MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1998 Regular Session

To: Transportation

By: Representative Compretta (By Request)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 57-43-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO INCREASE TO $50,000.00 THE AMOUNT OF THE RAILROAD REVITALIZATION FUND THAT THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MAY USE FOR RAILROAD RESEARCH, PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION COSTS THAT ARE DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO RAILROAD REVITALIZATION; TO AMEND SECTION 57-43-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO TRANSFER AMOUNTS IN THE MISSISSIPPI GRADE CROSSING CLOSURE ACCOUNT THAT ARE IN EXCESS OF $300,000.00 TO THE RAILROAD REVITALIZATION FUND; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 57-43-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

57-43-1. There is hereby established in the State Treasury a revolving fund to be designated as the "Railroad Revitalization Fund." Monies (including interest earnings) in this fund shall be expended either separately or in combination with any available federal funds for railroad research, railroad planning and railroad administration costs incurred by the Mississippi Department of Transportation directly attributable to railroad revitalization projects; assistance to railroads for the rehabilitation or improvement of rail lines; and construction, improvement or rehabilitation of railroad facilities, excluding the purchase, repair or improvements to rolling stock of a railroad. * * * Funds appropriated or otherwise provided by the Legislature for rail line assistance shall be deposited in the Railroad Revitalization Fund. Any monies received by the Mississippi Department of Transportation by agreements, grants, gifts or other means from individuals, companies or other business entities, municipalities, counties, local railroad authorities or regional railroad authorities or other governmental agencies for the purposes set forth in this chapter, except federal grants made under Section 5 of the Department of Transportation Act, as amended (49 USCS 1654) [Repealed], shall be credited to the Railroad Revitalization Fund. Any interest received from investment of monies in the fund shall be credited to the fund and shall not be deposited into the State General Fund. Use of this fund for railroad research, planning and administration costs incurred by the Mississippi Department of Transportation that are directly attributable to railroad revitalization projects shall be limited to an annual amount not to exceed Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000.00) derived from collections from the locomotive fuel tax for the previous year.

SECTION 2. Section 57-43-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

57-43-13. For the purposes of achieving a reduction in the number of public roadway/railroad grade crossings in this state, Two Hundred Thousand Dollars ($200,000.00) is hereby transferred from the Railroad Revitalization Fund to a new account hereby established and entitled the Mississippi Grade Crossing Closure Account. The Mississippi Grade Crossing Closure Account is to be administered by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. From and after March 12, 1993, funding for this account shall be derived from thirty-five percent (35%) of collections from the locomotive fuel tax for the previous year. This account will be cumulative. Funds not obligated for expenditure in any fiscal year will continue to accrue to succeeding fiscal years; unexpended amounts remaining in such account at the end of a fiscal year shall not lapse into the State General Fund; and any interest earned on amounts in such account shall be deposited to the credit of such account; however, the Mississippi Transportation Commission may, by order spread on its minutes, transfer amounts in the fund in excess of Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($300,000.00) to the Railroad Revitalization Fund. The Mississippi Department of Transportation, in cooperation with the railroads operating in Mississippi, shall promulgate rules to ensure equitable allocation of these funds to projects throughout the state and shall consider the proportionate number of main line track miles of each railroad and the number of public roadway/railroad grade crossings on each railroad's main line. Funds from the Mississippi Grade Crossing Closure Account shall be limited to the following purposes: financial aid for closure of public roadway/railroad grade crossings; realignment of construction costs of roadways being rerouted to facilitate a closure of a public roadway/railroad grade crossing; monies to match federal or other funds for a grade separation eliminating an at-grade crossing of a public roadway and railroad. The Mississippi Department of Transportation shall consider all requests from the state's diagnostic review of public roadway/railroad grade crossings and from individual railroads for expenditure of funds for these limited purposes and shall establish uniform criteria and guidelines relating to such crossings and the expenditure of funds.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.