AN ACT to provide an appropriation for defraying the expenses of workforce safety and insurance.
HB 1021 is an appropriations bill for North Dakota Workforce Safety and Insurance (WSI) for the 2025-27 biennium. It provides a total special-funds appropriation of $80.43 million from the workforce safety and insurance fund, including $77.25 million for WSI operations and a $3.19 million new-and-vacant FTE pool. The bill also authorizes 260.14 full-time equivalent positions, with no net change in FTEs from the base level.
The bill includes $8.57 million in one-time funding for specific projects: replacement of the claims and policy system, enhancement of the MyWSI extranet, and building improvements. It also directs that the new-and-vacant FTE pool may not be spent directly, but may be transferred into operations through the Office of Management and Budget under guidelines tied to House Bill 1015. WSI must report on the use of the one-time funding to the next legislative assembly.
HB 1021 affects state spending rather than substantive regulatory law. It appropriates special funds from the workforce safety and insurance fund to support WSI operations, technology modernization, and facility upgrades, and it sets conditions on how certain personnel-related funds may be used. The bill primarily impacts WSI, the Office of Management and Budget, and future legislative oversight through reporting requirements for one-time expenditures.
The available voting record shows strong bipartisan support and no recorded opposition: the House passed the bill 86-0 and the Senate passed it 44-0, with only a small number of absences in each chamber. No committee transcript is available, but the unanimous votes suggest the bill was viewed as a routine and broadly acceptable agency funding measure.
There is little visible contention in the available record. The only potentially notable policy issue is the handling of the new-and-vacant FTE pool, which cannot be spent directly and instead requires transfer approval through OMB under procedures linked to another appropriations bill. The one-time funding items may also draw oversight interest because they are excluded from the base budget and require reporting to the next legislative assembly, but no opposition or debate is documented in the provided materials.