Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #55 — Money to Infrastructure
This special session is still going but I left Bismarck on Thursday because those issues central to agriculture were resolved and to what I see as a satisfactory end. From ARPA dollars that this session was to distribute, at least $200 million must be used for highway roads and bridges. $24.6 million is designated for […]hi
This special session is still going but I left Bismarck on Thursday because those issues central to agriculture were resolved and to what I see as a satisfactory end. From ARPA dollars that this session was to distribute, at least $200 million must be used for highway roads and bridges. $24.6 million is designated for grants to counties for their bridge projects based on an application...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #51 — SBARE Testimony
The State Board of Agricultural Research and Education (SBARE) has been around for almost 25 years and has several stated goals you can read on their website, but it is about Ag research and getting those results applied to help producers and their communities. They hold listening sessions for several days around the state to help […]hi
The State Board of Agricultural Research and Education (SBARE) has been around for almost 25 years and has several stated goals you can read on their website, but it is about Ag research and getting those results applied to help producers and their communities. They hold listening sessions for several days around the state to help them prioritize needs so that they can present them to the...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #50 — Spending Federal Money
The Senate and House Appropriations committees spent Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday this week in Bismarck to draft a bill which is intended to spend the approximately $1.1 billion dollars which came to North Dakota via the American Rescue Plan Act. $317 million of this money had been appropriated earlier this spring in the […]hi
The Senate and House Appropriations committees spent Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday this week in Bismarck to draft a bill which is intended to spend the approximately $1.1 billion dollars which came to North Dakota via the American Rescue Plan Act. $317 million of this money had been appropriated earlier this spring in the regular session with the rest waiting until now when further...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #49 — Ag and Natural Resources Meet
The regular session ended half a year ago and this Interim Committee just met for the first time. They are tasked with a couple of studies and to receive the usual reports. One of the studies is of the North Dakota Beef Commission, including its operations and the selection of its commission members. There was […]hi
The regular session ended half a year ago and this Interim Committee just met for the first time. They are tasked with a couple of studies and to receive the usual reports.
One of the studies is of the North Dakota Beef Commission, including its operations and the selection of its commission members. There was a kerfuffle during the last session about this but the bill that would have...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #48 — Transportation Coalition Forum
Last year, the NDSGA joined with other agriculture groups, contractors, cities, counties and townships, engineering firms, the Greater ND Chamber (GNDC), ND Motor Carriers and others to form the ND Transportation Coalition. The goal was to work together for bettering our state’s transportation infrastructure by advocating for sustainable/dependable funding. We found some success in our […]hi
Last year, the NDSGA joined with other agriculture groups, contractors, cities, counties and townships, engineering firms, the Greater ND Chamber (GNDC), ND Motor Carriers and others to form the ND Transportation Coalition. The goal was to work together for bettering our state’s transportation infrastructure by advocating for sustainable/dependable funding. We found some success in our first...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #47 — Promoting Pigs
She was in an orange t-shirt leaning up against the hotel wall and dragging on a cigarette when she asked “Are you with those farmers in there?” I told her I was and she said “Thank you for what you do. You feed us.” The event was the North Dakota Livestock Alliance’s (NDLA) PIG, Diversifying […]hi
She was in an orange t-shirt leaning up against the hotel wall and dragging on a cigarette when she asked “Are you with those farmers in there?” I told her I was and she said “Thank you for what you do. You feed us.” The event was the North Dakota Livestock Alliance’s (NDLA) PIG, Diversifying for Profitability gathering at the Fargo Holiday Inn this week. With Minnesota and South Dakota well...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #46 — Dalrymple Greenhouse/Research
This past Friday, NDSU renamed its greenhouse complex after Jack Dalrymple. It was to honor the support he gave as a longtime legislator, Lieutenant Governor and Governor towards agricultural research throughout that institution. I write briefly about this today to let you know that the benefits of Ag research were touted often to those assembled. […]hi
This past Friday, NDSU renamed its greenhouse complex after Jack Dalrymple. It was to honor the support he gave as a longtime legislator, Lieutenant Governor and Governor towards agricultural research throughout that institution. I write briefly about this today to let you know that the benefits of Ag research were touted often to those assembled. Jack himself stated that there is no greater...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #45 — Energy Development Transmission Committee
This committee usually goes to the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) every other year or so to see what they have come up with. The EERC is housed on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks and has been in existence since 1951. They have done a lot lately on coal, oil […]hi
This committee usually goes to the Energy and Environmental Research Center (EERC) every other year or so to see what they have come up with. The EERC is housed on the University of North Dakota campus in Grand Forks and has been in existence since 1951. They have done a lot lately on coal, oil and gas research to further the technologies in the Bakken. Successes in those fields have...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #44 — Water Drainage Committee - first meeting
Legislative Management – a select group of legislators – selected four major topics to be studied for this newly invented interim committee. Topic 1 – Was to merge a couple sections of the Century Code which are largely complimentary but contain enough differences so that it would be wise to get it together. One was […]hi
Legislative Management – a select group of legislators – selected four major topics to be studied for this newly invented interim committee. Topic 1 – Was to merge a couple sections of the Century Code which are largely complimentary but contain enough differences so that it would be wise to get it together. One was written in 1955 and the other in 1981. Both address water drainage and...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #43 — ND Water Joint Summer Meeting
This year the title was Water, Roads and Agriculture Working Together and it was held in Grand Forks. Much of the full day was spent educating Water Resource District (WRD) managers about what happened in this previous legislative session. Senator Mark Weber was the lone legislator in attendance as the water related bills were discussed […]hi
This year the title was Water, Roads and Agriculture Working Together and it was held in Grand Forks. Much of the full day was spent educating Water Resource District (WRD) managers about what happened in this previous legislative session. Senator Mark Weber was the lone legislator in attendance as the water related bills were discussed along with the bonding and infrastructure bills. The...