Jan 04, 2009 - 04:05:24 CST
As the Legislature prepares for its 61st session, which starts on Tuesday, House and Senate leaders say one of the biggest issues lawmakers will grapple with over the next four months will be: What to do with the extra cash?"We go into this session with a lot of opportunity," said House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, of the state's estimated $1.2 billion in reserves. "With the money comes opportunity, and with it comes responsibility to spend it wisely."
The North Dakota Legislature will convene in the state Capitol on Tuesday under some unusual circumstances, lawmakers say. The state has collected record revenue amid an oil boom while the threat of a recessionary economy looms on the horizon, and in some cases, is beginning to hit home.
"One of the big issues is going to be money; everybody is going to be in there to get their share," said Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck. "Even though it seems like we have a huge budget surplus, I think we have to be cautious."
The session will start with Gov. John Hoeven's State of the State address in the House chamber at 1 p.m. Tuesday. From there, lawmakers will begin to address the hundreds of issues that have been brewing for months, which include a potential change to the state's pharmacy ownership law, various reforms to Workforce Safety and Insurance, and millions of dollars in infrastructure projects.
Other potential bills that could surface next session include a ban on driving while talking on a cell phone and a push to include sexual orientation among the protected classes in the state's fair housing laws.
Property taxes
But the issue that is likely to stir the most debate, lawmakers say, is the governor's $300 million property tax relief proposal.
"Property taxes are levied at the local level," said Rep. Dave Weiler, R-Bismarck. "The state of North Dakota has never levied property taxes, and I don't know if it's a wise idea if the state gets involved in that."
Hoeven's plan calls for giving school districts funds as long as mill levies are reduced on a dollar-for-dollar rate, reducing property tax levels in theory. But Carlson said doing so may not be as easy as it sounds.
"It's one of those taxes that the state doesn't assess it and the state doesn't collect," he said. "I personally don't think it will pass unless there are some strings attached."
Democrats also voice similar concerns over the proposal.
"It does become quite a jurisdictional question; property tax is local," said House Minority Leader Merle Boucher, D-Rolette. "A lot of people are very reluctant. Some people even question how much authority we have to meddle in property tax relief."
Sen. David O'Connell, D-Lansford, said he's not sure if he can support the governor's plan of reducing property tax rates based on reducing mill levies for school districts, which he said is biased toward larger cities that have higher mill levies than smaller rural areas.
"Basically, you're rewarding the ones who have been spending at a high rate and punishing those who have been more conservative," he said.
Oil trust
House and Senate leaders say they also expect five or six proposals for a new oil trust fund to surface this session.
Weiler, who introduced the failed Measure 1 in 2007, said he is working on a similar proposal for the upcoming legislative session.
"We need to do something, and I plan on putting something forth, but the details of it I'm still working on," Weiler said.
O'Connell said the expectations are high coming into this session, with constituents pushing for property tax relief and infrastructure investments into roads and bridges.
He has said he wants to fund more road projects around the state, especially in the areas with oil production, where semi-truck traffic has steadily increased over the past few years. But with slumping oil prices, hovering around $30 in North Dakota, some of the projects now seem less feasible.
"We were looking at lot of infrastructure being built up," O'Connell said. Instead, they are likely to be "something that will be maintained instead of being improved on."
As part of his $2.7 billion general fund budget, Hoeven proposed $120 million in road and bridge improvements.
"We really hope the Legislature goes along the governor's recommendation," said Aaron Birst, legal counsel for the North Dakota Association of Counties.
Birst said the money for road and highway improvement should be directed to many of the counties where the oil production - and the road damage - is the highest.
"The counties that are generating a lot of the surplus, those roads are getting beat up," Birst said, adding that roads in the state's eastern half also have endured damage because of wet weather.
Among other potential infrastructure improvements include $67 million going to the state penitentiary and $18 million for the state's Heritage Center.
WSI reforms
Boucher said reforms to WSI will be a key issue throughout the session. The Industry, Business and Labor interim committee has recommended bills that aim to curb political influence inside the workers compensation department.
"I still feel WSI is still a very important issue," Boucher said, adding there's been some talk of privatizing WSI, which he said would be an unlikely measure to pass through the Legislature. Either way, former WSI director Sandy Blunt's conviction "has led to people calling on changes to WSI."
Among other issues, Boucher said he's heard of some talk about introducing a bill that would ban talking on a cell phone while driving.
"It's a frustration of mine, too, those of us who travel a lot," Boucher said. "Even though I'm guilty of picking up my cell phone and answering every now and then, it's a safety issue."
He offered no specifics over the potential legislation or who would sponsor it.
Another fight is brewing over whether to repeal North Dakota's pharmacy ownership law, which requires pharmacists to own more than half of their pharmacy.
Many lawmakers say they're still undecided over the issue, adding that a bill is likely to emerge this session to repeal the law, which first passed in 1963.
The group North Dakotans for Affordable Healthcare has waged a public relations campaign since last fall, urging lawmakers to repeal the law that they say keeps prices of prescription drugs higher than other states because it prohibits box stores such as Wal-Mart, with its $4 prescriptions, from establishing its pharmacies in the state.
"When it passed initially, the argument at the time was a conflict of interest for doctors owning pharmacies," said Dan Traynor, legal counsel for North Dakotans for Affordable Healthcare. "That was the initial intent of the law, the way it has worked since then is it has prevented large chain stores from expanding."
But pharmacists are fighting back with a public relations campaign of their own, which started two weeks ago when a group of them launched www.knowtherxtruthnd.com, which contends that North Dakota pharmacy prices are lower than the national average.
Fargo pharmacist David Olig, who helped start the pro-ownership law campaign, said he doesn't want to see the law changed because repealing the law could decrease the access rural residents have to pharmacists because larger chain stores wouldn't construct stores in small communities.
"He who controls the purse strings controls the practice," Olig said.
The North Dakota Human Rights Coalition will also seek to amend the North Dakota Human Rights Act and the state's fair housing act to include sexual orientation among its protected classes.
The group's executive director, Mitch Marr, said about 25 other states include sexual orientation in their housing rights law, adding that the bill will have bipartisan sponsors, but he did not give any names because the legislation is not finished.
(Reach reporter Brian Duggan at 223-8482 or brian.duggan@;bismarcktribune.com. Read his blog at www.bismarcktribune.com/blog/?w=nodakcentral.)
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