Bill
HF 4958
HF 4958 aims to bring all Minnesota pedestrian crossings into ADA compliance by 2035 through a statewide inventory, regional master contracts, grants, and targeted funding.
Purpose
- Establishes a statewide program to ensure every pedestrian crossing in Minnesota complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
- Creates rulemaking, reporting requirements, and funding (including both general fund grants and bond proceeds) to inventory, inspect, and modify pedestrian crossings to ADA standards.
- Authorizes sale and issuance of state bonds to support accessible crossing improvements.
Key Provisions
1) Inventory of Pedestrian Crossings (Section 174.77)
- Definition of terms (ADA, city, eligible recipient, pedestrian crossing point, noncompliant crossing, etc.).
- The Commissioner of Transportation must:
- Create a statewide inventory of all pedestrian crossing points to assess ADA compliance.
- Adopt rules to:
- Compile existing ADA transition plan inventories from cities, counties, towns, Metropolitan Council, and the department.
- Categorize crossings as fully compliant, partially compliant, noncompliant, or requiring inspection.
- Work with local entities to inspect crossings needing inspection.
- Identify crossings for department inspection.
- Provide an expedited grant process for local entities to inspect crossings; prioritize grant disbursement.
- Prioritize grant awards to:
- Populations under 5,000.
- Areas with a high percentage of crossings requiring inspection.
- Areas serving lower-income residents and other disadvantaged communities.
- Maintain a publicly accessible database tracking compliance status.
2) Accessible Pedestrian Crossings (Section 174.78)
- Establishes a program to bring all crossings into ADA compliance by December 31, 2035.
- Rules to:
- Determine whether improved crossings are done via regional master contracts, the department, or local road authorities.
- Request proposals for regional multiyear contracts.
- Provide grants to eligible recipients to perform necessary modifications.
- Eligible uses of grants:
- Design, construct, and fully scope needed work to bring noncompliant crossings into ADA compliance.
- Repay debt incurred for the above purposes.
- Note: Grants may not be used to contract with a third party for work that the grant funds, except to expand an existing project’s scope.
- Planning and prioritization:
- The Commissioner must decide whether work is done by local authorities or regional master contracts.
- Prioritize noncompliant crossings near transit routes, schools, senior housing, high pedestrian-vehicle conflict areas, and areas with many residents with disabilities.
- Regional Projects:
- Establish regional multiyear contracts (regional master contracts).
- Divide the state into regions aligned with DOT districts; regions may contain multiple districts.
- RFPs issued per region, designed to maximize efficiency (standardized templates, minimum crossings per deployment, multi-year performance, clustering to reduce costs).
- Local road authorities may join regional master contracts; provide participation guidance and cost-sharing details.
- Cost participation reductions:
- Cities/towns with population under 5,000: eliminate cost participation requirements.
- Cities/towns with population 5,000–10,000: reduce cost participation.
- Public sector road authority projects:
- Grants for eligible entities to use their own maintenance capacity to perform work within their jurisdiction.
- Must have maintenance capacity to finish work by December 31, 2035.
- Existing projects:
- Grants to expand the scope of an existing project to cover noncompliant crossings when more efficient.
- Workforce and wages:
- Contractors bidding on regional contracts must submit a workforce plan detailing apprenticeship use and workforce development in the region.
- Workers on grant-funded projects must be paid prevailing wage per Minnesota law.
- Accountability and reporting:
- By September 15 each year, the Commissioner must report to legislative chairs and ranking minority members on:
- Estimated total cost to bring all crossings into ADA compliance (by region) and changes since program inception.
- Number of noncompliant crossings identified.
- Number requiring inspection per region.
- Crossings brought into compliance in the last year and under which subdivision (4, 5, or 6).
- Average cost to bring a noncompliant crossing into compliance (statewide, by region, and by approach).
- Status of requests for proposals or master contracts (cost, number of crossings, participating local authorities, performance period).
- Any unspent appropriations for grants.
- Lists of eligible recipients who applied or received grants.
3) Appropriations and Bonding (Sections 3-4)
- Sec. 3. Appropriation
- A one-time general fund appropriation for fiscal year 2027 to provide pedestrian crossing inventory grants under Minn. Stat. § 174.77.
- Availability through June 30, 2029.
- Sec. 4. Bond Appropriation
- Bond proceeds funding for grants related to accessible crossings under Minn. Stat. § 174.78.
- Authority for the Commissioner of Management and Budget to issue bonds up to a specified amount, per applicable statutes and constitution.
- Note: The bill currently lists placeholders for exact dollar amounts (indicated as $.......). Final amounts would be set in the enacted version.
Effective and Timeline Highlights
- ADA compliance deadline: December 31, 2035.
- Inventory and initial rulemaking required to begin establishing processes, prioritization, and grant mechanisms.
- Annual reporting to legislative committees starting after the program’s operation, with comprehensive metrics.
Impact and Who Is Affected
- Local road authorities (cities, towns, counties) and the Metropolitan Council.
- State agencies (Department of Transportation) and regional contracting structures.
- Pedestrians, especially in high-priority areas (near transit, schools, senior housing, low-income and disability communities).
- Contractors and workers, who must adhere to prevailing wage and workforce plan requirements.
- Taxpayers and bondholders, given appropriations and bond funding support.
Overall, HF 4958 aims to comprehensively inventory and upgrade all state pedestrian crossings to ADA compliance by 2035 through a combination of grants, regional master contracts, and local authority participation, supported by annual reporting and targeted funding mechanisms.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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