72-2-125. Critical Highway Needs Fund.
| (1) |
There is created a capital projects fund within the Transportation Investment Fund of 2005 known as the “Critical Highway Needs Fund.” |
Terms Used In Utah Code 72-2-125
- Commission: means the Transportation Commission created under Section 72-1-301. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Construction: means the construction, reconstruction, replacement, and improvement of the highways, including the acquisition of rights-of-way and material sites. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Department: means the Department of Transportation created in Section 72-1-201. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Executive director: means the executive director of the department appointed under Section 72-1-202. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
- Highway: means any public road, street, alley, lane, court, place, viaduct, tunnel, culvert, bridge, or structure laid out or erected for public use, or dedicated or abandoned to the public, or made public in an action for the partition of real property, including the entire area within the right-of-way. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of a judicial proceeding. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
- Right-of-way: means real property or an interest in real property, usually in a strip, acquired for or devoted to state transportation purposes. See Utah Code 72-1-102
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes a state, district, or territory of the United States. See Utah Code 68-3-12.5
| (2) |
The fund consists of money generated from the following sources:
| (a) |
any voluntary contributions received for the maintenance, construction, reconstruction, or renovation of state and federal highways; and |
| (b) |
appropriations made to the fund by the Legislature. |
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| (3) |
| (a) |
The fund shall earn interest. |
| (b) |
Interest on fund money shall be deposited into the fund. |
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| (4) |
| (a) |
The executive director shall use money deposited into the fund to pay the costs of right-of-way acquisition, maintenance, construction, reconstruction, or renovation to state and federal highways identified by the department and prioritized by the commission in accordance with this Subsection (4). |
| (b) |
| (i) |
The department shall:
| (A) |
establish a complete list of projects to be maintained, constructed, reconstructed, or renovated using the funding described in Subsection (4)(a) based on the following criteria:
| (I) |
the highway construction project is a high priority project due to high growth in the surrounding area; |
| (II) |
the highway construction project addresses critical access needs that have a high impact due to commercial and energy development; |
| (III) |
the highway construction project mitigates congestion; |
| (IV) |
whether local matching funds are available for the highway construction project; and |
| (V) |
the highway construction project is a critical alternative route for priority Interstate 15 reconstruction projects; and |
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| (B) |
submit the list of projects to the commission for prioritization in accordance with Subsection (4)(c). |
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| (ii) |
A project that is included in the list under this Subsection (4):
| (A) |
is not required to be currently listed in the statewide long-range plan; and |
| (B) |
is not required to be prioritized through the prioritization process for new transportation capacity projects adopted under Section 72-1-304. |
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| (c) |
| (i) |
The commission shall prioritize the project list submitted by the department in accordance with Subsection (4)(b). |
| (ii) |
For projects prioritized under this Subsection (4)(c), the commission shall give priority consideration to fully funding a project that meets the criteria under Subsection (4)(b)(i)(A)(V). |
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| (d) |
| (i) |
Expenditures of bond proceeds issued in accordance with Section 63B-16-101 by the department for the construction of highway projects prioritized under this Subsection (4) may not exceed $1,200,000,000. |
| (ii) |
Money expended from the fund for principal, interest, and issuance costs of bonds issued under Section 63B-16-101 is not considered an expenditure for purposes of the $1,200,000,000 cap under Subsection (4)(d)(i). |
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| (e) |
| (i) |
Before bonds authorized by Section 63B-16-101 may be issued in any fiscal year, the department and the commission shall appear before the Executive Appropriations Committee of the Legislature and present:
| (A) |
the commission’s current list of projects established and prioritized in accordance with this Subsection (4); and |
| (B) |
the amount of bond proceeds that the department needs to provide funding for projects on the project list prioritized in accordance with this Subsection (4) for the next fiscal year. |
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| (ii) |
The Executive Appropriations Committee of the Legislature shall review and comment on the prioritized project list and the amount of bond proceeds needed to fund the projects on the prioritized list. |
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| (f) |
The Division of Finance shall, from money deposited into the fund, transfer the amount of funds necessary to pay principal, interest, and issuance costs of bonds authorized by Section 63B-16-101 in the current fiscal year to the appropriate debt service or sinking fund. |
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| (5) |
When the general obligation bonds authorized by Section 63B-16-101 have been paid off and the highway projects completed that are included in the prioritized project list under Subsection (4), the Division of Finance shall transfer any existing balance in the fund into the Transportation Investment Fund of 2005 created by Section 72-2-124. |
| (6) |
| (a) |
The Division of Finance shall monitor the general obligation bonds authorized by Section 63B-16-101. |
| (b) |
The department shall monitor the highway construction or reconstruction projects that are included in the prioritized project list under Subsection (4). |
| (c) |
When the Division of Finance has reported that the general obligation bonds issued by Section 63B-16-101 have been paid off and the department has reported that projects included in the prioritized project list are complete to the Executive Appropriations Committee of the Legislature, the Division of Finance shall transfer any existing fund balance in accordance with Subsection (5). |
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| (7) |
| (a) |
Unless prioritized and approved by the Transportation Commission, the department may not delay a project prioritized under this section to a different fiscal year than programmed by the commission due to an unavoidable shortfall in revenues if:
| (i) |
the prioritized project was funded by the Legislature in an appropriations act; or |
| (ii) |
general obligation bond proceeds have been issued for the project in the current fiscal year. |
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| (b) |
For projects identified under Subsection (7)(a), the commission shall prioritize and approve any project delays for projects prioritized under this section due to an unavoidable shortfall in revenues if:
| (i) |
the prioritized project was funded by the Legislature in an appropriations act; or |
| (ii) |
general obligation bond proceeds have been issued for the project in the current fiscal year. |
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Amended by Chapter 222, 2016 General Session
