N.D. Legislative Report: April 10, 2023

The Appropriations Committees from the House and the Senate met jointly to receive the final revenue forecasts for the 2023-2025 biennium. Forecasts were provided by Moody's Analytics and S&P Global Market Intelligence.

These firms estimate the expected revenue to be derived from the four major tax categories. They are sales tax, motor vehicle excise tax, individual income tax, and corporate income tax. This forecast will be compared to the preliminary one adopted by the legislature in January. This final report will enable the legislature to establish the revenue forecast to be utilized for the 23-25 biennium and will determine the level of appropriations allowable. The State of North Dakota must produce a balanced budget each biennium.

The economy has been strong in our state. Through February and with only four months remaining in the biennium, general fund revenue has run 24.6 percent or 832 million dollars ahead of the legislative forecast adopted during the 2021 legislative session. The major tax type collections have driven most of the growth in revenue. The March forecasts indicate that the revenue collections in the next biennium will be about 90 million higher than estimated in the January forecast. General fund revenues are expected to total over 5.1 billion dollars in the 23-25 biennium.

In addition to tax revenue, these forecasting firms also give the legislature their opinion of oil price and production levels throughout the next biennium. The appropriations committees adopted the price of 70 dollars per barrel for the first year of the biennium and 62 dollars per barrel for the second year of the biennium. Production was set at 1.1 million barrels of oil per day. Oil tax collections for the state from this forecast would be 5.14 billion dollars over the two-year period.

There was also good news for the agricultural sector in North Dakota. Major crop prices and farm income will still be relatively high compared with historical averages. Total farm equity and debt/equity ratios are expected to remain largely stable into the next year.

A very important bill was recently passed by the House. SB2183 will provide 20 million dollars of relief to counties, cities, townships, and tribal governments for snow removal costs incurred. These entities may apply for an emergency snow removal grant for reimbursement of up to sixty percent of the snow removal costs incurred which exceeded 150 percent of the average snow removal cost for the four lowest cost years from 2017 through 2021.

SB2163 passed the House easily. This bill pertained to the ballot language used when amendments or measures appear on the ballot. If the secretary of state concludes that the amendment or measure is too long to make it practicable to print in full, the secretary of state in consultation with the attorney general shall cause to be printed a concise summary written in plain, clear, understandable language using words with common, everyday meaning.

SB2293 allows military pay received by a member of the armed forces of the United States on federal active duty, member of the national guard or reserve member of the armed forces of the United States to be exempt from state income tax to the extent that the military pay is included in their North Dakota taxable income.

SB2242 allocates 5 million dollars for the creation of a bulk propane storage tank revolving loan fund. To be eligible for this loan program, the applicant must be a propane retailer. The loan may not exceed the lesser of 500 thousand dollars or eighty-five percent of the actual cost of the project, have an interest rate equal to two percent, and provide a repayment schedule of no longer than fifteen years.

SB2349 permits a non-profit agricultural membership organization to provide health coverage to its members. This product must be reinsured and may only be sold by an insurance provider who is both appointed by the organization and licensed as an insurance producer to sell or solicit health insurance in this state. In addition, this coverage must provide benefits under a self-funded arrangement. The health care coverage authorized in SB2349 is not insurance, is not subject to jurisdiction by the insurance commissioner, and is not provided by an insurance provider. North Dakota Farm Bureau is a farm organization interested in providing this health care coverage to its members.

SB2026 appropriates 4 million dollars for the purpose of demolishing several unused buildings on the state hospital campus in Jamestown. This is in preparation for the potential construction of a new state hospital. The governor included funding for the planning of a new facility in his budget.

SB2340 would've allowed the following licensed professionals to be employed as a school counselor; social worker, professional counselor, marriage and family therapist, vocational rehabilitation counselor, or addiction counselor. The bill failed 40-48.

SB2180 raises the limit of expenditures by a political subdivision whereby an audit would be required. The limit is raised to 2 million dollars. Approximately 120 fewer small political subdivisions will need to be audited. This is very good legislation for our rural communities.

During the session, District 29 legislators 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.