S&P Global presenters addressed the state's energy and overall economic outlook and responded to lawmakers' questions about drilled-but-uncompleted (DUC) wells in the Bakken, the mix of private versus government payroll gains and the effects of continued high federal borrowing on macroeconomic projections.

Senator Beckendall asked Steven Adams whether the presenter expected an increase or decrease in DUC well inventories for the Bakken over the next two years; the committee recorded a staff response that inventory appeared to remain "pretty stable" in the near term. "So that was my concern was, will we see some piling up of DUC wells that could potentially increase our revenue stream in the next biennium? And I don't see it. It looks like it's remaining pretty stable," Beckendall said.

Nut graf: Committee members sought finer-grained breakdowns of jobs added between the private and government sectors and asked S&P Global to provide those details to Legislative Council for follow-up; they also asked presenters to consider scenarios showing the impact of higher federal deficits and borrowing on interest rates and GDP assumptions.

Senator Beckendall later asked S&P presenter Jim Diffley for slides showing the composition of payroll gains, noting recent years had seen notable increases in government hiring. "Do you have slides indicating what jobs the government is adding? In other words, government payrolls versus private payrolls?" Beckendall asked; the committee requested that data be provided to Legislative Council.

Representative Murphy raised the macro question of continued high federal borrowing and deficit spending, asking whether the S&P outlook incorporated scenarios where a large increase in federal debt materially raises interest costs and reduces growth. "If we have a president come in and add another $7,000,000,000,000 to $8,000,000,000,000 of debt, how does that impact all of these numbers?" Murphy asked. Presenters acknowledged macro-debt scenarios are a risk factor and committee staff asked for clarifying scenarios in follow-up materials.

Ending: Presenters said the appendix contains additional detail and Legislative Council staff will compile requested slides and scenario analyses; no formal actions were taken during the meeting.