Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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I attended two Interim Committee meetings on September 30. The first was Legislative Procedures and Arrangements. The purpose of that meeting was to set the framework for the upcoming special session which begins November 8. There was a background memorandum relating to previous special sessions and a discussion about a Joint Technical Corrections Committee. After adjourning in April, the legislature can call itself back for a reconvened session, or Governor Burgum can call us in for a special session to consider the redistricting bill. There...
INTERIM WORK: As the Legislative Interim Session moves along, I participated in several committee meetings and will have a busy schedule for the next two months, as redistricting moves along, as well as, completing a plan on how to disperse the $1.007 Billion from the American Rescue Act. Dates have been set to prepare the redistricting bill and the appropriations bill to disperse the ARPA funds. My duties on Senate Appropriations begin on October 12 and 13, October 19 and 20, and possibly the 26 and 27. Following those meetings, the House and...
This report provides a summary of the Council of State Governments Midwest Legislative Conference that I attended in Rapid City, S.D. on July 10-14. This Midwest Conference provides learning opportunities for state legislators from 11 states, and legislative assembly members from four Canadian provinces, to get updates on what current issues are in these jurisdictions. Several hundred legislators were in attendance along with CSG staff, presenters, and conference supporters. Only two assemblymen from Canada were in attendance because of the...
The 67th Legislative Session adjourned April 30, after approving a budget of over $16 billion dollars. To balance the budget as required by law, HB 1015 transferred $410 million from the Strategic Investment and Improvement Fund. As the Senate adjourned, two important bills were the last two approved before adjournment. HB 1012, which is the budget/appropriation and programming for the Department of Human Services, and HB 1015, which is the agency budget for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) were the final two bills to come before us...
This could be our final week of the session if conference committees move along. We are having floor sessions to vote on bills three times a day, but with only a handful of bills at each session. We completed nine bills on Monday and look to have more as the week progresses because the committees are completing their work. Monday, I had conference committees on the Public Employees Retirement System budget, Extension Budget, Career and Technical Education budget, Agriculture Commissioner, Workforce Safety and Insurance, and Council on the...
Conference committees were working hard this week to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of bills. A lot was accomplished, but as of April 16, there are still over 60 conference committees that need to complete their work. We are hearing that the session may end as soon as Saturday, April 24 or early the next week, on April 26 or 27. I had several conference committees this week. We worked on the Public Employees Retirement system budget, the Agriculture Commissioner’s budget, the budget for Career and Technical E...
Appropriations is finishing up its committee and subcommittee work and should have all bills out by early next week. I have had several subcommittee meetings to bring recommendations to the full Appropriations committee and then to the Senate floor. Senate Appropriations completed work on the bonding bill, which provides for infrastructure bonding and provides for over $680 million in authority for a variety of infrastructure bonded projects. We also completed work on the K-12 funding formula bill, along with the Department of Public Instructio...
I want to express my appreciation to all the first responders, firefighters, and volunteers for all their hard work during the many fires experienced across the state. D-23 individuals stepped up to assist when and where needed. I also want to send my concern for all the individuals who lost property and suffered distress, as fires raged through their property. On Wednesday, March 31, I sent a request to Governor Burgum’s Chief of Staff to request that the Governor declare an emergency for the state because of the many fires and the extreme win...
The week started in Appropriations with the Water Commission budget. I am serving on this subcommittee and conference committee. The Water Commission budget is large, with many different water basins and flood control projects. The goal of the subcommittee is to make the best use of the resources we have in order to provide maximum results. We will be looking at the Western Area Water Supply projects, the Northwest Area Water Supply Project, the Red River Valley Water Supply Project, the Southwest pipeline, rural water, municipal water, Mouse...
This was a very busy week in the legislature. In the Appropriations Committee, we heard the agency budgets for the Office of the Adjutant General, Retirement and Investment Office, Public Employees Retirement System, Office of Management and Budget, Department of Public Instruction, Labor and Human Rights, and the State Auditor. Of those budgets, I will serve on the Office of Management and Budget, and the Department of Public Instruction. We also had revenue updates from Moody’s and IHS Markit, which provided much-welcomed news. Both M...
Coming back from cross-over break, March 3, found the Senate busy with the other half of the agency budgets, which had been heard in the House during the first half of legislative session. We heard the Treasurer’s budget, which has five functions: Cash management, accounting, investment, revenue collections, and revenue distributions. The department has over 30 different tax distributions to political subdivisions. We heard the Secretary of State’s budget. Secretary of State, Jaeger, reported that the agency has enhanced its website and lau...
