Section 1, subdivision 1 directs the commissioner of transportation to develop, adopt, and implement best practices for project evaluation and selection, after consultation with specified entities including the Federal Highway Administration, local and regional governments, and other stakeholders. These practices must apply to the standard selection process and to special department programs. The commissioner must adopt and begin implementing the practices by October 2017, and shall publicize them on the department’s website. The practices as adopted must include:
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identification and weight of ranking criteria for each selection process;
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identification and application of criteria in enacted state or federal law or added by the commissioner;
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identification to stakeholders and to the public of candidate projects, whether the projects are selected or considered but not selected;
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involvement by area transportation partnerships and other local authorities in the candidate project scoring and ranking process; and
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means of publicizing the scoring, ranking and decisions with regard to each candidate project.
Subdivision 2 requires the commissioner to submit a report on the best practices to the legislature by March 1, 2017. The report must include information on input from the public and from the entities listed as consulting partners in subdivision 1.
This section is effective the day following final enactment.
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