LEGISLATIVE UPDATE: Where is the budget?

We are definitely at the point of the session where the budget is largely a game of 'wait and see.' The House and Senate Appropriations Committees are combing through every agency budget, deciding whether to give enhancements or take funding away. After this process has been done, the committees will begin to add in policy bills that have dollars attached to them. It is at this point that we'll start to see a budget emerge.

In March, the next revenue projection will be presented to the Legislature. The Office of Management and Budget will lay out what they believe state revenues will be like over the next biennium by studying current trends in oil markets, agricultural markets, sales and use taxes and tourism. It is at this point that the Legislature will get a better handle on whether they are budgeting well or must continue to cut further.

What we're tracking
Representative Keiser introduced HB 1394 in an effort to clearly lay out in statute who owns the driving data in vehicles that carry the new technology. It clearly gives the vehicle owner the chance to share the data with their consent or without by court order. Legislative Council believes that the language also covers farm machinery. Although the Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers opposed the bill, the committee gave it a 9-5 'do pass' recommendation.

HB 1240 was heard in the House Agriculture Committee. This bill adds an industrial hemp applicant fee of $250 and increases the per acre fee from $5 to $40 to grow hemp in North Dakota. The Ag Department says that this cost is due to expenditures to oversee industrial hemp growing and harvest seasons and processing. Expenditures will be primarily for laboratory testing, travel, supplies, printing, and postage.

Many hemp producers attended the hearing and opposed the bill due to the significantly increased fees and urged the state to look at loosening up program rules. The committee did not take action.

-- Kayla Pulvermacher, Member Advocacy Director, NDFU