Senator Larry Robinson, Legislative Report
The 2011 session of the North Dakota legislative Session will soon come to an end. Several Legislative Conference Committees met on Saturday, April 16th in an attempt to resolve differences in bills between the House of Representatives and the Senate.
A number of major issues remain to be settled including the budgets for the Department of Human Services, Higher Education, K-12 Education, Health Department, Information Technology, Department of Corrections, Agriculture Department, Commerce Department, and several others. It is a contentious time for the legislative assembly. The final days are marked by tension, uncertainty, long hours, and hopes that the final product will serve the state well for the next two year time period.
As I write this legislative report, many communities in North Dakota are battling the flood of 2011. Included a communities in our area including Ft. Ransom, Lisbon, Valley City and all points in between. Some of our friends and neighbors have lost their homes and property to the flood. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them. We hope that they will find a way to come back and rebuild. Hats off to the many volunteers who have worked save the day for others. Our high school students, college students and the National Guard have once again stood tall during this challenging time. Our local officials also need a big thank you for their efforts. These folks have served us well and we thank them for their efforts. Our work is not done. Water levels will remain high. Once they subside, we have the tremendous task of cleanup and repairs. Our officials and volunteers have much work ahead of them this summer and fall. They make us all proud!
I am a member of the Conference Committee on Senate Bill 2369, commonly referred to as the Disaster Emergency Services bill. I am also a co-sponsor of the legislation. The bill will provide some $9,000,000 to assist political sub divisions with snow removal issues from the 2011 winter season. Additionally, the bill provides $22,000,000 for Disaster Emergency Services. The Division of Disaster Emergency Services also has authority in the bill to access loans from the Bank of North Dakota for costs above and beyond the $22 million.
These dollars will go to provide support for flooding and other natural disasters statewide. Normally, the local sub divisions are required to provide matching funds equal to 15% with the balance paid by the state and federal government. We have made provision in the bill to lower the local match to 7.5%. Even with this level, many political subdivisions will be challenged to meet that requirement. They are struggling with back to back to back tough winters, exhausting their budgets.
I am also a member of the Conference Committee on the Health Department, House Bill 1004. This has been a challenging budget for several reasons. The Health Department Budget is supported by approximately 66% federal funds. With the cutbacks that have been made on the federal level, and with additional cutbacks forthcoming, this budget will be challenged during the upcoming years. The impact will be felt statewide, right down to our local Public Health Offices. Services that we have grown to take for granted, may soon disappear.
One of the major issues of the session has been infrastructure. Our system of roads and bridges has been under significant stress. This is the case not only in oil country, but across the entire state. Our system of roads and bridges is aging and at a time when we are using it more than ever. Bigger trucks, heavier loads, and tough weather, is taking its toll. Costs to maintain the system have skyrocketed. Federal dollars are harder and harder to access adding to the challenge. To compound things, the high water in much of the state has created additional challenges. The 2011 Legislature responded with a strong funding package for infrastructure. Coming off federal stimulus funding for the past two construction seasons, the Department of Transportation will receive a total of $1.694.5 billion dollars in funding for the upcoming budget cycle. Unfortunately, even with this amount of funding, the Department and the political subdivisions will be challenged to meet the demands to maintain our system of roads. Across the state, many of our cities and counties are still working to make repairs from damages incurred from the 2009 flood and now are challenged with another major flood. A bill to add an additional $73,000,000 for infrastructure work for our cities and counties in non oil producing counties was defeated recently. I supported this bill which would have been a big boost to our political subdivisions. Needless to say, our cities, counties and townships were disappointed that the additional money was not added to the package.
House Bill 1003, the budget for the North Dakota University System is still in Conference Committee as of the timing of this writing. We are hopeful that it will be approved by the House and the Senate. It represents a strong legislative response for the needs of the North Dakota University System for the next two years. We worked hard to keep tuition rates at the lowest level possible. We also included approximately $12,000,000 for maintenance work on our university facilities statewide. The Conference Committee is also discussing a number of capital improvement projects including the Rhoades Science Center Project at Valley City State University.
We also approved another two year extension of the Property Tax Relief. This is the package that has been in existence for the past biennium. For the current biennium the cost of the package was $295,000,000. The upcoming biennium will cost us $341,000,000.
The increase is due to increases in evaluation. Funding it for the 2013-2015 biennium will cost us approximately $385,000,000. This is a popular program for the citizens of North Dakota. There have also been efforts to reduce both individual and corporate income taxes. Many of feel that the emphasis should be on sustaining the property tax relief package and investing dollars infrastructure.
The legislature will return to Bismarck in November to redraw the legislative district lines for another ten year time period. This will be a contentious time period. I expect that other issues may come up during this special session, including addressing several provisions of the federal health care reform and perhaps revisit the infrastructure needs . By then, we will have a better picture of the impact of the 2011 flood on our infrastructure.
Allow me to take this opportunity to thank you for your letters, phone calls, email messages, and your attendance at our legislative forums. Your input is a very important part of the legislative process. I will put together a recap of the 2011 legislative session following adjournment in the near future. It has been a pleasure and an honor representing you in the North Dakota Senate. During the interim, , feel free to contact us at lrobinson@nd.gov;rmetcalf@nd.gov and pmueller@nd.gov.