N.D. House Update for March 18, 2019

The North Dakota House of Representatives is completing their work on the last few house resolutions and start working on the Senate bills. A total of 269 bills and 14 resolutions were passed by the Senate and sent to the House. The deadline for passing resolutions to the other chamber was Friday, and the House completed their work on those.

Both chambers are waiting for the new revenue estimates for the state that were expected to be released on Monday and Tuesday. Once we have those numbers, we will have a better idea how the funds match up with the spending requests.

In the first full week after crossover, the House has passed some of the non-controversial Senate bills. The committees are working hard on amendments and discussing possible changes to others as part of the committee process.

The Government Operations section of Appropriations is working on the budget bills that came over from the Senate. SB 2016 is the budget for the Adjutant General. This bill contains funding for the National Guard, Department of Emergency Services and State Radio.

Last year, the Adjutant General and the Guard proposed expanding Camp Grafton South which is in Eddy County north of McHenry and east of New Rockford. The expansion is necessary if the National Guard wishes to continue doing maneuvers and weapon training in state. The newest weapons that guard personnel are required to train with have a range that exceeds the area that is currently available.

The original plan was for the Adjutant General to purchase additional land adjacent to the current site for expansion. The request in SB 2016 was for $15 million for this project. The legislature has amended the funding to provide $600,000 for leasing from landowners instead of purchasing land.

Another major request in this budget is for an additional $2.1 million for tuition assistance for National Guard members attending state universities or colleges. Earlier this biennium, funding available for this program was in jeopardy of being depleted. This assistance is a major factor in recruiting and retaining guard members. The reason stated for the increase is that some higher education institutions now require 13 credits instead of 12 to be considered a full-time student. Full-time status is required to qualify for the tuition assistance.

SB 2008 is the funding legislation for the Public Service Commission. The PSC regulates abandoned mine lands, coal mine reclamation, electric and gas utilities, telecommunication companies, railroads, grain elevators, grain buyers, pipeline safety, and energy and transmission facility sites. Two items of discussion for the committee are the proper bond requirements for roving grain buyers and whether a state rail inspection pilot program should continue. Conversation taking place in other legislation is whether the grain and grain warehouse inspectors should be under the authority of the PSC or the Department of Agriculture.

The Human Service Committee continues to work on Senate Bills that have been assigned to the committee. They made their final decision on a few and sent them to the House Floor for the consideration of all members.

The committee gave a do pass recommendation to SB 2154, which has been considered in one form or another for several sessions, but never gathered the votes to pass both chambers. It is called the Care Bill and will put in code the rights of caregivers to provide health care assistance to people in their homes following a stay in the hospital. The bill puts into state law what is required by federal law and state rules. The final bills are a compromise with the North Dakota Hospital Association who spoke in favor of the bill that deals with their discharge policies. The language in the bill is similar to legislation that passed the House last session but was defeated in the Senate.

The committee also heard and continue to work on SB 2113. The bill writes into code the requirements that a patient, caregiver or family needs to follow if they want to electronically monitor the patient's care in a long-term care facility. The bill will not only protect their right to use authorized electronic monitoring devices in their rooms. It will provide protections for any other residents who happen to share a room with the person using the device. The committee is working to make sure the law protected the privacy and HIPPA requirements every resident has the right to expect.

The other major bill the committee approved this week is SB 2225 which would repeal a statute from 1877 which says adult children can be forced to pay for the costs of providing care to an indigent parent if that person can't pay for themselves. It has been used by a few nursing homes to collect the costs of care when there was no other person or program to pay for that care. Testimony in the committee showed that the family members had no understanding of their parent's financial positions and weren't allowed to be involved in their parents financial planning. The committee agreed the situation was not fair to the families affected and agreed to pass the bill on to the House Floor.

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee heard SB 2044 last Thursday. It will put in some severe penalties on people that damage a critical infrastructure facility. Although much of the news coverage about the bill talks about damage to oil pipelines, valves and other infrastructure, the bill is much broader. It also refers to water intake structures, water treatment facilities, wireless telecommunications and internet infrastructures, fiber optic lines, cable lines, and railroad switching yard, railroad tracks, trucking terminals, or other freight transportation facilities and many other important infrastructure sites in the state. The committee is working on finding more encompassing language as there are several vital infrastructure facilities and other items that should be listed but weren't included.

On Friday they heard SB 2293 which will raise some fees on fishing and waterfowl licenses as well as increasing fees to license all boats to help pay for an aquatic nuisance species program. The newly established fund will help protect lakes and rivers in the state from zebra mussels and other nuisance species.

We have enjoyed visits from students from our district and throughout the state. This past week we had students from Finley-Sharon, Hope-Page and Lakota. Several of them joined us in the House for the floor session.

District 23 residents who wish to contact us about 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 888-635-3447.