Representative seeks to restore state hospital funding with $330 million package including letter of credit

Representative Murphy asked the committee to restore most cuts to the state hospital construction project and proposed an appropriation package totaling $330 million: $200 million funded from the State Infrastructure Fund (SIF) in the biennium and $130 million provided through a letter of credit from the Bank of North Dakota.

"I'd like to add that the fetal — new state hospital $330,000,000 — 200,000,000 would be funded from CIF in this biennium and a hundred and 30,000,000 a letter of credit from the Bank of North Dakota for the additional remainder of the funding," Murphy said. (Transcript spelling variations were normalized: CIF/SIF references denote the state's infrastructure fund.)

Why it matters: The state hospital is a major capital project with multi-hundred-million-dollar cost estimates. Restoring the project to prior scope would add beds and amenities that committee members and the architecture manager previously recommended; the funding mix would pair current cash with a contingent financing mechanism to cover the remainder.

Staff said the appropriation would likely be shown in full in the bill, with the letter-of-credit authority listed as an additional funding source; that mirrors approaches used for other capital projects. Members asked staff how the letter-of-credit funding would appear in the long sheet and whether it would require appropriation authority; staff responded that the full amount typically appears in the appropriation and the funding source is listed separately.

Ending: Representative Murphy and others will provide formal amendment language; Representative O'Brien said she would prepare language for a behavioral-health facility grant under this section. The committee requested the specific amendment language to be drafted for Monday's markup schedule.