Sponsor seeks statutory fix after North Dakota Supreme Court ruling threatens decades‑old rural water agreements

Representative Emily O’Brien (sponsor) urged the Political Subdivisions Committee to adopt House Bill 15‑37 to resolve legal uncertainty created by a recent North Dakota Supreme Court ruling. The ruling held that, under North Dakota Century Code section 6‑09.4‑22, agreements addressing service and territory may be "invalid and unenforceable" when the public finance authority or other state agency that provided loan financing was not a party. The decision potentially voided long‑standing agreements that communities and rural water districts have relied on for decades.

Sponsor’s framing and case history

Representative O’Brien described protracted negotiations, executed resolutions and longstanding performance by the parties in a case involving the City of Grand Forks and a rural water entity (later merged into East Central Regional Water District). Contracts executed in 1999 and earlier involved negotiated payments and shared expectations for existing and future customers; loans backed by USDA and the Bank of North Dakota were repaid for years while the parties performed…