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Committee trims fiscal sections from House Bill 15-72 after debate over park-district limits and Garrison Diversion funding
Summary
Members debated limits for park-district emergency funding, proposed routing reimbursements to NDSU extension, and removed sections 7 and 22 from House Bill 15-72 to allow sponsor time to revise fiscal language.
Representative Haggard presented House Bill 15-72 and described suggested changes intended to address Park District grant limits and distribution language. He proposed increasing a threshold in section 5 from $1,000,000 to $10,000,000 and directing certain reimbursements to the NDSU Extension rather than to counties.
Committee members debated the equity of using state dollars for Garrison Diversion—Representative Porter said he opposed the state suddenly paying funds for an entity that affects fewer than half the counties and questioned whether property taxpayers in unaffected counties should pay for it. Representative Steiner said the policy should be “fair, simple, broad” and expressed concern that the proposal was uneven in its geographic impact.
Members discussed turning part of the bill into a study, possibly under the Tax Policy Advisory Committee, to involve stakeholders such as auditors and tax directors. Representative Porter suggested removing section 7 to take fiscal effects out of the bill so Representative Haggard could continue work on other components without a rereferral to Appropriations.
Representative Doctor moved to remove sections 7 and 22 of the bill; Representative Porter seconded. The motion carried on voice vote. Chairman Hedlund told Representative Haggard he could continue work on the bill with those sections removed.
