701-566-9300The committee opened by welcoming a newly appointed Representative from the Minot area following the resignation of Representative Larry Bellew. Representative Joanne Rademacher said she farms and ranches in the Foxholm area.
In trying to get all information relevant to the topic of foreign land ownership, the agenda opened with Chair Paul Thomas who had Senator Kevin Cramer appear virtually from Washington, D.C. Sen. Cramer explained that there is a committee in the Federal government called the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S (CFIUS). The acronym is pronounced as “syfius” in case you ever hear it spoken. He stated that there currently is no Federal law prohibiting foreign investment in agricultural land in the U.S. and further suggested that what the interim committee was doing would probably happen faster than whatever the Feds might come up with. He explained that CFIUS was under the purview of the Treasury Department and operates in a manner which is fairly secretive, even to members of Congress. After his testimony came Micah Brown of the National Ag Law Center, a unit of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, who explained which states have some restrictions and which have no restrictions on foreigners purchasing Ag land. It has become a politicized topic the last couple of years and has drawn the attention of most state legislatures so that many, like our state, are working on it.
The committee then heard testimony on mitigation for energy projects such as wind farms and transmission lines from various companies and utility representatives. The upshot seemed to be that progress is being made whereby permanent easements on such projects have been curtailed and easements instead will expire when the projects cease to function.
The North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture then reported on efforts to promote animal agriculture in our state. A Model Zoning Task Force, created by the last Legislative Assembly, has met a couple of times while efforts on regional livestock planning and zoning have 2 of the 8 regions starting and 2 more beginning soon. He also reported that Livestock Friendly County designations are beginning to take shape. Both Senator Kathy Hogan and Representative Mike Beltz spoke to the Model Zoning Task Force; Sen. Hogan asked that its meetings be broadcast and Rep. Beltz that the task force be seen as winning in the eye of the public.
The National Flood Insurance program was then reported on by Insurance Commissioner Jon Godfread who implored the committee to make changes so that insurance agents were not selling the policies to people who, upon filing a claim, find out they are not covered. The Department of Water Resources also testified and it looks like they can come up with a method to get all the parties together for improvements.
The committee took the rest of the meeting hearing ideas and some bill drafts meant to deal with the investment in N.D. by foreigners. While it may meet before, the next certain meeting date will be Jne 20 Fargo on the NDSU campus where it will hear SBARE priorities for the January 2025 session.
