Commissioner Chris Shilkin and senior Commerce staff briefed the joint committee on the Department of Commerce’s recent work and budget priorities, highlighting tourism growth, workforce attraction, community grants, and energy and value-added industry initiatives.

Shilkin described strategic marketing and grant programs that supported a stronger visitor economy and community development. "The request in our budget and the bills we're advocating for have been carefully thought through and designed for the highest return on investment for the taxpayer dollars," he said, noting recent gains in visitation and community grant outcomes.

Sarah Adi Coleman, director of Tourism and Marketing, said tourism visitation rose 5.3% in 2023 with 25.6 million visits and $3.3 billion in visitor spending; about 17.8 million were day trips. She described the Find A Good Life brand for talent attraction and said paid marketing produced measurable visitor interest and web traffic. The department’s Destination Development Grant program distributed awards to projects across the state after a competitive review of proposals intended to motivate new or longer stays.

Maria Effertz, director of Community Services, summarized federally funded community programs managed by Commerce, including grocery-store and workforce-housing pilot grants. She said the rural housing pilot helped cities convert dilapidated lots into new homes, increasing property valuations and enabling families to move into formerly vacant properties.

Rich Garmin, director of Economic Development and Finance, outlined energy and industry priorities: addressing a looming natural-gas pipeline capacity constraint (the "natural gas wall") by recruiting value-added manufacturers and building generation capacity, supporting carbon capture and sequestration efforts, and promoting technology clusters such as Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) at Grand Sky. He highlighted programs such as LIFT, Innovate ND and the North Dakota Development Fund, and cited successes such as automations grants and a long-term investment in a Richardson ethanol facility that is transitioning toward renewable fuels.

Katie Ralston Howe, workforce director, reviewed the Regional Workforce Impact Program (RWIP) and the Find A Good Life talent pipeline. RWIP has awarded funds for local workforce solutions, including childcare expansions (adding more than 2,400 childcare slots to date) and training grants. The Commerce Office of Legal Immigration was described as a new statewide resource to help employers recruit and integrate foreign-born workers and to provide education on visa programs.

Ending

Commerce asked for continued support of marketing, destination development and workforce programs; staff said they will provide additional program detail and requested appropriations as listed in the department budget materials. Committee members asked for follow-up on program metrics and funding specifics.