121018
Legislative Report from Rep. Rick Holman, ND District 20
Last
week, North Dakota's Governor Burgum presented his two-year budget plan for the
period beginning July 1, 2019. A few months ago, state agency heads were asked to
prepare their policy and budget requests and submit them to the Executive
Branch. Last week we received the Governor's proposal for the next two years of
state government. This is just the first step of the four-month legislative
process which will end when the Governor signs off on what the legislature
sends back.
Starting
January 3rd, we'll see proposals, from Democrats, Republicans and individual
legislators. Proposals which will modify, create new, and, in some cases,
reject what has been presented by the Governor. Bills will have hearings and be
amended. All ideas will be put in the legislative four-month slow cooker,
ultimately leading to the State's final plan for the next two-year cycle.
After
being held even since 2013, the per-pupil funding for public schools may see a
slight increase. Before that, the state was providing only about half of local
funding, the balance being picked up with local property taxes. In 2013, with a
corresponding reduction in local property taxes state funding was increased to about 75%. The
proposed 2% per year
increase to the K-12 funding formula will help maintain this reduction in local
property taxes.
Hopefully
there will be broad increased support for all the State's Higher Education institutions
which will help to keep up with the state's professional and skilled workforce
needs. The Executive
Branch proposal also contains two recommendations which provide matching funds
for scholarships and research projects totaling some $60 million. This had been
a very successful way of adding supplemental resources to help our colleges.
District
20 is a rural district covering most of the area between Grand Forks and Fargo.
Whether it be for health care, emergency services, agribusiness or just going
to and from your workplace, a well-maintained system of roads is especially
important in our rural area. The Governor's budget contains a 14% increase from
the past two-year budget but still much below what was done earlier. The
proposed increase is good, but the real value will be in the details.
A concern in the Governor's budget
proposal is the 1% each year raise in funding for the private community
services providers who are reimbursed by the state – such as those who provide
long-term care services (We have three nursing homes in this District) or those
agencies who serve our most vulnerable citizens. Most providers believe we need
3% per year to help recruit and retain good employees and maintain the services
that we currently have in place.
Medicaid
Expansion, originally approved in 2013, has been good for rural North Dakota. Continuing the previously approved Medicaid Expansion, will continue
health insurance coverage for 20,000 North Dakotans and help make sure that our
rural hospitals remain strong. Further discussion is needed on the potential
lowering of reimbursement rates. A good thing in the Governor's proposal is the
request of increased funding for community-based mental and behavioral health
programs.
Public employees, including those at our
colleges, have not had a raise in pay for some time. Increased wages in the
private sector have impacted the ability to attract and retain the high-quality
employees that insure a continuation of state delivered services for the people
of our state. Burgum proposed a pool totaling 4% the first year of the biennium
and 2% the second year. That's a good thing.
We return on January 3rd to
begin working on these issues and many more, all important to the future of our
state. You can follow the legislature at the following Web Site. I'll also do regular
reports.
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