N.D. House Update: Jan. 25, 2021

The pace of the 67th Legislative Assembly certainly picked up this week as committees are very busy hearing bills and sending them to the House floor for action. Unlike many states, all bills introduced in our chambers must have a committee hearing and a vote in the chamber, where they were introduced. A bill can be withdrawn by the sponsor, before the hearing, but even that takes a vote in the respective chamber.

We received the latest financial forecasts this week. Allen Knudson, Legislative Council Budget Analyst, gave a presentation to the Legislative Assembly outlining our current financial situation and a look forward into the next biennium. When the legislature set the budget for the current biennium in 2019, our economy was improving, and oil prices and production were increasing. Thus, based on a cautiously optimistic revenue forecast, the budget developed called for an increase in general fund spending. Then COVID-19 hit, and oil prices crashed! Economic activity slowed and tax revenues to the state were affected. We are now facing a budget gap because ongoing revenues are substantially lower than ongoing expenditures. Thankfully, oil prices have recovered, and production has held up quite well. Because of the budget stabilization fund and the ability to utilize earnings from the legacy fund if necessary, North Dakota’s budget will be balanced at biennium close. However, as the budget for the 2021-2023 biennium is developed this session, a potential 920-million-dollar budget gap exists. Accurate revenue forecasting and setting appropriate spending levels are key to addressing this issue.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees employ IHS Markit to provide a revenue forecast for the four major general fund tax types; sales and use tax, motor vehicle excise tax, individual income tax and corporate income tax. North Dakota’s major sectors, energy and agriculture, are analyzed to establish revenue trends for the next years. Their analysts indicate that even though the recovery is projected to be slow, oil price will increase in the future to pre-pandemic levels and production will steadily increase as prices rise. Regarding the ag sector, the near future looks promising. Commodity prices are forecast to remain at a higher level than producers have seen in the last few years. Utilizing the extensive report received, the Appropriations Committees will establish the legislative revenue forecast that will be used for the budgeting process for the next biennium.

The House Human Services Committee continues to work on HB 1118. The legislation will give the legislature more involvement in the emergency declaration process for health emergencies like a pandemic. There has been a lot of requests and input from our District and across the state to take that type of action. We have had parents, business owners, families with members in long-term care and many others reaching out to us for help. The committee hopes to send the bill out this coming week.

The Human Service Committee also held a public hearing to obtain information about the Public Health Laboratory. The state lab is where the COVID-19 tests are done for much of the state and there have been questions about procedures and false positives. The lab director reported that the work force grew from 18 full time employees and one temporary employee to over 180 workers at the peak of the pandemic. Over 930,000 COVID samples were tested. The committee asked for some additional information, which will be provided later. The Appropriations Committee will be reviewing their budget later this session.

The House passed HB 1052 Tuesday to extend a law allowing agreements providing state services for youth adjudicated in tribal courts. The Spirit Lake Tribe is the only tribe to sign an agreement at this time, but we believe others will follow as it has been a very successful program.

Another bill, which is very important to the Spirit Lake Tribe and other tribes is HB1101. It passed the House 92-0 Tuesday. It will expand the areas where the Department of Transportation may enter into agreements with the tribes to include federally funded safety improvement projects on tribal owned highways, streets, roads and bridges.

On Wednesday the House passed HB 1049, which will place significant restrictions on guardians, when it comes to visitation privileges for their wards.

There has been considerable input from the public to some members of the legislature pleading for us to take action to correct some of the problems people see with court-appointed guardians. Hopefully this bill, if it is passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor, will make a very positive difference.

The House also passed HB 1075 which removes the state from the process of developing school district calendars. Specifically, the bill removes the section of code that sets aside the two days in October for education organizations to provide professional development.

The bill allows school districts to use the days for instructional time, professional development, or for whatever purpose local school districts deem necessary to carry out their educational goals.

The Legislature has worked very hard to make sure the people of North Dakota have an opportunity to follow what is happening during the floor sessions and committees. If you wish to watch videos of the floor session and committee hearings you can access that at legis.nd.gov .

District 23 residents who wish to contact us with legislative ideas or comments on what is being discussed or proposed can e-mail us at: [email protected] and [email protected]. During the session, mail can be sent to us at: ND House of Representatives, 600 East Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505-0360.

If you want to leave a phone message you can call the incoming toll-free number 1-888-NDLEGIS (1-888-635-3447). For hearing-impaired individuals, the TTY toll-free number is 1-800-366-6888 to reach a relay operator.

We will also be providing weekly columns during the session. We wish to thank the weekly newspaper publishers in our District, who provide space for our columns free of charge, for making that happen.