers 
2.10 	shall be as the commissioner prescribes.

2.11 	Sec. 4. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.14, is amended to read:
2.12 	90.14 AUCTION SALE PROCEDURE.
2.13 	(a) All state timber shall be offered and sold by the same unit of measurement as it 
2.14 	was appraised. No tract shall be sold to any person other than the purchaser in whose name 
2.15 	the bid was made. The commissioner may refuse to approve any and all bids received and 
2.16 	cancel a sale of state timber for good and sufficient reasons.
2.17 	(b) The purchaser at any sale of timber shall, immediately upon the approval of the 
2.18 	bid, or, if unsold at public auction, at the time of purchase at a subsequent sale under 
2.19 	section 90.101, subdivision 1, pay to the commissioner a down payment of 15 percent 
2.20 	of the appraised value. In case any purchaser fails to make such payment, the purchaser 
2.21 	shall be liable therefor to the state in a civil action, and the commissioner may reoffer the 
2.22 	timber for sale as though no bid or sale under section 90.101, subdivision 1, therefor 
2.23 	had been made.
2.24 	(c) In lieu of the scaling of state timber required by this chapter, A purchaser of 
2.25 	state timber may shall, at the time of payment by the purchaser to the commissioner of 
2.26 	15 percent of the appraised value, elect in writing on a form prescribed by the attorney 
2.27 	general to purchase a permit based solely on the appraiser's estimate of the volume of 
2.28 	timber described in the permit, provided that the commissioner has expressly designated 
2.29 	the availability of such option for that tract on the list of tracts available for sale as 
2.30 	required under section 90.101. A purchaser who elects in writing on a form prescribed 
2.31 	by the attorney general to purchase a permit based solely on the appraiser's estimate of 
2.32 	the volume of timber described on the permit does not have recourse to the provisions 
2.33 	of section 90.281.
3.1 	(d) In the case of a public auction sale conducted by a sealed bid process, tracts shall 
3.2 	be awarded to the high bidder, who shall pay to the commissioner a down payment of 15 
3.3 	percent of the appraised value within ten business days of receiving a written award 
3.4 	notice. If a purchaser fails to make the down payment, the purchaser is liable for the down 
3.5 	payment to the state and the commissioner may offer the timber for sale to the next highest 
3.6 	bidder as though no higher bid had been made.
3.7 	(e) Except as otherwise provided by law, at the time the purchaser signs a permit 
3.8 	issued under section 90.151, the purchaser shall make a bid guarantee payment to the 
3.9 	commissioner in an amount equal to 15 percent of the total purchase price of the permit 
3.10 	less the down payment amount required by paragraph (b). If the bid guarantee payment is 
3.11 	not submitted with the signed permit, no harvesting may occur, the permit cancels, and the 
3.12 	down payment for timber forfeits to the state. The bid guarantee payment forfeits to the 
3.13 	state if the purchaser and successors in interest fail to execute an effective permit.

3.14 	Sec. 5. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.151, subdivision 4, is amended to read:
3.15 		Subd. 4.Permit terms. The permit shall provide that all timber sold or designated 
3.16 	for cutting shall be cut without damage to other timber; that the permit holder shall remove 
3.17 	all timber authorized to be cut under the permit; that timber sold by board measure but 
3.18 	later determined by the commissioner not to be convertible into board measure shall be 
3.19 	paid for by the piece or cord or other unit of measure according to the size, species, or 
3.20 	value, as may be determined by the commissioner; that all timber products, except as 
3.21 	specified by the commissioner, shall be scaled and the final settlement for the timber cut 
3.22 	shall be made on this scale; and that the permit holder shall pay to the state the permit 
3.23 	price for all timber authorized to be cut, including timber not cut.

3.24 	Sec. 6. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.181, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
3.25 		Subdivision 1.Passage of title to timber. (a) The commissioner shall transmit to 
3.26 	the permit holder a statement of the amount due therefor by the terms of the permit upon 
3.27 	completion of the cutting or at least annually in the case of an auction permit. Any partial 
3.28 	payment received may be applied to any items on the statement as the commissioner 
3.29 	shall determine.
3.30 	(b) The title to the timber shall not pass from the state until the timber has been 
3.31 	scaled as required by the permit, full payment for the timber has been received, and all 
3.32 	other provisions of the permit have been fully complied with.

4.1 	Sec. 7. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.221, is amended to read:
4.2 	90.221 TIMBER SALES RECORDS.
4.3 	The commissioner shall keep timber sales records, including the description of each 
4.4 	tract of land from which any timber is sold; the date of the report of the state appraisers; 
4.5 	the kind, amount, and value of the timber as shown by such the report; the date of the sale; 
4.6 	the price for which the timber was sold; the name of the purchaser; the number, date of 
4.7 	issuance and date of expiration of each permit; the date of any assignment of the permit; 
4.8 	the name of the assignee; the dates of the filing and the amounts of the respective bonds 
4.9 	by the purchaser and assignee; the names of the sureties thereon; the amount of timber 
4.10 	taken from the land; the date of the report of the scaler and state appraiser; the names of 
4.11 	the scaler and the state appraiser who scaled the timber; and the amount paid for such the
4.12 	timber and the date of payment.

4.13 	Sec. 8. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.281, is amended to read:
4.14 	90.281 RESCALES, RECOUNTS AND REESTIMATES.
4.15 	(a) Upon complaint of any interested permit holder questioning the accuracy of 
4.16 	any scale, count, or estimate of timber made by any state appraiser, or at any other time 
4.17 	the commissioner determines in the absence of a complaint, the commissioner may 
4.18 	cause a rescale, recount, or reestimate thereof to be made jointly by any two or more 
4.19 	state appraisers, which when made shall supersede and for all purposes take the place of 
4.20 	the original scale, count, or estimate, if and only when the scale or count varies more 
4.21 	than ten percent from the original or the estimate exceeds the standards established by 
4.22 	section 90.045.  
4.23 	(b) As a condition precedent to the making of a rescale, recount, or reestimate upon 
4.24 	the complaint of any person, the commissioner may require the person to make available 
4.25 	such a sum of money as the commissioner deems necessary for the actual expenses thereof 
4.26 	and to forfeit the same to the state if the rescale and recount does not vary more than ten 
4.27 	percent from the original or the reestimate does not exceed the standards established by 
4.28 	section 90.045. All forfeited money shall be paid into the state treasury and credited to the 
4.29 	fund or account from which the expenses of the rescale, recount, or reestimate were paid.  

4.30 	Sec. 9. Minnesota Statutes 2008, section 90.41, is amended to read:
4.31 	90.41 STATE APPRAISER AND SCALER; VIOLATIONS, PENALTIES.
4.32 		Subdivision 1.Violations. Any state scaler or state appraiser who shall accept any 
4.33 	compensation or gratuity for services as such from any other source except the state of 
5.1 	Minnesota, or any state scaler, or other person authorized to scale state timber, or state 
5.2 	appraiser, who shall make any false report, or insert in any such report any false statement, 
5.3 	or shall make any such report without having examined the land embraced therein or 
5.4 	without having actually been upon the land, or omit from any such report any statement 
5.5 	required by law to be made therein, or who shall fail to report any known trespass 
5.6 	committed upon state lands, or who shall conspire with any other person in any manner, by 
5.7 	act or omission or otherwise, to defraud or unlawfully deprive the state of Minnesota of any 
5.8 	land or timber, or the value thereof, shall be guilty of a felony. Any material discrepancy 
5.9 	between the facts and the scale returned by any such person scaling timber for the state 
5.10 	shall be considered prima facie evidence that such person is guilty of violating this statute.
5.11 	No such appraiser or scaler who has been once discharged for cause shall ever again 
5.12 	be appointed. This provision shall not apply to resignations voluntarily made by and 
5.13 	accepted from such employees.
5.14 		Subd. 2.Penalty. Every person who shall cut timber on state lands and fail to mark 
5.15 	the same, as provided by law, and the permit under which the same was cut, shall be 
5.16 	guilty of a gross misdemeanor.

5.17 	Sec. 10. APPROPRIATION.
 5.18 	$....... in fiscal year 2010 and $....... in fiscal year 2011 are appropriated from the 
5.19 	outdoor heritage fund to the commissioner of natural resources for habitat improvement 
5.20 	projects on state forest lands.

5.21 	Sec. 11.  REPEALER.
 5.22 	Minnesota Statutes 2008, sections 90.01, subdivision 4; 90.201, subdivision 2; 
5.23 	90.251; and 90.252, are repealed.