Section 23-1-50.1

Section 23-1-50.1Road machinery and equipment management program; Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account.

(a) It is the intent of the Legislature to give the State Department of Transportation authority to accumulate depreciation, equipment replacement allowances, and salvage value on road machinery and equipment sufficient to upgrade, replace, or make extraordinary repairs to the road machinery and equipment of the State Department of Transportation, as determined by a road machinery and equipment management program to be developed by the department.



(b) Unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the following words and phrases will have the following meanings:



(1) STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION DIVISIONS. Those divisions of the Department of Transportation responsible for road construction and maintenance over a specified geographic area of the state.



(2) DEPRECIATION. That process of allocating the original cost per fixed asset over the productive life of the asset using some generally accepted method of depreciation.



(3) EQUIPMENT MANAGEMENT SURPLUS RESERVE ACCOUNT. A special revolving account or fund to be established in the Public Road and Bridge Fund of the State Department of Transportation to accumulate depreciation, equipment replacement allowances, and salvage value to be used to upgrade, replace, or make extraordinary repairs to road machinery and equipment.



(4) EQUIPMENT REPLACEMENT ALLOWANCE. An amount, when added to the depreciation and salvage value of a unit of road machinery and equipment and accumulated in a special account, that will provide the funds to upgrade, replace, or make extraordinary repairs to that unit of road machinery and equipment.



(5) EXTRAORDINARY REPAIRS. Repairs made to extend an asset's useful life beyond that which was originally estimated.



(6) GENERAL OFFICE. Those general and administrative offices of the State Department of Transportation located in Montgomery, Alabama.



(7) ROAD MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT. Self-propelled equipment or other equipment commonly referred to in the State Department of Transportation as rental equipment, including aircraft.



(8) SALVAGE VALUE. That portion of a unit of road machinery and equipment's cost that is recovered at the end of its productive life.



(c) There is created in the Public Road and Bridge Fund of the State Department of Transportation an Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account. The director of the department is directed to establish a road machinery and equipment management program which shall determine the type, number, and distribution between the general office and department divisions of the road machinery and equipment necessary to carry out the mission of the State Department of Transportation in an efficient manner. This system shall also determine the productive life of all of the road machinery and equipment and establish depreciation rates, equipment replacement allowance, and salvage value which, when accumulated in the Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account, will provide the necessary funds to upgrade, replace, or make extraordinary repairs to road machinery and equipment.



(d) The Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account shall be subdivided into subaccounts as follows: One for the general office and one each for each of the department divisions. Depreciation, equipment replacement allowance, and salvage value shall be credited to the account of the general office or department division to which the unit of road machinery and equipment is assigned and shall not be commingled or transferred between the department division and the general office. The funds in each of these subaccounts of the general office and department divisions shall be available to the appropriate office or division to upgrade, replace, or to make extraordinary repairs to road machinery and equipment.



(e) There is appropriated all of the funds created to the Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Accounts, due to the depreciation, equipment replacement allowance, and salvage value of road machinery and equipment, for upgrading, replacement, or extraordinary repairs to road machinery and equipment. These funds shall not revert at the end of each fiscal year, but shall carry over to each succeeding year. It is the intent of the Legislature that funds appropriated from the Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account be used only to upgrade, replace, or make extraordinary repairs to road machinery and equipment, and that they not be used to increase the number of units of equipment of the State Department of Transportation. It is the further intent of the Legislature to use these funds to maintain the present level of road maintenance, as opposed to using the funds to place the state in a competitive position with private enterprise. Specific funds shall be appropriated by the Legislature to increase the number of units of road machinery and equipment. It is specifically provided that the aircraft, pickup truck, and three automobiles transferred from the Department of Finance to the State Department of Transportation, pursuant to Executive Order No. 12, dated December 21, 1993, shall be added to and become a part of the Department of Transportation road machinery and equipment management program and Equipment Management Surplus Reserve Account.



(f) Any other provision of law to the contrary notwithstanding, at the end of the productive life of a unit of road machinery or equipment covered by the equipment management surplus reserve account established as provided for in this section, the unit of road machinery or equipment shall be sold at the discretion of the director, either at public auction, as provided for by the laws of the State of Alabama, or by a negotiated sale between the State Department of Transportation and any other state department or agency, and the proceeds from any sale, whether at public auction or by such negotiation, shall be paid into the equipment management surplus reserve account and credited to the subaccount to which the unit of road machinery or equipment is credited.



(g)(1) The department may develop a fleet management program for the state which will operate in a similar manner as the department's Equipment Management Program.



(2) All personnel, facilities, property, equipment, and funds assigned, allocated, or appropriated to the Department of Finance, Division of Service for the operation of a transportation pool or the maintenance and repair of state-owned or operated automobiles shall transfer to the Alabama Department of Transportation, effective October 1, 2014.

(Acts 1981, No. 81-316, p. 450; Acts 1994, No. 94-689, p. 1324, §1; Act 2013-282, p. 933, §§1, 2.)