Source: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=84.027&year=2007
Timestamp: 2015-08-04 01:24:12
Document Index: 391468108

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 10', 'art 2', 'art 11', 'art 2', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 2', 'art 1']

84.027 - 2007 Minnesota Statutes
Print 2007 Minnesota StatutesNatural ResourcesChapter 84Section 84.027
Subdivision 1. Powers and duties. The commissioner of natural resources shall be the administrative and executive head of the department. Subject to the provisions hereof and other applicable laws, the commissioner shall have the powers and duties herein prescribed. The enumeration of specific powers and duties herein shall not limit or exclude other powers or duties.
Subd. 2. General. The commissioner shall have charge and control of all the public lands, parks, timber, waters, minerals, and wild animals of the state and of the use, sale, leasing, or other disposition thereof, and of all records pertaining to the performance of the commissioner's functions relating thereto.
Subd. 3. Former powers and duties of commissioner of conservation. The commissioner shall have all the powers and duties prescribed for the commissioner of conservation by Laws 1931, chapter 186, all the powers and duties therein prescribed for the Conservation Commission except the power to appoint a commissioner, and all other powers and duties now prescribed by law for the commissioner of conservation, the Conservation Commission, the Department of Conservation, its divisions, or the director of any division.
Subd. 4. Certain powers and duties of state auditor. The commissioner shall have all existing powers and duties now or heretofore vested in or imposed upon the state auditor in any capacity and not heretofore transferred to any other officer or agency with respect to the public lands, parks, timber, waters, and minerals of the state, and the records thereof; provided, that nothing herein shall divest the state auditor of any power or duty otherwise prescribed by law with respect to auditing, accounting, disbursement, or other disposition of funds pertaining to the matters herein specified, nor of any power or duty expressly vested in or imposed upon the state auditor by the following provisions of law:
Subd. 5. Descriptions of lands. The commissioner shall have all the powers and duties prescribed for the state auditor by Mason's Supplement 1940, sections 5620-1 to 5620-13, 6452-1 to 6452-13, and 4031-75 to 4031-88, with respect to the receipt, filing, keeping, and certification of reports, lists, and records of descriptions of lands, reserving to the state auditor all other powers and duties therein prescribed for the state auditor. The county auditor shall make and transmit to the state auditor all the certificates and reports therein required except certificates and reports of land descriptions, which shall be made and transmitted to the commissioner.
Subd. 6. Land sales and conveyances. The commissioner shall have all the powers and duties prescribed for the state auditor by Mason's Supplement 1940, sections 5620-13 1/2 to 5620-13 1/2j, as amended, and 2139-27b to 2139-27k, as amended, with respect to the receipt, filing, and keeping of reports of sales of land and the execution of conveyances, reserving to the state auditor all other powers and duties therein prescribed for the state auditor. The county auditors shall make and transmit to the commissioner all the certificates and reports therein required to be made to the state auditor with respect to such sales and conveyances. The county treasurers shall make all reports of collections thereunder in duplicate and shall transmit a copy of each report to the commissioner of finance and the commissioner.
Subd. 7. Limitation of powers. Except as otherwise expressly provided, nothing herein shall confer on the commissioner any authority over any property of the state devoted pursuant to law to any specific purpose under any officer or agency of the state other than the commissioner or the Department of Natural Resources or its divisions.
Subd. 8. Selection of lands for certain purposes. The commissioner of natural resources may select from any available lands owned by the United States in this state such lands as the commissioner deems suitable in lieu of any deficiencies which may have occurred in grants of school lands or other lands heretofore made to the state under any act of Congress, and may, with the approval of the Executive Council, accept on behalf of the state any grants or patents of lands so selected issued by the United States to the state.
Subd. 9. Condemnation with landowner's consent. If authorized by law to acquire any interest in real estate, the commissioner of natural resources may acquire by condemnation with the written consent of the landowner, that real estate which the commissioner deems to be in the best interests of the state. This subdivision shall apply only in those situations where condemnation is not otherwise authorized for the acquisition.
Subd. 10. Sale of surplus lands to local governments for recreational or natural resources purposes. (a) The commissioner, with the approval of the state Executive Council, may sell the class of land or interest in land under paragraph (b) to a county, home rule charter or statutory city, town, or other governmental subdivision of the state for public use, including recreational or natural resource purposes.
Subd. 11. Federal conservation grants. The commissioner of natural resources shall receive and administer grants under the land and water conservation grant program authorized by Congress in the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, as amended.
Subd. 12. Property disposal; gift acknowledgment; advertising sales. (a) The commissioner may give away to members of the public items with a value of less than $50 that are intended to promote conservation of natural resources or create awareness of the state and its resources or natural resource management programs. The total value of items given to the public under this paragraph may not exceed $25,000 per year.
Subd. 13. Game and fish rules. (a) The commissioner of natural resources may adopt rules under sections 97A.0451 to 97A.0459 and this subdivision that are authorized under:
Subd. 13a. Game and fish expedited permanent rules. In addition to the authority granted in subdivision 13, the commissioner of natural resources may adopt rules under section 14.389 that are authorized under:
Subd. 14. Mission; efficiency. It is part of the department's mission that within the department's resources the commissioner shall endeavor to:
Subd. 15. Electronic transactions. (a) The commissioner may receive an application for, sell, and issue any license, stamp, permit, pass, sticker, duplicate safety training certification, registration, or transfer under the jurisdiction of the commissioner by electronic means, including by telephone. Notwithstanding section 97A.472, electronic and telephone transactions may be made outside of the state. The commissioner may:
(4) establish, by written order, an electronic licensing system commission to be paid by revenues generated from all sales made through the electronic licensing system. The commissioner shall establish the commission in a manner that neither significantly overrecovers nor underrecovers costs involved in providing the electronic licensing system; and
(5) adopt rules to administer the provisions of this subdivision.
(b) The fees established under paragraph (a), clause (3), and the commission established under paragraph (a), clause (4), are not subject to the rulemaking procedures of chapter 14 and section 14.386 does not apply.
Subd. 16. Commissioner to administer grants programs. Unless otherwise specified by law, the commissioner may establish the procedures and criteria for selection of projects funded through authorized grants and research programs. Procedures and criteria for selection are not subject to the rulemaking provisions of chapter 14 and section 14.386 does not apply.
Subd. 17. Background checks for volunteer instructors. (a) The commissioner may conduct background checks for volunteer instructor applicants for department safety training and education programs, including the programs established under sections 84.791 (youth off-highway motorcycle safety education and training), 84.86 and 84.862 (youth and adult snowmobile safety training), 84.925 (youth all-terrain vehicle safety education and training), 97B.015 (youth firearms safety training), and 97B.025 (hunter and trapper education and training).
History: 1943 c 60 s 2; 1953 c 382 s 1; 1969 c 1129 art 10 s 2; 1976 c 96 s 1; 1986 c 444; 1988 c 628 s 1; 1993 c 172 s 32; 1994 c 509 s 1; 1995 c 233 art 2 s 39; 1995 c 248 art 11 s 6; 1996 c 385 art 2 s 1; 1997 c 7 art 1 s 20; 1997 c 216 s 58; 1998 c 366 s 53; 1999 c 92 s 1; 1999 c 231 s 83; 2003 c 128 art 1 s 12; 2004 c 221 s 2; 2004 c 243 s 3; 2004 c 255 s 3; 2005 c 146 s 2,3; 1Sp2005 c 1 art 2 s 13,14; 2007 c 57 art 1 s 20