Legislative Report: Feb. 6, 2023

This morning begins day 19 at the 68th Legislative Session. As we approach the deadline for legislation with funding included in them having to be voted on in policy committees before being heard in the Appropriations Committee, the priorities for this legislative session are beginning to take shape.

In the Human Resource section of the Appropriations Committee, we are completing our detail work on our first half budgets. This week we are hearing the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation budget. In this budget, funding for a new women’s prison is included. The current plan is to construct this new facility on land owned by the state near the Youth Correctional Center in Mandan. The women’s population within the DOCR is at the maximum and residents within the correctional system currently split maximum security placements between New England and the Heart River Correctional Center. DOCR is also requesting seven new parole and probation staff members to monitor the 97 - 98 percent of the residents that enter the correctional system that ultimately return to our communities upon release. This is an important aspect of the mission that the Department brings to accomplish the best outcomes for successful reentry into society. Another request DOCR is bringing forward is expansion of the pretrial services program that several judicial districts have instituted the past several sessions. This program begins evaluation and treatment, as well as other programs, before conviction. This work will be accomplished in regional facilities and should be a valuable tool in the rehabilitation process. Pre-Trial Services was added in the Northeast Judicial District last session and is currently in operation in Devils Lake. It is my hope that surrounding counties will be included as we go forward.

During our Department of Health detail, we visited the State Health Lab which is also on the request list for new construction. Within the State Lab, the Department of Health shares the space with the Department of Environmental Quality. DOH is responsible for testing gasoline octane levels as well as ethanol content, safe drinking water tests, and all the testing for health-related disease analysis. DEQ is responsible for testing air quality and environmental testing for energy development in the state as well as waste disposal for agricultural and industrial operations in the state. Their current facility is limited in space and is experiencing a number of structural defects. In the special session, we appropriated $15 million from ARPA funding to begin the process of a new State Lab and the request for this session is an additional $55 million to complete this project.

We will start to pass out of our section some of the smaller agency budgets beginning next week, so as we complete that work I will report on the details. Until then, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] and join us in our hearings as well as on the floor via the legislative website, ndlegis.gov.