As Amended
SEC. 57-43-13. Repealed.
For the purposes of achieving a reduction in the number of public roadway/railroad grade crossings in this state, a separate account within the Railroad Revitalization Fund is hereby * * * established and entitled the Mississippi Grade Crossing Closure Account. The Mississippi Grade Crossing Closure Account is to be administered by the same agency responsible for administering the Railroad Revitalization Fund. * * * 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. The Mississippi Transportation Commission, in cooperation with the railroads operating in Mississippi, shall promulgate rules to ensure equitable allocation of these funds to public roadway/railroad grade crossing closure 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 Transportation Commission 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.
SOURCES: Laws, 1993, ch. 355, § 2; Laws, 2001, ch. 367, § 1, SB 3167, eff from and after July 1, 2001.
PREVIOUS VERSIONS: Pre-2001