N.D. House Recap-May 6, 2019

Members of the 66th Legislative Assembly finished their work on Saturday (April 27) and adjourned. We are thankful with the way many of the issues affecting rural North Dakota came together. There were a lot of changes to the original executive budget which we believe will be very positive for not only our district, but for the entire state.

We were able to work with legislators from both parties and both chambers to not only get bills we helped sponsor passed, but also to influence other legislation in a positive manner. We were certainly pleased to have the legislature pass and governor sign 35 bills we introduced this session as either a sponsor or a co-sponsor.

We have written about some of the larger issues the legislature dealt with this session in previous columns, but we would like to touch on a couple of them again in a wrap-up of the session.

Certainly, one of the biggest was HB 1066, known as the “Prairie Dog" bill. It will provide millions of dollars in special infrastructure funding from oil revenues to counties, cities and townships throughout not only District 23, but the state. The money provided includes $115 million for cities, $110 million for counties, $15 million for townships and $20 million for airports. The money is expected to be distributed to local governments in the spring of 2021.

A funding breakdown for District 23 shows that local counties will receive over $6 million dollars in new dollars. County funding is based on the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute County Road and Bridge Funding 20-year needs study. The cities in District 23 will receive a total of slightly over $1 million. The payments to the cities are based on density factors, population growth and valuation growth.

SB 2265 made some significant changes to K-12 education by giving schools more flexibility in certain areas and increased the per pupil payments. The bill increases the per pupil payment by 2 percent, to provide $9,839 per weighted student unit in 2019-20, and 2 percent, to provide $10,036 per weighted student unit in 2020-21.

HB 1020 restores the 50-50 split between the counties and the NDSU Extension Service.

It was changed to 60 percent county and 40 percent Extension Service during the budget shortfall last session. It was very important to people we talked to in our district and we were happy to help make it happen. The Extension Service was also provided $345,000 for website redesign and technology upgrades.

The Government Operations section of Appropriations chaired by Rep. Vigesaa placed intent language in the Department of Transportation budget bill to restore the seasonal winter services at the Finley highway maintenance section site. Also restored in the intent language were the sites at Mayville, Courtenay, Gackle, New England, and Litchville. The intent language covers the biennium beginning July 1, 2019 and ending June 30, 2021.

SB 2010, the budget bill for the Insurance Commissioner, was passed by both chambers last week. While there were many provisions included in the legislation, one affects our local communities in an important way. The conference committee added, and both the House and Senate have passed, language that appropriates $18,818,030 to go towards fire districts and the firefighter’s association this biennium. This represents 100 percent of the Insurance premium tax that is estimated to be collected by the insurance department during the 2019-21 budget period.

Of this funding, we kept the Firefighter’s Association funding level at the amount of $828,525, which matches their appropriation for the last biennium. However, we increased the funding for the fire districts to $17,989,505 for the upcoming biennium, which is an increase of $3,753,944 (26.3 percent) from the $14,235,561 that was appropriated to the fire districts during the 2017-19 biennium. Also stated in SB 2010, is language encouraging fire districts to utilize the increase in funding to purchase equipment or invest in additional training that will lower their ISO rating, which in turn, may lower insurance premiums for the citizens they serve.

SB 2124 continues the Legislature's efforts to fully fund the direct costs of human services delivery in the state. State resources will be used instead of county property taxes. Human Services in the state will be delivered through 19 multi-county zones across the state. It will provide $173.7 million dollars in permanent property tax relief as it will eliminate the 20-mill authority counties have used in the past to pay for social services on a local level.

SB 2020 was a very important bill for our district and the state. The bill as amended includes $37.2 million for rural water systems. Forty-five million dollars were included to address the water supply needs of the 47 municipalities on the State Water Commission 2-year plan. There are many other vital parts of the bill including inclusion of the snagging and clearing funding, which was one of our priorities as we came into the session.

SB 2016, provides $8.1 million to townships in non-oil producing counties. The funding comes from the state disaster relief fund and will appropriate $5,000 for each township in a qualifying county. There is certainly a need with all the snow and other weather problems townships faced this year. We were very frustrated when the Governor vetoed a similar funding bill for townships last session and we didn't have an opportunity in the house to override the veto.

We were able to amend legislation to require the State Department of Health to decide on a construction, renovation, or a combination construction and renovation project at a health care facility in a timely fashion. Once the new law goes into effect, projects costing one million dollars or less will need to have the permitting process completed by the state within 60 days of receipt of a completed application. Right now, the permitting process can take months and that is unacceptable. We worked very hard to get that change made.

We also wish to thank all of you for keeping in touch with us during the session. Your willingness to stay informed and involved during the session make our job as your legislators much easier. Thank you everyone, Bill and Don.