Murphy’s Law Blog

Taxation is a committee that deals with the topic everyone is interested in at least once a year if not every day, so NDSGA likes to keep at least an occasional eye on them. Saying hello to each of the members takes time because it is larger than your average interim committee – 18 regulars. In addition there were a few members from Legislative Management present as well...

Knowing what other folks think can come in handy when advocating for or against policy. The Greater ND Chamber hosted their Policy Summit Agenda last week, highlighting Trade and Tariffs, The Gas Tax and our ND Income Tax. Starting with trade and tariffs in the morning, the panelists were from WCCO Belting which supplies most ag manufacturers, Killdeer Mountain...

This week saw a study begin yet again on an “old friend” of the ND Legislature – the hunting trespass issue. As Chairman Erbele noted, it has been called the automatic posting bill, the trespass bill and several other names. While there was one session when it was not presented, virtually every session in memory has seen this issue pop up. NDSGA and most, if not all other...

Interim begins It’s been about a month since I last wrote to you and there a couple of recent assignments I can briefly describe: First there was the Senator Hoeven fundraiser at Oxbow CC on Tuesday. Well attended even in the face of imminent rain, I was fortunate to be able to have two one-on-ones with the Senator. He looked at me on the 18th tee and said “Soybeans”. I...

One point about you and your business after reflecting on last week’s See For Yourself program to the Pacific Northwest is a new appreciation for the thousands of people who count on commodities flowing across the country and heading out to sea. My lack of true understanding about who these people are and the challenges they face had allowed me to undervalue or take those...

This is the last day of the See For Yourself program in the Pacific Northwest (PNW) and after spending yesterday touring loading facilities along the Columbia River, we started this one with another essential transportation partner, BNSF Railway. Their traffic is down substantially due to the tariffs and much like executives of shipping, BNSF had a slide titled Lost...

Wednesday, the See For Yourself group started out in Portland, Oregon with a presentation from Doug Whitehead who advocates for biodiesel at the national level. He has been involved for more than 20 years and shared some victories along with current problems. It boils down to certainty for investors: Will the renewable fuel standards last? Will tax incentives last? He...

Out here in Portland, Oregon with the ND Soybean Council to visit the Pacific Northwest systems which normally would be shipping your North Dakota soybeans to the Far East, mostly China. Today the dozen growers who applied for this See For Yourself program got up and to the Fargo airport at 5:30 (12 of 13 made it on time!), flew 250 miles the wrong way, re-boarded the same...

Today we begin to leave for Portland, Oregon for the “See for Yourself” tour of the Pacific Northwest (PNW) soybean exporting facilities put on by the ND Soybean Council (NDSC) that we all see each year in the Soybean Grower Magazine. By begin to leave, I mean that the group of a dozen or so travelers meet today (Monday) at NDSC HQ in Fargo for a briefing/orientation thing....

Hello once again, producers and others interested! I took some time after the session to recover while you dealt with an often tortuous planting season and now while you look for opportunities to spray, I rejoin you via blog to relay the core of whatever assignment comes my way. Monday and Tuesday found me in Sioux Falls as it was South Dakota’s turn to host the...

It’s over. The 66th North Dakota Legislative Session lasted 76 working days plus one or two where they did not hammer a floor session in yet worked in committees. The prognostications made at 7 a.m. Friday in #35 held up through the 10 p.m. finish in that the grain inspection program moving to Ag killed in 2346 was passed in the Ag budget bill #2009. Basically, the intent...

Day 76 of 80. Yesterday, 1020 was settled stopping 4 years of financial backsliding for NDSU Ag Research and Extension. In general terms, the House agreed to the Senate position of not only holding even, but along with a raise and benefit package, some money to help catch up a bit. Not all the way, but researchers, main and branch alike should have some morale restored and...

Well. 2346 took yet another interesting turn this morning on the Senate floor when it was defeated 3-44. Normally, that would be the end of a bill this late in the session, but not this time. Maybe. You will recall that the PSC runs the grain inspection program and 2346 had been amended in the House to move the program to the Ag Department. So being killed this morning...

Many of the issues we were involved in are being settled: Today, 2224 – the Bioscience bill passed the Senate which means it now goes to the Governor. That holds the potential for high value-added commercial use, especially in the ag and medical arenas. Also on the Senate floor, 2345 – the animal feeding operation bill – passed the Senate this afternoon and goes to...

After the Senate morning floor session from 8 to 9, the chair of Energy and Natural Resources brought the full committee back to work on a couple of bills. Understanding that all bills were supposed to be out of committee quite a while ago, I thought I had better check it out. What followed was a prime example of what can happen in a hurry and out of the blue during the...

Legislative Day 73 of 80. In most of the many office pools around this building, Day 74, 75 or 76 were the most popular guesses to end the session and it appears they were wrong, although there is an outside chance Friday late at night could do it. What is getting done? Yesterday 1171 passed the Senate and is set to become law. It combines two bills which set up both a loan...

Ag-related issues are going to be some of the last to be dealt with as far as I can tell. Neither animal feeding operations (2345), automatic trespass (2315) nor 2346 (grain licensing) have met in conference committee. It would be more surprising than Tiger Woods winning the Masters if any of those three are done in two, let alone one conference. It is day 67 and they want...

Finally, 2139 – the snagging and clearing bill which restores state cost share has passed both houses! This was a big deal for producers as far as I was concerned but the back and forth of the process seemed never ending. It ended up being amended to add another member to the State Water Commission appointed by the Governor, so it would seem to be something the Governor...

As bills are being agreed upon and others are being killed, in some ways things slow down as one would expect. You see signs of it as legislators from some committees begin to loiter in the hallway, take longer lunches or whatever. On the other hand, the concentration of issues going into depth as they head to Conference committee makes for plenty of consternation. People...

The companion bill to farm home exemption that ensures confidentiality of financials passed today. 2278 also says that if a farmer wants the exemption they must apply. NDSU Research and Extension has been having their budget heard (1020) the past two days in Senate Appropriations and the latest word is that their budgets have been restored from cuts across the hall. That...