The Minnesota House Republican majority caucus loves to strut around like a flock of irate bantam roosters, crowing about their intent to "lower revenues," often from raiding money that goes to specific funds.
A classic from last spring? The attempt by Rep. Denny McNamara, R-Hastings to rob an urban landfill cleanup trust that Twin Cities residents paid into via tipping fees; we detailed the caper in Bill does unto others as Range wouldn't have done to IRRRB: the case of the MLCAT account.
But McNamara has his eye on another pot o' money, the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association tells us in its 2015 New Laws and Legislative Wrap-up:
In 1984, a $4 motor vehicle title transfer fee was added to the transaction to fund temporarily waste tire cleanup and help eradicate an outbreak of encephalitis from Treehole Mosquitoes that lived in the tires. Since then, the fee has increased by 150% and has been used over the years to fund everything from environmental cleanup to debt service on revenue bonds to plugging holes in the state’s budget.
Instigated by House Transportation Committee member and Environment Finance Chair Denny McNamara, the omnibus transportation bill includes language requiring the Pollution Control Agency to submit a report to legislators:
identifying the annual amount of revenue collected from the fee in fiscal years 2012 to 2015;
evaluating the allocation of revenue from the title transfer fee; and
specifying uses of funds from title transfer fee, including identification of any highway transportation projects for which funds are used.
The report is now out, though it tells a somewhat different birth narrative:
The Motor Vehicle Title Transfer Fee (MVTF) was first established in law in 1972, charging $1 per automobile title transferred to fund an MPCA grant program for collection of abandoned automobiles. The Waste Management Act (Chapter 115A) established the current MVTF in 1984. Section 115A.908 specified a $4 fee on initial registration of a vehicle weighing more than 1,000 pounds and at each subsequent title transfer. Originally, the statute had a sunset date of 1994, which the Legislature extended in 1992 and 1995. The continuing need to fund pollution-prevention and cleanup activities related to auto pollution, including Superfund sites, prompted the Legislature to eliminate the sunset altogether in 1997. An August 2002 statewide survey performed by St. Cloud State University found that 60% of Minnesotans supported a $6.00 increase in the MVTF if it were used to “pay for both new and existing environmental protection programs related to vehicle pollution.”
In 2003, due to revenue shortfalls, the MVTF was redirected for deposit to the General Fund. In 2005, the fee was raised to $10.00 per title registered or transferred and continued to be deposited in the General Fund. However, in 2007, the MVTF was redirected for deposit to the Environmental Fund, where it has remained in the subsequent years.
The report concludes:
Over the past 30 years, the main sources of funding for the MPCA’s broad range of pollution management and reduction work have shifted from state General Fund to pollution-related fees and taxes. These funding sources collectively support the MPCA’s interrelated regulatory work. As the foregoing long list of our activities demonstrates, numerous agency staff in a variety of disciplines work daily to manage and mitigate the impacts from roads, bridges, trucks, and cars.
The proceeds of the Motor Vehicle Title Transfer Fee (MVTF) are clearly related by policy and longstanding legislative appropriations to the environmental impacts of our transportation system and the vehicles used by Minnesotans. The logical relationship between the revenue source and the purposes for which the revenue is used supports its continued flow into the Environmental Fund.
Since the MVTF’s establishment 30 years ago, the need to fund road and vehicle-related pollution-prevention and cleanup, including Superfund sites, has not slowed down. The Legislature affirmed the need when it eliminated the fee’s sunset in 1997. As recently as August 2002, a statewide survey by St. Cloud State University found that 60% of Minnesotans supported a $6.00 increase in the MVTF if it were used to “pay for both new and existing environmental protection programs related to vehicle pollution.” The MPCA relies on this important funding to support more 80 FTEs of work and strongly advocates for its continued long-term inclusion in the Environmental Fund.
Here's the report:
Legislative report on motor vehicle title transfer fee funds
We suspect that Representative McNamara won't be entirely unhappy about how the money's spent, since there's something about nurseries and landscaping in the report:
Roadside planting assistance
We provide technical assistance to MnDOT and local units of government on the use and availability of compost for roadside vegetation and soil reconstruction, including assisting on a near-road vegetation project to mitigate vehicle emissions (along I-35E in St. Paul). (p.5)
That should cheer up Representative McNamara, whose son has a contract with MnDOT for plants that might be going into that compost, according to Transparency MN. We all know how upset he gets when he feels his son's business is threatened.
Hoffman and McNamara, the nursery McNamara built, then sold to his son, was paid $681,152 by the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Department of Veterans Affairs in Budget Year 2015, a search of the agency payments to the business in the Open Checkbook reveals.
Here's a screenshot:
The MNDOT payments to Hoffman and McNamara came from the Trunk Highway Fund:
Bluestem hopes that modest payment cushioned the blow from what Hoffman and McNamara lost from a switch in landscaping philosophies by the Minneapolis Park Board and from that little legal matter Dad's facing.
Since MNDOT's payments to Hoffman and McNamara come from the Trunk Highway Fund, perhaps the dollars from vehicle transfer fees can be switched from the Environmental Fund to the Trunk Highway Fund (or some other proposed stable transportation fund) to help struggling landscapers across the state.
There are so many green swathes that need attention.
Photo: Rep. Denny McNamara, holding forth on the House floor.
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