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City Action Alert: SB 2046 Highway Tax Distribution Funding and PERS Retirement

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In a major twist on April 15, Rep. Delzer introduced a hoghouse amendment to SB2046 (NDPERS Bill) that would essentially turn it into an “alternative streams bill”. This creates 2 significant concerns. A)   1)   THE DRAFTED AMENDMENT DOES NOT INCLUDE A STREAM FOR THE HIGHWAY DISTRIBUTION FUND.     The original “streams bill” (HB1380), dedicated $64.3 million per biennium to the Highway Distribution Fund, for state, county, city and township roads. This amendment instead proposes a $60 million income tax buy-down with Legacy Fund interest money. 2)   THE DRAFTED AMENDMENT SHIFTS AN UNKNOW AND UNFUNDED LIABILITY TO POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS. It does this by closing the NDPERS defined benefit plan for state employees and devoting general funds ($100 million) and an ongoing allocation of legacy interest (~$40million/biennium) to address the unfunded NDPERS liability created for  state  employees only .  This means cities, counties, schools (for non-teacher employees) health districts,

Beginning of Legislative Week 11

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  Week 11 will be a big week at the North Dakota Legislature. At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 16th, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees will hear the revenue forecast from Moody's Analytics. This is the first step in the House and Senate adopting common revenue projections to work from. Once common revenue projections are adopted, the work on the state budget based on those revenue projections will occur. This is also a big week for hearings on bills that impact cities. On Tuesday, the Senate Taxation Committee is hearing two bills regarding infrastructure funding. Additionally, on Thursday, the Senate Political Subdivisions Committee is taking up a bill related to city extra territorial zoning.  Please see the committee hearing schedule below for more information about city high priority bills being heard this week:   Date and Time Bill Number Committee Room Description Monday 03/15/2021 02:30 PM    

North Dakota Legislative Week 10 Begins

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The North Dakota Legislature is back from crossover break. The House will begin working on Senate bills and the Senate will be working on House bills. As you can see from the schedule below, the House is still working on a few House Concurrent Resolutions. Here's the schedule of bills that will be heard from the League's High Priority list this week: Date and Time Bill Number Committee Room Description Monday 03/08/2021 09:00 AM     HCR 3038 House Judiciary  327B  This resolution is for a question to be placed on the ballot adding provisions to the North Dakota Constitution eliminating property tax.  03/08/2021 09:30 AM     HCR 3040 House Judiciary  327B  This resolution is for a question to be placed on the ballot adding provisions to the North Dakota Constitution requiring that any new tax or raise in effective tax