Murphy’s Law Blog

It struck me after writing to you all last week that I failed to mention something that, depending on the NDSGA board and the November election results, may need action in the coming Legislative Session.  Namely, during the Tax Advisory hearing, a man named Don Clement stood and testified to the committee that, while he was against abolishing the property tax, he was going...

There were a few topics discussed in this recent meeting, the first I will discuss was on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).  You may recall that the complaint had to do with some flood insurance policy holders being surprised to find out when filing claims that their policies were no good.  Some agents were also taken aback.  It had to do with zoning requirements...

As discussed in an earlier missive, this committee is working to identify alternatives for modifying our state property tax.  In the face of a probable referral measure which would put the elimination of our current property tax on the November ballot, one committee member is recommending that the committee support his idea of doubling the primary residential forgiveness...

Last week saw the Interim Committee known as Water Topics meeting. They heard from many projects such as flood control in various cities, water supply, etc. I have chosen to mention a few of the presentations as they pertain more to you as largely rural residents. Firstly, to sum up the presentation by Eric Volk, the long-time executive director of the North Dakota Rural...

This month saw the Legislative Interim Committee called Energy Development Transmission listening to Director of Mineral Resources Lynn Helms.  Mr. Helms went through a presentation which explained how critical CO2 pipelines coming into the state from the south, west and north will be for reaching the potential harvest of oil and gas in North Dakota.  Our $8 billion Legacy...

Your NDSGA is a charter member of the North Dakota Transportation Coalition (NDTC) and joined about 20 other organizations in a call this week to discuss, primarily, the effects of passage concerning the ballot measure which would eliminate property taxes in our state. To be clear, the needed signatures (and vetting thereof) are not yet handed in so while it may not be on...

The discussion on multiple taxing questions continued this week. For one, my take on the committee direction concerning elimination of the marriage penalty at the state income tax level is to look favorably upon action in the coming session and possibly even have a bill prepared for introduction. For another, it would appear that adjusting income tax brackets so that about...

Time was spent at a recent meeting educating this interim committee about water policies which included testimony from the Department of Water Resources (DWR). They heard from the DWR’s Regulatory division, Water Appropriations division, a financial update and then some topics such as aquifer recharge and recovery and finally some details on water-related research. After...

The 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...

This committee is attempting to find some methods by which they can help their fellow legislators navigate through the next months in the face of a threat (the property tax initiative) which would upend our state’s economy as we know it. They addressed this in two major ways; one is to prevent the passage of the initiative eliminating the property tax by increasing the...

This year has seen no Interim committee action with direct pertinence to your organization until this second week of February. Both the Taxation Committee and the Tax Relief Advisory Committee are meeting on back-to-back days. The Taxation Committee has to: Study the provision of a property tax exemption for elevators, warehouses, and other farm structures classified as...

In their December meeting, the Energy Development and Transmission Committee heard testimony from many quarters on the discussion surrounding natural gas. Their interim study involves getting natural gas to underserved/unserved communities in our state. There has been money set aside for a couple years now incentivizing pipeline companies to build across the northern tier...

Dani Quissell, as Executive Director of the North Dakota Irrigation Association (NDIA), recently provided the Legislative Interim Committee called Water Topics with a review of the state of irrigation in our state. We have about 300,000 irrigated acres with the potential for 28,000,000 to be irrigated, according to Quissell. She went on to say that estimate depends on how...

In their meeting last week, the ND Interim Agriculture and Natural Resources committee discussed the fact that about 332 political subdivisions – mostly cities and counties- have signed up for National Flood Insurance Program. This makes them eligible for subsidized flood insurance. What was discussed and was new to many is that there are many more polysubs which have not...

It took lawmakers two and one-half days to complete their task of passing the contents of one bill which was considered by the ND Supreme Court to be too inclusive of different topics. They broke it into 14 and a few would be of interest to our state’s farmers. One was a confirmation of the emergency snow clearing bill which was amended to allow some political...

Recently, the GNDC held their day-long discussion on the burning issues affecting our state’s businesses. By far and for the last few years at least, the biggest of these is the workforce shortage. It was the focus of each of the four major panels; Attracting Investment Strategies, Tourism from a Policy Standpoint, Utilizing Immigration as a Workforce Solution and...

Held annually since the early 1990s, the International Legislator’s Forum (ILF) gathers state and provincial legislators from Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba and for the first time, Saskatchewan to discuss common problems. It is run by the Consensus Council (which is housed in North Dakota) whose mission is as follows from their website, agree.org:...

You may not know about the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI), an elite transportation research center we have in our state. As a partner with NDSU, UGPTI provides research, education and outreach across North Dakota. A division of UGPTI, titled the North Dakota Local Transportation Assistance Program (NDLTAP) partners with the North Dakota Department of...

At this point, the conference committee discussion on how to reduce property tax and income tax appears to have a tentative solution.Senate Tax Committee Chair Jordan Kannianen explained to me this morning (although they do have an afternoon meeting to confirm) that property tax looks to be a $500 deduction for every single home or occupied dwelling. It would affect about...

At this point in the session, it is all conference committees with the House vs. Senate versions of bills. Sometimes they decide the other house amendments were fine and the agreement takes five minutes. Other times they dig in and it takes a lot of meetings. There are three legislators from each side and if they cannot make any headway, leadership may replace some...