N.D. House Update- Feb. 25, 2019

We have completed the first half of the 66th Legislative Session and look forward to catching up with some things at home before starting the second half next Wednesday. We also want to reflect a little on where we are at with the state budget and certain policy issues as we approach crossover this week.

The Appropriations Committee has spent countless hours meticulously going through every line of the budget. We expect that the state budget, as it comes from the House at crossover, will call for spending less than the Governor's budget. We expect an increase in ongoing expenses of about 4 percent.

The budget, as it leaves the House, will call for a 2 percent salary increase each year of the biennium for all state employees. We are also budgeting to continue to pay for 100 percent of the employees' health insurance costs. Because those costs are budgeted up front in the process, the budget will reflect the employees getting a 5 percent increase the first year of the biennium and 2 percent the second. Paying 100 percent of the employees' insurance costs adds another 3 percent to the budgeted amount.

The House Budget does not provide funding for any of the Legacy Fund proposals coming from the Executive Branch, with the exception, of the unmanned aircraft proposal but we are using general fund dollars for that cost.

The three sections of House Appropriations have completed their work and now the full committee is reviewing each of the budgets before they are sent to the House Floor for a final decision.

During this first half, the Government Operations Section worked through the budgets for the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly. Legislative Council is the agency that employs attorneys, fiscal analysts and information technology experts to provide services to the Legislative Assembly. There are 36 full time employees at the Council. Within their budget is funding for interim committee meetings, legislative travel and dues to national legislative organizations to which North Dakota belongs. One additional request for the next biennium is specialized computer equipment for re-districting which will take place after the census in 2020.

The Legislative Assembly budget is for all legislative session activities including salary, travel and lodging for legislators. For the next biennium, the budget calls for funding to support a 77 day session in 2021. Included in the Assembly’s request is funding for new laptops and iPads for legislators and staff. They are on a four-year replacement cycle. There is an allocation of $140,000 from the capitol building fund for upgrading the chamber’s voting systems and digital signage for committee rooms.

The House Human Service Committee has been working to fix the EMS Grant Program by rewriting HB 1268. We believe the bill passed out of committee on Tuesday will fix the issue for at least 90 percent of ambulances in the state. When the Legislature originally set up the grant program it was their intent that the funding would be used to ensure that all areas of the state would have at least a basic EMS Service, if the providers were willing to fund their local share of the program. The Health Department had made changes to the formula which hurt ambulance services across the state. The proposal in HB 1268 will change the formula so that the grant funds are equally distributed on a consistent basis, if the local support is provided. That was the legislature's intent when we originally established the EMS Grant Program.

We were disappointed that HB 1426 was defeated in the House last week. The bill sponsors are convinced it would have provided increased quality dental care in our state by using new mid-level providers called dental therapists. The bill's sponsors are also convinced that mid-level providers like dental therapists will eventually be accepted in the state. It took a while for other mid-level medical providers like nurse practitioners and physician assistants to be accepted in North Dakota.

The House also handily defeated HB 1500 recently. It would have started the process to change the Board of Higher Education to a two-board structure. The suggestion came from the Governor's Task Force on Higher Education. The question would have eventually had to be decided by a statewide vote as it is a constitutional question. However, the idea won't be forwarded by the House as only 19 of the 94 house members voted for the bill.

The House dealt with several tax bills last Thursday. They did give approval to HB 1530, which will use Legacy Fund earnings to reduce income taxes.

A few days ago, the House, passed HB 1172 which will exempt social security earnings from the state income tax. The Senate will deal with it both those bills after crossover.

The House Energy and Natural Resources Committee completed work on several bills last week and sent them to the full House for their consideration. The House had not taken final action when this column was written. HB 1246 will start the process of clarifying the status of gratis tags in the state of North Dakota. The committee would like to see some consistency between the various big game animals when it comes gratis tags. The bill also contains a study resolution for the issue to be fully vetted during the interim.

The committee also completed work on HB 1192 which will put the definition of the high water mark along navigable water in statute instead of administrative rule. The committee has worked to provide certainty in the definitions for everyone involved during the last two sessions and believe they now have it worked out. We will see if the House and Senate agree.

The committee defeated HB 1323 which attempted to remove BB guns, air rifles and CO2 guns from the list of dangerous weapons in the state. It was pointed out in testimony that many of those type guns have as much penetrating power as small caliber rifles and other weapons.

The committee also defeated a couple of bills that sought to give citizens of our state the right to ignore federal law, rules or court opinions. The committee believes the clear separation of powers in federal constitution makes that impossible.

One of those was HB 1148 which attempted to exempt a requirement that prevents a person using medical marijuana from possessing a firearm or dangerous weapon. That is a federal requirement when you are filling out the federal firearms permit application. The state has no authority to change that law or exempt our citizens from the federal statute, according to the testimony received and the legal research done.

District 23 residents who still wish to contact us to comment on what is being discussed or proposed can email us at: [email protected] and [email protected]. Mail can be sent to us in Bismarck; c/o North Dakota House of Representatives, State Capital, 600 East Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505.

During the session constituents that wish to leave a message for us may call 1-888-635-3447.