Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
While this week has been extremely busy, my report will be shorter because of subcommittee work in Senate Appropriations. This week I worked on subcommittees for the agency budgets for the Department of Transportation, Information Technology, Judiciary Branch, Legislative Branch, Council on the Arts, Commerce, Career and Technical Education, and Highway Patrol. My subcommittees consist of two from the majority party and one from the minority party.
The full committee moved on the aeronautics budget and the Indian Affairs Budget. A compromise on the salary package was adopted on the Indian Affairs Budget, and that salary package will move forward on all budgets we approve for the remainder of the first half of the session. That salary package is a 2%/2% increase for the first and second years of the biennium with family health insurance, a minimum raise of $80 and a maximum of $300. The Senate provides that package and we wait for the House to propose their salary package. The great news is that the health insurance increase was very minimal at $2 per month per employee. I supported a salary package of 3%/3% with a 1%/1% additional contribution for retirement as well as a $120 minimum and $300 maximum. When that was defeated, I supported the 2/2 package.
In subcommittees we are looking for more information on the substantial funding increase Information Technology is asking for, more information on the Transportation Management System DOT is asking for, and prioritization for projects in Research and Extension.
I had several bills that had hearings this week. One was SB 2312. This bill was at the request of a constituent. The bill would provide that when an individual purchases a vehicle at a dealership and sells their current vehicle outright, the excise tax would be determined by taking that purchase price and deduct the sale price of the used vehicle from that price. There is no provision in law for that to happen now. No action was taken on this bill by the committee.
I also assisted some of our agriculture producers in finding answers to secure their international workers through the H2A program. We received word that these workers will be considered necessary workers to ensure the food supply chain is not interrupted. That was great news for many producers in North Dakota.
You can reach me at [email protected] or by phone at (701) 302-0355. Have a great week.