NDACo Legislative Update: April 9

This week Wednesday saw the first conference committee meeting to resolve House and Senate differences, and they have multiplied exponentially since. For those watching, these often have only an hour or so of notice, so periodically refreshing the conference committee link on the Legislative website is critical. This is an extremely important phase of the process, and we expect at least a dozen county priority bills will ultimately be resolved in conference.

The Bonding Bill (HB1431) took a very interesting turn this week. In round numbers, the House proposed bonding for almost $700 million – mostly for diversion/flood control projects. The Senate policy committee added amendments to increase the bonding to just over $1 billion, adding in several public building and energy projects, and notably $30 million for township roads – as they are ineligible for direct federal ARP (Relief) funding. The surprising move was action by the Senate Appropriations to send the committee back to the Senate floor, recommending that the Senate policy amendments be stripped off and the House version of the bill be sent directly to the Governor. Lots of discussion about some of the Senate priorities (including township roads) that fell off the table, and how state ARP funds, or other funding concepts may be leveraged.

The Streams Bill (HB1380) remains in Senate Appropriations, and still has $63.9 million in Legacy interest going into the Highway Distribution Fund. As this is an addition that the House did not consider, this will likely be a conference discussion, and we expect that a call for action will be made at some point to urge retaining this important piece.

You may recall that the Road Train Bill (SB2026) was amended in a manner requested by counties in the House, but as this has changed the Senate version significantly, a conference committee has been appointed to discuss their differences. If you are represented by the Senate conferees, (Senators Conley, Clemens, and Bakke) please urge them to support the House amendments that preserve county and township control of their own roadways.

HB1323, the bill to prohibit mask or face covering requirements, was voted on by the Senate on Wednesday. NDACo opposed it in its original form, focusing on its broad language that removed the ability of local government (as well as private employers) to mandate safety equipment within their operations. Counties were not alone in our opposition; cities, schools, medical facilities, and business organizations all provided testimony in opposition. Due to the response from local government and other constituents, the concerns recognized. Ultimately the Senate amended the bill to remove local government and business from the restrictions, leaving in place a prohibition on State officials issuing statewide mask requirements. The bill was then passed, although in a significantly altered form from the House version, so the battle may continue.

The final bill on our schedule to testify on was heard Thursday. HB 1253 is a massive, 80 page election reform bill. The Secretary of State's Office supported the bill and was involved in a majority of it's drafting. There are a few election related proposals that were defeated that have now made their way into the bill. NDACo supported the bill and offered further suggestions for amendments. The committee will continue to work on the bill Friday. 

The Senate acted on numerous firearm bills Thursday including a bill (HB 1498) that expands the state's "stand your ground" law to include any where an individual is legally authorized to be. The Senate passed 1498. They also approved HB 1383, which as proposed sought to prohibit local law enforcement from working with federal agents if firearms were involved. The committee worked on the bill following hearing testimony from law enforcement. The amended version approved in the Senate addressed the law enforcement concerns. The bill now accomplishes the intent of the bill to not allow local law enforcement to provide assistance to a federal agency in response to a federal order or statute that is more restrictive than state law unless the violation is related to: homicide, kidnapping, sex offenses, drug offenses, human trafficking or other felony offenses. This new language accomplishes the intent to not allow a federal order to impede on North Dakotan's 2nd amendment right but to also preserve the working relationship of federal, state and local law enforcement. 

No committee hearing schedule for next week as committees are done hearing bills. Committees will wrap up their work on the remaining bills to act on in committee and conference committee meetings and floor sessions will occupy most of the activity next week.  

NDACo Legislative Update: April 2nd

The legislature began appointing conference committees Thursday to resolve differences between House and Senate versions of some bills. This is what is commonly considered the start of the "Third Period" of the process. It is also a sign that the end is approaching. You will see very few hearings on the schedule. There are a number of firearm related bills scheduled in Judiciary and the final election reform bill will be heard in Senate GVA. You will see on the schedule that a great deal of it is appropriations committee work.

More time was spent in floor sessions this week, and quite a number of “county bills” reached final resolution. Some of the significant action included:

• The defeat of the “culvert bill” as requested by the counties.
• The return of the “road train” bill (SB 2026) to committee and the addition of language giving local road authorities control before passage. 
• The amendment of the “potato warehouse exemption” was turned into a study.
• A bill (SB 2142) initiated by the County Auditors to increase the days allowed to process absentee/mail ballots passed the House.
• The Senate killed two election bills Auditors opposed. HB 1173 required the full text of measures on the ballot. HB 1373 decreased the days for early vote from 15 to 9 days. 
• The Senate also defeated a bill (HB 1457) that would have required counties to renew emergency declarations/disasters at each regularly scheduled meeting.
• The Senate approved a bill to provide health benefits for family members of a fallen officer. 
• The House concurred on the changes the Senate made to HB 1112, which requires ND DOCR to pay for housing and medical costs of state-sentenced inmates when in the prioritization plan. This means the bill is on to the Governor for his signature!    

Click here to view schedule for next week. Included in this schedule is the listing of committee work. Bills scheduled for hearings are highlighted. 

*WATCH* NDACo Legislative Video Update for Week 12: March 26

Click to watch video highlighting action taken this week on county related bills. 

NDACo Legislative Update: March 26

 Plenty of action on county bills this week, below is a taste of some of the highlights.

• County official efforts on SB2026 (road trains) were incredibly effective and the committee chair saw that the bill would be defeated, so he took it back to committee and amended it in three important ways. 
• The 180’ pilot project truck length was changed to 130’ 
• Impacts to traffic safety were included as a study element
• A new subsection was added reading: “If a pilot project includes operating on county or township roads, an agreement with the local road authorities must be in place to address traffic safety consideration and costs directly attributed to the pilot project."

            As these amendments address the concerns raised by counties, we no longer oppose SB2026. 

• HB1464 (Gas Tax) was given a divided (4/3) Do Not Pass recommendation from the Senate Committee, and will be up for vote in the Senate as soon as FRIDAY. This 3-cent increase (and modest increases to electric vehicle fees) would generate $48 million of which $9.6 million goes to county roads. County officials are being asked to CONTACT THEIR SENATORS AND URGE A YES VOTE ON HB1464

• SB2324 (Culvert bill) was amended and given a strong (11/1) Do Not Pass recommendation, as requested by counties. This bill would shift considerable control from counties and townships to the state engineer over when culverts and bridges are replaced. We are urging county officials to CONTACT THEIR HOUSE MEMBERS AND ASK FOR A NO VOTE ON SB2324.

• SB2041 (potato warehouse/elevator exemption) was heavily amended. The issue of exempting privately owned elevators and warehouses in cities was turned into a study, but the farm-residence exemption was added into the bill with a proposed change to consider machinery sales as farm income. We encourage all commissioners and tax directors can pull this bill up and take a look.

• Senate Senate Political Subdivisions Committee heard testimony on HB 1183 relating to onsite septic systems. The bill came to the Committee amended by the House.  In addition to requiring public health units to adopt an onsite wastewater recycling treatment guide, the House amendment provided for the establishment of technical committee. Two Senate floor amendments included adding a local public health representative to the technical committee for even representation and also added an expiration date. The full Senate adopted the amendments and passed the bill which will be returned to the House. 

• House bill 1152, the “cigar bar" bill was defeated on the Senate floor. This bill would have allowed exemptions to ND Smoke free law, exposing people to secondhand smoke. This law protects public health and promotes worker safety.

• Despite heavy debate, SB2244, the bill to incrementally increase civil process fees by the Sheriff’s Office, was passed in the House 57/36. These fees have not increased in 20 years. 

• Inmate reimbursement, HB1112, passed the Senate with a unanimous vote. This bill will require DOCR to reimburse county jails for holding state-sentenced inmates if they must remain in a county facility due to state facility limitations. A big success for counties as this was a resolution and priority item. 

• NDACo worked closely with the Senate Judiciary committee to improve an amendment that would have prohibited the release of booking photos until individuals are charged. While law enforcement concerns for the most part were addressed with the final amendment the Senate voted to kill the amendment on HB1294. 

• Efforts to move to a primary seat belt law for all occupants in a vehicle failed in the House with the defeat of SB2121. The vote was close at 45-49. 

• The Senate defeated HB1189, which would have placed a 3 hour deadline for election workers to return results to the Auditors office. Another election bill was also brought back for reconsideration on Monday. HB1198 sought to prohibit the Governor from using his executive order authority in restricting polling locations. The Senate passed the bill last Friday, reconsidered it on Monday and killed the bill. 

• Also very notable, the Senate defeated HB1420 to legalize "adult use" marijuana, a companion bill that addressed the taxation of marijuana was also killed. 

Click here to view the hearing schedule for the upcoming week

*WATCH* NDACo Video Update for Week 11: March 22

Click to view video with update on what bills we expect to hit the floor this week. 

NDACo Legislative Update March 18th

Big budget issues got considerably more attention this week. The consulting economic prognosticators for the Legislative and Executive Branch each delivered their revenue projections. Both anticipate a significant, though not substantial, increase to oil & gas taxes and to other general fund revenues. The legislative body will adopt an ‘official’ revenue projection this Friday, which will create the guardrails for the final Legislative Budget. Specifically, the oil tax revenue forecast shows an increase in tax allocations to political subdivisions and anticipates the county Municipal/County/Township Infrastructure (Prairie Dog) buckets filling next biennium. These forecasts are critical in reaching adjournment of the Session. Interestingly, there is much discussion of an early adjournment – possibly as early as April 22nd (the 72nd Legislative Day), leaving eight days for the redistricting session in the fall.

With the budget guardrails under construction, the big infrastructure bills were scheduled for their second hearing. 

HB1341 (Bonding Bill) was heard in Senate Finance and Taxation, with a major leadership amendment proposed to adjust the investment of bond proceeds to include $70 million for Bridge Projects and federal match for roads, and $30 million for township roads.  Additionally, $50 million will be added to the $175 million already in the infrastructure revolving low interest loan fund.

The “Streams Bill”, or Legacy Interest Investment proposal (HB1380) was also heard in Senate F&T.  It also showed up with its own proposed amendment.  Most important for counties is the proposal to dedicate a percentage of the interest (estimated at $58 million) to the Highway Distribution Fund – 22% of which goes to counties.  This is the equivalent of a bit more than 6-cents of motor fuels tax, while having the added benefit of growing each biennium and the interest from the Fund grows.  

A lengthy hearing on the primary seatbelt law. Law enforcement officials were joined by NDACo and other traffic safety organizations. SB 2121 received heavy support from those testifying, however, despite the passionate testimony the House Transportation committee delivered an 8-5 Do Not Pass recommendation. This issue is a top priority for counties, and we will be asking for your help in reaching out to Representatives to urge a "Green" vote. 

Another priority item, the inmate prioritization reimbursement bill (HB 1112) was heard this week in the Senate Judiciary committee and given a Do Pass recommendation. This bill, if approved will require DOCR to pay the housing and medical costs for state-sentenced inmates in local jail facilities when the prioritization plan is effect. 

Click here for the schedule for next week's hearings

 

*WATCH* NDACo Legislative Video Update Week 10: March 12

Click to watch the video.