Jon's North Dakota Senate Democratic Caucus Report

Senate Democratic Caucus

End of Week Report (Week 8)

February 27, 2009



Although the thermometer and that ever-present snow shovel still say winter, last week was spring in the state Legislature. Old bills faded into memory and others were blooming anew. It was like a turning of the seasons because, earlier this month, each chamber had to meet its deadline to be finished with its own bills and send them over to the opposite chamber. That’s a Legislature-speak sort of way to say that Senators are now getting their first look at House bills and House members are getting their first look at Senate bills.

The Senate passed 342 bills over to the House, while the House passed 401 bills over to the Senate. The biggest task of the second half will be building a budget, a task that is complicated by uncertainty around the revenue forecasts because of uncertainty surrounding the economic situation. Should the Legislature be cutting taxes? Should we be giving our universities a funding increase? What if we do these things and the revenues don’t materialize? These are the questions that will have to be answered.

In other matters:

--SB 2025, a bill to fund a new veteran’s home in Lisbon, passed the House this week and is expected to be signed by Gov. John Hoeven. The bill appropriates $14.4 million for the state share of building the new veterans home. The federal government is kicking in $14.6 million towards the project. Although the funding bill was rushed through the process, there are still many unresolved issues surrounding construction of the new veteran’s home. Lawmakers will still have to decide the appropriate level of staffing for the veteran’s home, whether they should landscape it immediately or delay this to save money, and whether a geothermal heating system should be installed. Such a system would have a higher upfront cost, but would be both more environmentally effective and more cost effective over the long term.

--Sen. Tim Mathern, (D-11 Fargo) announced he’s going to be organizing a healthcare caucus within the State Legislature. Mathern said the caucus is especially necessary now that President Barack Obama is in office, clearing the way for major reform in healthcare for our state and our nation. Mathern said he will be organizing the caucus to brainstorm ways that North Dakota can participate and benefit from this trend in the coming years. More details should be available next week.

--SCR 4017, a concurrent resolution proposed by Sen. Tom Fiebiger (D-45 Fargo), and Carolyn Nelson, (D-21 Fargo), would have called for a study of state government facility use. The study was put forward due to concerns that the state is spending too much money renting privately owned facilities to house state government offices. This also leads to inefficiency by having departments scattered among different buildings rather than in one location. The resolution was defeated Friday, but the door was left open for such a concept to be incorporated into future bills.

Some bills that Senators will have to consider:

----HB 1487 requiring the Legislature to appropriate any federal stimulus money that comes North Dakota’s way. Now that the stimulus bill passed Congress and has been signed by President Obama, the allocation of North Dakota’s share will likely be a big issue in the second half of the session. Senators will have to decide whether to also back this bill, which will give the Legislature more say in how any stimulus money is spent. The flip side is this could come at the expense of the projects being implemented in a timely manner.

--HB 1324, a state stimulus check program combined with a delayed income tax cut. The bill proposes offering stimulus checks this May to North Dakota residents in the amount of one third of their 2007 state income tax liability. This would cost about $100 million. The bill also implements an income tax rate cut that’s set to begin in 2011. Senators will have to decide if they want to cut income taxes and if this is the best vehicle through which to do it.

--HB 1572 defines a fertilized egg as a human being and, if made law, sets North Dakota up for a direct court challenge to the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion. It will no doubt be the cause of much controversy in the second half of the session.

The bill passed the House last week. If the Senate passes it and Gov. John Hoeven signs it into law, it could set the state up for a costly and drawn-out challenge in the Supreme Court. Because of these national implications, it has been getting national attention, with prominent reports on Fox News and in the Washington Times.

Senators will have to weigh the potential cost to the state and their personal beliefs about abortions in deciding whether North Dakota should go forward with this measure.



--HB 1348 would allow college students to have concealed weapons in campus apartments and parking garages. The bill, as passed by the House, falls short of allowing students to carry concealed weapons on their person when walking on campus. The bill passed with the minimum 48 House members required to pass a bill in that chamber. Senators will have to decide whether the freedom and self-protection benefits of allowing gun ownership on campus outweighs the public safety concerns surrounding such a law change.