Committee approves one-time funds for UND immigration law clinic pilot using SIF dollars

The Appropriations Committee authorized $400,000 in one-time funding to establish an immigration law clinic at the University of North Dakota School of Law, with the committee changing the proposed funding source from the general fund to the State Innovation Fund (SIF).

“...what we have here is a $400,000 appropriation for the establishment of the immigration law clinic at the University of North Dakota,” Senator Meyer said while moving the amendment to change the funding source to SIF. Committee sponsors described the clinic as a supervised clinical program that would both provide legal services to meet unmet community needs and train future attorneys in immigration practice.

The amendment to use SIF dollars passed on a recorded vote (15–1). Committee members said the clinic would receive one FTE, could handle up to 60 cases at a time, and was being presented as a pilot; the committee added reporting language and converted the funding to one-time SIF support so the program would justify any request for ongoing funding at the next legislative session.

Senators cited workforce and legal-service shortages; witnesses and staff discussed coordination opportunities with a new Office of Global Talent in Commerce. The committee passed the bill as amended and named Senator Meyer as the carry.

No statutory changes other than the appropriation and reporting direction appear in the committee record; the record frames the work as a pilot program that must return to the Legislative Assembly for ongoing funding decisions.