Article IX
Sec. 35: There is hereby established the Michigan natural resources trust fund. The trust fund shall consist of all bonuses, rentals, delayed rentals, and royalties collected or reserved by the state under provisions of leases for the extraction of nonrenewable resources from state owned lands, except such revenues accruing under leases of state owned lands acquired with money from state or federal game and fish protection funds or revenues accruing from lands purchased with such revenues. The trust fund may receive appropriations, money, or other things of value.
All money in the state recreational land acquisition trust and the heritage trust shall be transferred to the trust fund. The legislature may provide by law that revenues otherwise dedicated to the trust fund be distributed to the Michigan economic development authority under the terms and in amounts not to exceed the distributions allowed by law on March 30, 1984. The legislature shall provide by law that all rights acquired by holders of bonds heretofore issued by the Michigan economic development authority shall remain unimpaired.
The amount accumulated in the trust fund in any state fiscal year shall not exceed $200,000,000.00, exclusive of interest and earnings, except that this limitation may be increased by law.
The interest and earnings of the trust fund shall be expended for the acquisition of land or rights in land for recreational uses or protection of the land because of its environmental importance or its scenic beauty, for the development of public recreation facilities, and for the administration of the trust fund, which may include payments in lieu of taxes on state owned land purchased through the trust fund. The trust fund may provide grants to units of local government or public authorities which shall be used for the purposes of this section. The legislature shall provide that a portion of the cost of a project funded by such grants be provided by the local unit of government or public authority.
The legislature may provide that a portion, not to exceed 331⁄3 percent, of the revenues received by the trust fund during a fiscal year may be expended during the following fiscal year for the purposes of this section. Not less than 25 percent of the total expenditures from the trust fund in any fiscal year shall be expended for acquisition of land and rights in land, and not more than 25 percent of the total expenditures from the trust fund in any fiscal year shall be expended for development of public recreation facilities.
The legislature shall provide by law for the establishment of a trust fund board within the department of natural resources. The trust fund board shall recommend the projects to be funded. The board shall submit its recommendations to the governor who shall submit the board’s recommendations to the legislature in an appropriations bill.
The legislature shall provide by law for the implementation of this section.
