House appropriations panel approves amended HB1015, reallocates $50 million toward municipal and county infrastructure funds

The House Appropriations — Government Operations Division voted to attach two amendments and advance House Bill 1015 as amended on Feb. 22, 2024, after a series of staff briefings and member questions about specific budget line items.

The action, taken during a committee meeting chaired by Chairman Munson, included a motion to attach an amendment discussed by the committee and a second amendment offered by Vice Chair Brandenburg. The committee approved the first amendment (vote recorded as approved 6–0 with one member absent) and later carried the second amendment; the full amended bill passed the committee on a recorded roll call with all present voting yes. Chairman Munson said he will “be the one carrying this to the floor” and planned to bring the item to the full committee the next day.

Why it matters: the amendments change how oil-and-gas-derived allocations flow into state infrastructure accounts. Committee members and staff described the amendments as reducing a large State Infrastructure Fund (SIF) bucket and adding $25 million to the municipal infrastructure fund and $25 million to the county and township infrastructure fund (a $50 million total increase), with the goal of holding counties and smaller cities harmless after changes in related Senate bills. Staff described the change as a swap inside the oil-and-gas allocation formula: “$50,000,000 less to SIF, $50 more million to the... two infrastructure funds,” and said the changes affect the next biennium’s distributions.

Committee discussion and details: committee members reviewed an amendment worksheet and staff footnotes. Adam (staff member) identified several line-item changes and clarified capital and operating changes, saying, “It’s the Governor’s Residence improvements of 2,350,000.00,” and that other capital line items included $3,000,000 in capital building projects. Committee members confirmed the custodial staff equity funding was not previously included and noted removal of contingency amounts tied to a bill the committee already passed. The committee also added roughly $2,000,000 in a rent/moving/space-reconfiguration pool; members asked staff to provide background on off‑campus agency lease costs and the number and locations of state employees living outside North Dakota.

On out-of-state employees, Representative Meyer asked staff for a count and agency breakdown; staff (Stephanie, staff member) said prior interim work collected lease and off‑campus space data and that staff could provide the earlier report as “a starting point” that might need updating. Members discussed that a separate Senate bill would change how employees living permanently outside North Dakota are paid for transportation, and the committee omitted a previously drafted section in the worksheet because that policy was reported to be covered in a Senate bill.

How the infrastructure math works: staff explained the formula uses two simultaneous “buckets” that fill together — the municipal infrastructure fund and the county and township infrastructure fund — and that an early allocation to larger cities is handled in a separate subsection. As Adam (staff member) put it, the first line-item distributions “fill at the same time” and thus the bill language shows what can appear to be doubled amounts when split across subsections; the committee’s amendments increase the total cap from $230,000,000 to $280,000,000 so each fund would receive $140,000,000 under the amended language.

Votes at a glance: the committee recorded approval of attaching amendment LC 25.01590.01001 (motion carried; second by Representative Meyer; approved 6–0 with one absent). The committee then approved amendment LC 25.01590.01004 (moved by Representative Brandenburg; second by Representative Bosch) and subsequently voted to move House Bill 1015 as amended (moved and seconded; recorded roll call of present members all voting yes). Chairman Munson said he will carry the amended bill to the full committee tomorrow.

What remains unresolved: staff noted the change to the SIF cap and the prairie‑dog buckets may conflict with related Senate bill language and will require reconciliation if both chambers pass differing versions. Staff described the change as intended to “allow it to essentially fill kind of at the same time that it’s anticipated to be filling,” but said final statutory language may need to be reconciled between bills before enactment.

The committee completed its work on the Office of Management and Budget portion of HB1015 and adjourned to proceed to the floor session.