Senate Appropriations approves Legacy Fund website, shifts funding sources and rejects doula study bill

The Senate Appropriations Committee met and took action on multiple House bills affecting the Legacy Fund, maternal-health study authority and several one-time funding sources.

The committee voted to give House Bill 1319 a “do pass” recommendation to create a simplified Legacy Fund disclosure website. Senator Connolly moved the due-pass motion, seconded by Senator Meyer; the committee approved the motion and the clerk recorded the motion as passed (16 yes). The fiscal note in the bill estimates one-time costs of $476,000 for initial development and $55,000 in biennial maintenance funded from other funds; witnesses said that range reflects contracting for an external developer and phased implementation.

Why it matters: supporters said a dedicated site would make Legacy Fund investments, earnings and allocations easier for citizens to find than the current, dispersed records. Jody Smith, interim executive director of the Retirement Investment Office, told the committee the estimate is a range: “The low end was around 280,000. The upper end was the $4.76 that you see in your fiscal note,” and said the project will likely roll out in phases and aim for a model similar to Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund site. Smith said the office manages 31 funds and expects the site to improve transparency and ease of use for constituents.

On House Bill 1216 (prescription drugs and state health plans), the committee deferred full consideration so staff can reconcile effective-date language. Rebecca Frikey, executive director of the Public Employees Retirement System (PERS), explained the implementation question: the bill as written takes effect Aug. 1, but PERS benefit accruals and out-of-pocket maximums reset Jan. 1. Frikey said stakeholders are discussing an amendment to make the effective date Jan. 1, 2026, and estimated that, if adopted, a fiscal note would be reduced by roughly 75% because it would remove six months of biennial cost. Frikey said, “the bill takes effect August 1,” and described the January-1 amendment as under consideration.

The committee also acted on House Bill 1464, a bill that began as a proposal to add doula services to Medicaid but was amended in policy to become a legislative study. Subcommittee amendments removed a specific appropriation and converted the proposal into a study. Committee debate focused on a Department of Health and Human Services fiscal note that estimated the study could cost $500,000 even though the bill included a $200,000 appropriation; senators questioned why a study would carry such a high fiscal note. After votes on amendments and motions, the committee adopted a do-not-pass recommendation on HB 1464 (final recorded motion: do not pass passed 14 yes, 2 no). Several senators urged continued work to craft study language with a lower cost if the subject returns later.

The committee reconsidered House Bill 1487, which would authorize funding for a Minot Highway Patrol facility. Members amended the bill to change the funding mechanism from SIF appropriations to a line of credit at the Bank of North Dakota and raised the authorized amount to “up to $5,600,000.” The committee also approved an emergency clause so the project can proceed sooner if enacted. The amended bill received a due-pass recommendation (motion passed 15 yes, 1 no) and was assigned a carrier.

Separately, the committee reconsidered House Bill 1591 and amended it to change a one-time $1,500,000 funding source from the general fund to the Strategic Investment Fund (SIF). The committee then gave HB 1591 a due-pass recommendation as amended (motion passed 15 yes, 0 no, 1 recorded absence).

What the votes show: the committee prioritized shifting one-time expenditures off the general fund where possible (to SIF or a line of credit) and pursued transparency for the Legacy Fund. The doula study failed to advance amid disagreement over the scope and an unusually large fiscal note attached to a study option; several senators indicated willingness to revisit the matter with narrower scope or different funding arrangements.

The committee paused consideration of the tax commissioner’s budget (House Bill 1006) pending action on a separate bill (11 76) needed to harmonize amendment language; that item will return to a future agenda.

The committee will reconvene Thursday for further work on remaining bills and budgets.