701-566-9300Murphy’s Law Blog 2023 | #19 — Revenue Forecast and Township Roads
The morning started out early with a joint hearing of both Appropriations committees listening to Moody’s look ahead at what is in store for dollars coming into our state. The word is that it will remain much the same as previously expected with a slight touch of decline. Nothing major. The other entity retained to […]hi
The morning started out early with a joint hearing of both Appropriations committees listening to Moody’s look ahead at what is in store for dollars coming into our state. The word is that it will remain much the same as previously expected with a slight touch of decline. Nothing major. The other entity retained to look into the crystal ball is Standard and Poors which will give their...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2023 | #15 — Some Key Points
Now that the second period starts this week here are a few things we know about the legislature and agricultural issues: There are a lot of opportunities for extra funding for county and township roads and bridges that are still alive. Some bills have been rolled into the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) budget and […]hi
Now that the second period starts this week here are a few things we know about the legislature and agricultural issues: There are a lot of opportunities for extra funding for county and township roads and bridges that are still alive. Some bills have been rolled into the North Dakota Department of Transportation (NDDOT) budget and some survived intact. While there are key legislators that...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2023 | #14 — Crossover Crunch
Crossover Crunch, huh? Sounds like I just invented a new snack food or something. I am referring to the long hours legislators are putting in so that they get a break late this week and early next week as House bills go to the Senate and vice-versa. While many road and bridge infrastructure bills are […]hi
Crossover Crunch, huh? Sounds like I just invented a new snack food or something. I am referring to the long hours legislators are putting in so that they get a break late this week and early next week as House bills go to the Senate and vice-versa. While many road and bridge infrastructure bills are still alive, SB 2275 died on the Senate floor yesterday. This is the one that would have...
Murphy’s Law Blog | #5 — Bills Still Pouring In
Today, Rep. Thomas presented HB 1147. It asks for $100 million/year for the next 10 years for county and township bridges. The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute states that we need about $95 million a year for the next 20 years to get our bridges up to snuff. Earlier, I brought support for Senator […]hi
Today, Rep. Thomas presented HB 1147. It asks for $100 million/year for the next 10 years for county and township bridges. The Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute states that we need about $95 million a year for the next 20 years to get our bridges up to snuff.
Earlier, I brought support for Senator Wanzek’s bill which would allow monies to counties and townships for snow removal...
Murphy’s Law 2023 | #3 — Bills Are Starting to Be Introduced
This is the fourth official legislative day and the sixth day of people meeting to make laws. So far, 441 bills have been put into the system for review and most expect there to be somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400, eventually. Last session there were approximately 900. There are a couple of weeks left to […]hi
This is the fourth official legislative day and the sixth day of people meeting to make laws. So far, 441 bills have been put into the system for review and most expect there to be somewhere between 1,200 and 1,400, eventually. Last session there were approximately 900. There are a couple of weeks left to introduce, so rumors abound as to what is going to appear, and reasons why more have...
Murphy’s Law Blog 2021 | #53 — Special Session
In my father’s opinion, it was nuts to take out a loan to go on vacation. I agree with that and it was the analogy used yesterday when discussing the water budget and funding with the Legislature’s water guru, Representative Jim Schmidt. He would like to build a reserve fund for water so that projects […]hi
In my father’s opinion, it was nuts to take out a loan to go on vacation. I agree with that and it was the analogy used yesterday when discussing the water budget and funding with the Legislature’s water guru, Representative Jim Schmidt. He would like to build a reserve fund for water so that projects can use cash. If I understood him correctly, he would use unanticipated oil...
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 | #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 | #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...