NDACo Week 11 Legislative Report

The big news of the week, of course, was the release of the official state revenue projections.  This information sets the boundaries for overall spending and allows the Legislature to now finish their work. It was helpful for the Legislature that the projections did not contain huge deviations from the preliminary numbers that were prepared in January. 

The projections do however suggest a $419 million reduction in State General Fund revenues from what the Governor budgeted, or about a 7% drop.  The biggest dollar amount decrease is in sales tax collections.  This will also affect State Aid Distribution Fund allocations to counties if the projections are realized.  The good news is that they are still projecting growth in sales taxes over the current biennium – so it is a reduction in the growth, not a true decrease.

The big impact is obviously to all the special funds that receive oil tax revenues.  Overall, oil taxes are expected to drop from $5.9 billion this biennium to $3.9 billion in the coming one.  As an example, the Strategic Infrastructure and Investment Fund (SIIF) – where all one-time road funds come from – received $1.2 billion this biennium, and is expected to get $205 million in the next.  Unless oil activity recovers, one-time funding two years from now will become very challenging.

On another topic, an excellent hearing on SB2206 (Social Service Funding Shift) was held this Wednesday and the concept seemed to have fairly broad acceptance within the House Human Service Committee.  However, we don’t like to leave anything to chance, so if your county has a member on that committee, it would be very helpful to shoot them a note of support.  (you can who they are and find their email address at this link http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/64-2015/committees/house/human-services )

We feel the Governor’s Property  Tax Reform proposal (SB2144) had an excellent hearing on Tuesday, and this was followed by solid county testimony against the broad and undefined expansion of the “farm building” tax exemption to “agritourism” that was proposed as SB2339.

All remaining “policy bill” hearings will take place next week, and then the focus shifts to conference committees and appropriations.  So far we have few policy bills headed for conference, so our focus will be on the road funding in HB1176 & HB1012, the Human Service, DOCR, and Health Dept. Budgets (SB2012, HB1015 & HB1004) and the social service funding shift of SB2206.  

Time	Bill	Description	Committee	Room
Monday 3/23
9:00	SB 2219	J Creates a statewide human trafficking commission	House Judiciary	Prairie
9:00	SB 2279	E Employer may not discriminate on sexual orientation	House Human Services	Fort Union
9:00	HB 1055	B *** Replaces mills with cents per $1000	Senate Finance and Taxation	Lewis and Clark
9:00	SB 2147	H Reduces from 3 to 2 one-call locates for same project before charges occur	House Industry, Business and Labor	Peace Garden
9:00	HB 1328	J Drone Bill - use limitations	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
9:30	HB 1368	J Domestic violence treatment must follow standards	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
9:30	HB 1116	L Changes to birth records	Senate Human Services	Red River
10:00	HCR 3049	S Study employment and public assistance	Senate IB&L	Roosevelt Park
10:00	HB 1455	L Creation of nursing staff services	Senate Human Services	Red River
10:00	HB 1394	J Lower penalties for marijuana	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
10:30	SB 2320	S Medication therapy management program for Medicaid recipients	House Approp. - Hum.Res. Div.	Sakakawea
10:30	HCR 3037	L Study homemade food sales and local public health policies	Senate Human Services	Red River
11:00	HB 1403	J Sick leave allowed for domestic violence	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
2:00	SB 2012	A **** Human Services budget, enhanced county reimbursement for expanded Medicaid	House Approp. - Hum.Res. Div.	Sakakawea
Tuesday 3/24
9:00	SCR 4005	S Study behavioral health and juvenile proceedings	House Judiciary	Prairie
9:30	SCR 4017	J Urge Congress to pass anti-trafficking legislation	House Judiciary	Prairie
10:00	HCR 3052	J Study higher ed policies regarding sexual assault	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
10:30	HB 1467	J US Border Patrol has arrest power	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
11:00	HCR 3012	J Study child sex offender registration	Senate Judiciary	Fort Lincoln
2:30	SB 2012	A **** Human Services budget, enhanced county reimbursement for expanded Medicaid	House Approp. - Hum.Res. Div.	Sakakawea
Wednesday 3/25
9:30	HB 1035	L Interim study of Health care in ND	Senate Human Services	Red River
10:00	HB 1378	L Study of essential health delivery	Senate Human Services	Red River
10:00	SB 2270	J Repeals limits on bail bondsman commissions	House Judiciary	Prairie
10:30	HCR 3005	L Study care of individuals with brain injuries	Senate Human Services	Red River
11:00	SB 2182	J States attorney or AG to prosecute unlawful practices of transient merchants	House Judiciary	Prairie
2:30	HB 1020	A ** Extension Budget includes UGPTI budget, local road study funding added in House	Senate Appropriations	Harvest
Thursday 3/26
8:30	HCR 3020	B Study impact on owners from land inundated by rising Devils Lake waters	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
9:00	HB 1194	R * Political subs may borrow up to $500,000 for five years with no vote	Senate Political Subdivisions	Red River
9:00	SB 2141	R * Study county recorder fees	House GVA	Fort Union
9:00	SB 2222	R Open records requests by legislators are themselves open records	House GVA	Fort Union
9:00	HB 1456	Z Land board to buy excess Corps land	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
9:00	SB 2299	V Regulates campaign donation pass-thru	House GVA	Fort Union
9:00	HB 1395	J * Study of emergency information database - Smart911	Senate Transportation	Lewis and Clark
9:00	SCR 4002	R Study various definitions of political subdivision	House Political Subdivisions	Prairie
9:30	HB 1285	C Commerce appropriation for domestic violence shelter grants	Senate Appropriations	Harvest
10:00	SCR 4019	E Study state funding of health insurance for volunteer firefighters and EMS personnel	House Political Subdivisions	Prairie
10:00	HB 1459	B Voters must authorize building authority construction project	Senate Political Subdivisions	Red River
10:15	HB 1246	E State employee compensation studies must count 50% of benefits	Senate GVA	Missouri River
10:30	HB 1068	Z Industrial commission cannot use information outside of its Jurisdiction	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
2:15	HB 1352	B Elimination of specials for irrigation from Garrison diversion	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
2:30	SB 2346	E Changes VSO training certification requirements	House GVA	Fort Union
4:00	HB 1113	Z C Felony for radioactive disposal non-compliance and new rules	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
Friday 3/17
8:30	SB 2022	E * NDPERS budget, retirement and health plan	House Approp. - Gov. Ops Div.	Medora
9:00	HB 1415	A * $60 million plus $60 million for Fargo flood protection	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln
9:00	HB 1444	E State employment contract provisions	Senate Political Subdivisions	Red River
9:15	HCR 3006	J Study use of state resources for youth adjudicated by tribal courts	Senate GVA	Missouri River
9:30	HB 1213	E * Appointee to local board cannot be felon (15 year look back), tax delinquency amended out	Senate Political Subdivisions	Red River
10:15	HCR 3057	V Study election administration	Senate GVA	Missouri River
11:00	HB 1114	Z New penalties for solid waste disposal	Senate Energy & Nat. Res.	Fort Lincoln