Week 11: Moody Blues?

Things are starting to get real around Session. With the bill count at 986, they need to be finalizing 17 or 18 bills each day to get across the finish line. That sounds fine, until we consider that uses all available days and doesn’t take into account conference committee negotiations and any potential vetos (more on that later).

The other part is budget. Currently, there are more demands than dollars available – over $1B to roughshod it.  That means cuts are coming. GNDC will be watching how cuts are made. Will they be scalped and precise, digging into programs and pieces? Or will this be a hatchet approach – lumping off percentages and chunks? How will priorities be safeguarded and what’s going to come out unscathed? We are ready to back some of our priorities.
 
Additionally, the revenue forecasts are out. Two are presented, Moody’s and S&P Global. Legislators compare the information and use it to determine the amount of funds available to allocate for the next two years. 
Legislative Council presented a report to the Appropriations Committees that reflected an overall increase of $33.4M to the General Fund for the 21-23 biennium based on the new information. The report also indicated an increase of $57.5M for the 23-25 biennium. Approximately $17.1M in unspent General Funds was also added to the biennium’s ending balance. 

Now from our seats, no one is singing the praises and whoops of joy. The revenue forecast adopted by the Legislature includes flat oil production over the next 3 years at 1.1M barrels/day. The price per barrel is projected to slightly decline for the next biennium, dropping to $62 per barrel for 2025. While news of extra funds is welcome, this leads us back to the $1B gap needed in order to balance the budget.

Bill Count: 986 (+2 from last week)

• House: 574
• Senate: 411

• HB 1019: Center for Career and Technical Education (CTE) 
  • SUPPORT
  • We like the programs that demonstrate collaboration between private sector and educational institutions.
  • Dollars that we want to see included:
    • $20 million for CTE Centers
    • $40 million for New and Expanding CTE Centers Inflation Impact
    • $2 million for Workforce Training
    • Continued funding for CTE programs
       
• HB 1016: Job Service North Dakota 
  • SUPPORT
  • Computer modernization funding as they are helping both business and workforce needs 
  • Includes funding for a job placement pilot program for individuals exiting the criminal justice system  

Business Climate

• SB 2240: Base Retention Grant 
  • SUPPORT
  • $1.9M to benefit military efforts in Minot ($900K), Grand Forks ($500K), and Fargo ($500K)
  • Vital to Minot as these dollars would restore community military funding with enhanced funding to prepare North Dakota for the Sentinel modernization project

• SB 2296: Limiting judicial deference to governmental entities
  • OPPOSE
  • Creates imbalance with federal regulations
  • Not driven by industry, interferes with states ability to flexible as it creates inconsistent regulatory policies while increasing costs 

• HB 1382: Scholarships for Apprenticeship Programs 
  • SUPPORT
  • This will help create a skilled workforce, enabling students to earn while they learn. 
  • See our breakdown to HB 1383 (related also to Apprenticeship programs)

• SB 2142: Office of Immigration
  • SUPPORT
  • This would establish an office within the Dept. of Commerce
  • Our hope is that this will establish a resource for businesses in the state wishing to recruit and retain foreign labor and help identify barriers to entering the workforce. 

• SB 2238: Related to background checks/fingerprinting to childcare industry 
  • SUPPORT
  • We like increased efficiency for regulatory bottlenecks that have augmented workforce challenges
  • Amended into a shall study, removing the fiscal note and policy action but broadened to all industry