AN ACT to provide for a legislative management study, relating to grant funding for emergency services and public safety.
Summary
SB 2332 directs the North Dakota Legislative Management to study options for creating a grant funding program for emergency services and public safety during the 2025-26 interim. The study is broad and is intended to examine how much funding would be needed, where the money could come from, which entities should be eligible, what kinds of expenses could be reimbursed, which state agency should administer the program, and whether an oversight committee should be established.
The bill does not itself create a grant program or appropriate money. Instead, it sets up a legislative study that could lead to future legislation in the 70th Legislative Assembly if lawmakers decide to move forward with recommendations from the interim report.
Impact
The bill has no immediate substantive effect on existing North Dakota statutes governing emergency services or public safety funding. Its legal impact is to authorize an interim study by Legislative Management and require a report with findings and any draft legislation needed to implement recommendations. Any actual changes to grant eligibility, administration, oversight, or funding sources would have to be enacted later through separate legislation.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have been broadly supported, with unanimous approval in the Senate (47-0) and a strong majority in the House (79-12). That voting pattern suggests general agreement that emergency services and public safety funding merits further review, even though the measure only initiates a study rather than establishing a program. The absence of committee transcript material limits insight into detailed debate, but the recorded votes indicate overall favorable sentiment.
Contention
Because the bill is a study resolution rather than a funding bill, there is little visible controversy in the available record. The main areas that could become contentious in a future proposal are likely to be the amount of grant funding, the source of funds, which agencies or local entities qualify, what expenses should be reimbursable, and whether a new oversight committee is necessary. The 12 House dissenting votes suggest some members may have been skeptical of creating another study or concerned about the potential for future spending or administrative expansion.
The naming of the Bismarck state college polytechnic center; to authorize the state board of higher education to issue and sell bonds for capital projects; to provide for a transfer; to provide for the conveyance of real property; to provide for a legislative management higher education funding review committee; to provide for a legislative management study; to provide for a report; to provide legislative intent; to provide an exemption; and to declare an emergency.
A transfer from the strategic investment and improvements fund to the clean sustainable energy fund; to provide a deficiency appropriation; to provide for a transfer; to provide an exemption; to provide for a legislative management study; to provide for a legislative management report; to provide for a report; to provide an effective date; and to declare an emergency.
Legacy fund definitions and the legacy earnings fund; to provide for a legislative management study; to provide for a legislative management report; to provide an appropriation; to provide an exemption; to provide an effective date; to provide an expiration date; and to declare an emergency.
Meals provided to employees of the veterans' home; to provide an exemption; to provide for a legislative management study; and to declare an emergency.