A busy week, but not much to show for it. Lots of committee work and a fair amount of “floor
session” but not a lot of progress.
Not of direct county concern, but of some historical
interest, was House floor action on a city bill. The cities requested the introduction of a
bill to create a tiered structure for emergency levies, very similar to what
was passed by the counties several sessions ago. It would have allowed smaller cities to levy
a greater number of mills, and retain a larger balance (in mills) in their
emergency fund. The interesting part was
the bill was defeated on Monday by one vote, reconsidered and passed on Tuesday
by one vote, and then reconsidered again and defeated by 2 votes on
Wednesday. Few can recall such a
sequence of events.
Things like that, as well as debates over casino gaming,
guns, and day care kept the Legislature from moving along as fast as leadership
had hoped. The goal of ending in 70 days
is becoming less of a reality.
On the county front we saw two bills regarding indigent
burial bills pass with one of the county amendments attached, but not the
other. Concerns remain as to how this
will impact county costs going forward.
More positively, the House passed the Senate bill raising
the public improvement bid limit for advertising from $100,000 to $150,000.
This is now on the Governor’s desk.
The repeal of the “Truth in Taxation” notice requirement,
and its replacement with a consolidated “preliminary tax estimate and meeting
notice” was passed by the House (77-14) and the Senate immediately concurred. This now goes to the Governor.
The Recorder fee bill (SB2340) was sent out of committee in a
form that the county recorders felt was lacking, and it was rereferred to the
Political Subdivisions Committee next week for more work. This bill was not
requested by the Recorders and proposes more of a flat fee structure that has
somewhat of an unknown impact to county revenues.
A major setback for the statewide radio project (SIRN)
funding came as the state share of the project (SB2024) was defeated on the
House floor after a half hour of debate.
This bill proposed a doubling of the penalties for traffic violations to
go into a separate fund to support this major infrastructure improvement. The “local share” remains alive in the Senate
as a 50-cent phone charge in HB1178.
A few of the major bills still in committee include:
Social
Service Funding (SB2206)
Caps on
local property taxes (HB1361)
County
retention of penalties for “fat trucks” on county roads (SB2045)
DOCR
Budget – State authority to refuse inmates (SB2015)
OMB
Budget – public administrator funding (HB1015)
Sec. of
State Budget – possible inclusion of election equipment funding (HB1002)
Although the schedule below indicates very few hearings,
there will be unpublished “rehearings” as legislation affecting the state’s
budget get referred from policy committees to appropriations throughout the
week. There will also be a lot of quiet
committee work as the more difficult issues become the focus.
Keep your legislators informed as they come home on
weekends, and let them know how you feel about the issues. The (very brief) hearing schedule on county
bills follows.
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Time
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Room
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Monday, 3/27
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9:00
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E *
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NDPERS Health to be self-insured
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House Industry, Business and Labor
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Peace Garden
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9:30
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J **
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D/A education - alcohol crimes by minors -
funding for children's' behavioral health services
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Senate Appropriations
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Harvest
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Tuesday, 3/28
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8:30
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J **
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Sentence reduction, medical paroles, good
time, drug offenses - includes presumptive probation
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Senate Appropriations
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Harvest
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