Schedule for week of March 18th & Highlights from week...

Schedule for next week can be found here: Week of March 18th

Highlights from the week:

Revenue Forecast

Legislators received an update on their revenue forecast. It was good news. The projected revenue increases for 2019-2021 are significantly higher – an additional $160 million in general fund revenues and $1 billion in oil tax revenues, reaffirming the ability to fund our state’s priorities.

Operation Prairie Dog Passes Senate

The bill that is one of counties greatest priority, infrastructure funding, received its final vote – passing it and sending it to Governor Burgum. The Senate approved HB 1066 unanimously Thursday. The bill, nicknamed “Operation Prairie Dog”, allocates gross production tax revenue to fund infrastructure needs in cities, counties and townships in both oil and non-oil regions. There are also several state funds like the general fund, property tax relief fund and Strategic Infrastructure and Investment Fund (SIIF), that will receive oil tax funding through the new formula established in this bill.

A majority of the floor discussion on this bill revolved around the “buckets” and their placement. The House moved a SIIF bucket, placing it in front of the county/township distribution. Senator Rich Wardner pointed out that the forecast indicates all the buckets will fill and the county/township distribution should fill.

Under the formula, several state buckets receive funds followed by: $30.4 million to city, $30.4 million to county/township and $169.2 million into a joint non-oil city/county bucket to be split evenly.

The bill specifies funding is to be used for “essential infrastructure projects” which are defined in the bill. Wardner also highlighted how this bill allows political subdivisions to save their funding for use on large projects. He also illustrated how the bill will result in alleviating some pressure on property taxes and special assessments to fund infrastructure projects.

In total, this bill will result in at least an $800 million investment for local infrastructure. The bill will be effective for taxable years after June 30, 2019.

Statewide Interoperable Radio Network (SIRN)

HB 1435 which provides allocation of funding for the Statewide Interoperable Radio Network (SIRN) was heard in the Senate GVA committee Thursday. The committee heard testimony from numerous individuals who depend on the radio network for the safety of themselves and our citizens. The public safety community provided real-life examples of the importance of the radios along with the failures they have currently experienced due to the aging radio network currently being used.

A proposed amendment was provided by the prime sponsor of the bill to restore $40 million of state funds that was removed by House Appropriations. The $40 million of state funds is an important component of the bill as it reflects the state’s share and its commitment to the project. Currently, the bill authorizes the use of the .50 9-1-1 fee approved last session to be used in providing a$120 million line of credit to fund the $206 million project.

Social Service Redesign

The social service redesign legislation (SB2124) had its first House hearing on Wednesday in the Human Services Committee. The overview by DHS Exec. Director, Chris Jones, and the section-by-section explanation by DHS legal counsel, Jonathan Alm, consumed the entire morning due to the length and complexity of the bill. Returning in the afternoon, NDACo presented county support and testified to the desire of some counties for more time to develop multi-county zones. It was also noted that county state’s attorneys would like to have a clarifying amendment regarding their role in representing human service zones. Kim Jacobson, Agassiz Valley Social Service Director, provided thoughts from the local social service perspective. A Morton County Social Service Board also spoke in support but urged the preservation of local decision making in the determination of zone partners. There was no opposition testimony.

Other bills of note:

Senate defeated bill to eliminate sobriety checkpoints

House passed bill related to centrally assessed deadlines

Senate defeated bill to allow one license plate for sports cars

House Finance and Tax committee passed out a farm-residence exemption bill that changes the eligibility so that 66% of their gross income, including spouse, is from the farm.