N.D. Legislative Report: February 27, 2023

The funding for several large governmental agencies is currently being discussed in the House Appropriations Committee.

One such agency is the Department of Transportation. There will be a significant change in how the agency is funded during this session. Traditionally, gas tax, which is currently 23 cents per gallon, and the funds received from vehicle registrations provide most of the dollars that run the department.

The major use of these funds is to match the federal dollars that the state of North Dakota receives each year. These sources of funds are not currently providing enough revenue to match the increased amount of money coming from the federal government.

Through the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, North Dakota will receive significantly more funding over the next five years and these dollars must be matched by state funds. Gas tax and vehicle registrations will not provide the necessary amount needed. House Appropriations is proposing using one half of the motor vehicle excise tax dollars collected on vehicle sales to provide the funds required.

This is estimated to be 169 million dollars during the next biennium. This may end up being a permanent change because the current funding model for NDDOT isn't sufficient. As vehicles become more fuel efficient, gas tax isn't providing as much funding as it used to. In addition, it doesn't seem that the legislature has the desire to either raise the gas tax or increase motor vehicle registration fees.

With crossover approaching, more hours were spent in voting sessions on the floor and the Appropriations Committees worked evenings to get through the large amount of policy bills that had funding included in the legislation in addition to completing their work on the agency budgets assigned to them in the first half of the session.

With the advent of ride sharing companies such as Uber and Lyft, it was necessary to clarify whether a driver working on their behalf was an employee or an independent contractor. HB 1381 clarifies that the drivers are independent contractors. The bill passed unanimously.

HB1298 drew much debate on the House floor and was voted on twice. It stated that an operator of an early childhood program must carry liability insurance in the minimum amount of three hundred thousand dollars. The bill was defeated 44-49.

HB1329 reduced the number of years at which a teacher would receive a lifetime licensure from thirty to twenty. However, the education standards and practices board still has the right take action against the license holder if action is warranted under century code. HB1329 passed 87-6.

Another bill that had much debate was HB1412. This bill put electronic smoking devices in the same section of century code as chewing tobacco, cigars and cigarettes. It's defined as a device that may be used to deliver an aerosolized, vaporized, or heated substance containing nicotine, regardless of whether the nicotine is natural or synthetic, to an individual inhaling from the device. The bill passed 58-35.

HB1453 provides for a uniform bail schedule to be utilized throughout the district courts in North Dakota. Currently bail amounts are applied differently in certain parts of the state. HB 1453 charges the state supreme court to establish the uniform bail schedule and passed on the House floor 82-11.

HB1388 was as interesting bill. When a law enforcement dog is retired due to age or medical condition, the handler may retain the dog in their personal residence and receive reimbursement for the dog's medical care up to one thousand dollars per year. HB1388 appropriated thirty thousand dollars for this program for the biennium and passed 75-18.

The issue brought forth by HB1295 has been introduced in several previous sessions. It allows for only one license plate to be displayed on a passenger vehicle. For many years, sports car enthusiasts and people with vehicles that have a stylish front grille or fascia have advocated for this change. In my decades being involved in vehicle sales, it was difficult to drill holes in the front bumpers on certain vehicles to attach the license plate. Some new owners would not allow the plate to be attached to protect the looks of the front of the vehicle. HB1295 passed overwhelmingly 79-15.

HB1475 was a very simple bill. It raises the speed limit to 80 mph on Interstate 94 and Interstate 29 within the state of North Dakota. HB1475 passed 65-29.

HB1270 says a school district shall record a school district's regular or special board meeting, archive the recording, and make the recording available to the public. A school district shall publish on its website a link to each recording of a board meeting. The recording must be available on the school district's website for no fewer than three months from seven days after the meeting. If a school district provides a livestream of a regular or special meeting of the board, the district shall notify the public of the location of the link to access the livestream. HB1270 passed easily.

HB1402 provides that gross receipts from sales of used clothing made by a thrift store owned and operated by a nonprofit corporation would be exempt from sales tax. HB1402 passed 53-37.

HB1251 drew lots of comments by school administrators, board members and patrons. This bill would've required a minimum of 475 students per school superintendent. So in our area, several school districts would've had to combine under the leadership of one superintendent. Every school in District 29 would have been affected by HB1251. Our administrators wear many hats beyond being a superintendent so to expect them to manage up to four districts simultaneously was rejected by the assembly. This plan turned out to be unworkable and even the bill sponsor voted NO on the floor vote!

During the session, we can be reached by email or by leaving a message with the legislative telephone message center at 1-888-635-3447. Email addresses are; dwvigesaa@ndlegis.gov, cheadland@ndlegis.gov, tmwanzek@ndlegis.gov.

Those of you that wish to watch the floor sessions and committee hearings can access the videos at http://www.ndlegis.gov. A legislative bill tracking system is also available on that website and will allow users to follow individual bills. The legislative branch video capability will allow users to watch live video of committee hearings and floor sessions as well as archived and indexed videos of past committee hearings and floor sessions.

(Photos provided by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly)