April 12, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #33
DOT Budget with Biofuels Passed by House, Career and Tech Ed
The Legislature has entered its third phase which is when all the committee hearings are done and the bills go to Conference Committees to reconcile any differences. This Monday morning, the massive $1.6 billion budget for the Department of Transportation was passed by the House in bill SB2012. Included was a new section that encourages the state fleet to utilize ethanol,...
April 7, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #32
Head Snapping Speed on Big Bonding
HB1431 was just passed out of Senate Appropriations at warp speed when it was not even on the agenda. Senator Poolman moved to take all of the Senate Finance and Tax amendments out so that the Senate can vote to approve the bill as it came from the House. It was unanimously approved and that almost certainly means that the following will come to law: $435.5 million for the...
April 5, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – April 2, 2021
North Dakota Farm Bureau Director of Public Policy Pete Hannebutt talks about the tillage drainage bill HB 1437 and how it’s moving forward.
March 31, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #31
Culverts Bill, Big Bonding, Getting Done
If you had heard of SB2324, it was a bill Senator Terry Wanzek brought which got a lot of Township, County and Water people talking. A matter of enforcing the law, a constituent was frustrated and pointed out an injustice when a culvert needed to be replaced or right-sized. Law states that the local government is responsible in some cases but if that political subdivision...
March 30, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #30
State Fleet, NDSU E&R, ADD Fund
ADD is the new Agriculture Diversification and Development fund which was pitched yesterday to Senate Appropriations. This effort to support value-added projects would start with the Bank of North Dakota looking at a proposal. If it met their qualifications but needed a bit more help with the bottom line, they would forward the proposal to the ADD board which this bill...
March 29, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – March 26, 2021
North Dakota Farmers Union Government Relations Director Matt Perdue talks about what’s happening with rural infrastructure during the North Dakota 67th Legislative Session
March 26, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #29
Septic Systems Up and Gas Tax Down
We now will have some uniformity in our wastewater systems including installation of septic systems due to the passage of HB1183. It sets up a board consisting of local health authorities and installers of septic systems so that many of the inconsistencies of both can be minimized. It should eventually lead to fewer problems for our rural residents and better the health of...
March 25, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #28
Township Roads
Township roads, near and dear to agriculture, have surfaced as an area of interest this session. There are at least a few bills that have some dollars intended for them. One was dealt with in the late afternoon yesterday in Senate Finance and Tax – HB1431. This is one of the big bonding bills to survive and came over from the House with around $700 million in it (including...
March 22, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – March 19, 2021
NDSGA’s Legislative Liaison Phil Murphy talks about the recently passed and governor-signed grain inspection bill HB 1026.
March 20, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #27
Tiling, Ag Innovation, Research & Extension Reprieve
Okay, Day 48 of what some are saying will be a 72 day session and the dragged-back subsurface water management bill had extensive hearings on Day 47 and a decision Friday. The Senate Ag committee amended out that tilers don’t have to notify their Water Resource Districts if the project is less than 80 acres and draining into their own slough. If draining into an...
March 18, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #26
Wait a Minute!
This is Day 47 of what is trying to be a 75 day or less Legislative Session. Last week there was valid reason to be hopeful of a 70 day run, but being this is a very human cauldron/beehive activity, predictions are only that. Ag policy was thought to be done (and it is on the House side) last Friday as we thought there was only HB1475 to be discussed when Senate Ag meets...
March 15, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – March 12, 2021
Senator Terry Wanzek is seeking to increase funding to support value-added ag projects. Bank of North Dakota’s Todd Steinwand talks about the guaranteed loan program as a way to provide gap funding.
March 12, 2021
Murphy’s Law 2021 | #25
Zoning, Water, Bonding Uncertainty
Yesterday saw the passage of SB2216, a bill which clarified where to begin measuring for setbacks of an animal feeding operation. Perhaps that will help whenever these value-added projects are applying for permits. Subsurface drainage (tiling) was moved forward today when the Senate Agricultural committee unanimously approved HB1437 for a Do Pass recommendation to the...
March 11, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #24
Scholarships, Water, Posting
The session is busy with both houses concerning agricultural issues this week; however that is about to change as the House Ag committee chair told the Ag Coalition breakfast this morning that they will have no more bills after this Friday. The NDSGA has submitted 17 different testimonies on bills this week alone and what follows is a quick rundown of many of them: Two...
March 11, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #23
NCI, UGPTI, Extension and Research (Main and REC)
This is all about tomorrow’s (Tuesday’s) hearing for bill SB2020. All of those topics in the headline have times for the House Appropriations Education and Environment division to listen to reasons why they should keep the Senate’s funding levels. The Governor asked for a 15 percent reduction in this budget and the Senate restored it to previous levels and included...
March 8, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – March 5, 2021
SBARE Chair Mark Birdsall, shares that the Ag Research and Extension Bill will be heard by the House Appropriations Committee tomorrow.
March 4, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #22
Grain Inspection and Reinsurance
House Bill 1026 is the vehicle for modernizing the grain inspection and warehouse regulation sides of the industry. After much gnashing of teeth for several sessions, two years ago oversight was passed from the Public Service Commission to the North Dakota Department of Agriculture. The interim committee chaired by Representative Dennis Johnson – a farmer – got all the...
March 1, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – February 26, 2021
Lobbyist, for the North Dakota Corn Growers Association and the North Dakota Ethanol Producers Association, Lance Gaebe, shares information about the passing of infrastructure and fuel tax bills.
February 25, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #21
Tiling and a Bonding Vehicle
The effort of bringing disparate parties together to hammer out tiling law was moved forward by the House this week. HB1437 was passed unanimously over to the Senate for its judgement on the matter. I have said it before and it bears repeating; we get better laws with less fighting in the Legislature when someone cares enough to get those involved in the dispute to work on...
February 23, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #20
Septic Systems, Quick Take
Bill HB1183 was passed in the House today while the Corn and Soybean Expo is going on. Last year in the Fargodome, I spoke to the lunch crowd about the issue this bill has finally addressed because we all have to deal with wastewater and many of us with septic systems. HB1183 sets up uniform practices for local health units and installers which should alleviate the...
February 22, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #19
Gas Tax, Ag Innovation, Trade Office
Today the House floor convincingly passed a 3 cent-per-gallon gas tax. What?!? You heard me. There had been whisperings of so much money coming for transportation infrastructure from Federal COVID funds that it might overcome the need to raise the $7.4 million per penny tax. The question as I see it is; Does one want to vote on what the state can do for ourselves and know...
February 22, 2021
NDSGA | Legislative Report – February 19, 2021
North Dakota Corn Growers Association’s Executive Director Brenda Elmer talks about the importance of support regarding value-added agriculture products. North Dakota Farm Bureau’s Director of Public Policy Pete Hanabutt discusses the 67th Legislative Session crossover will soon begin.
February 21, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #18
SBARE and a Bonding Success (so far)
The bonding success story relates to the Friday passage of HB1431 by the House floor at about a three to one ratio. This margin of support surprised many as the House not only quashed a Republican bonding bill of $1.1 billion in the second week of the session but also stripped out about $100 million from HB1431 before passing it yesterday. With hundreds of millions of...
February 18, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #17
Extension and Research Budget
NDSU’s Extension and Research budget is in bill SB2020. The Governor had cut their budget by 15 percent and today the Senate spoke loudly in opposition to his proposal by passing unanimously their counter-proposal which re-instated Extension and Research’s budget to levels of last year. That is what E&R had asked for. Not only that, but SB2020 as of now has also...
February 17, 2021
Legislative Report – February 12, 2021
Senator Terry Wanzek spoke about North Dakota State University’s Research and Extension budget and working to restore it to its base level.
February 17, 2021
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #16
Bonding, Electric Power from Soybeans
Well, policy bills are slowing down in committees – almost done. Now Appropriations committees make their recommendations to the floor. The House is really piled up as they have debated social issues at length, keeping their Calendar for floor action pretty full. With a couple hundred bills more to act on than the Senate (they have twice as many members) they do seem to be...