MN SF2915

Amends Minnesota Statutes section 298.292, subdivision 2 to restrict uses of the Douglas J. Johnson economic protection trust fund to five specific purposes: loans and financing, bond reserve accounts, interest payments on district heating bonds, venture capital investments, and forest land purchases.

Limits private enterprise loans to one-half of project costs with interest rates at the lesser of 8 percent or three percentage points below comparable U.S. Treasury obligations.

Requires venture capital investments to have at least two other unrelated investors contributing minimum $500,000 each, with the trust fund investment not exceeding the largest unrelated investor's amount.

Restricts all trust fund expenditures to the taconite assistance area defined in section 273.1341 and prohibits any spending or transfers outside the specified purposes in the statute.

Authorizes purchase and sale of forest land in the taconite assistance area to be held as a public trust, with net proceeds from sales returned to the fund.