Transcript Highlights:

• I think they're on the right track.
• Off-track betting kind of stuff.
• Off-track betting, some, and these are online off-track betting-type sites.
• Is the off-track betting portion of your business growing, same to same?
• It's a wonderful tool that kind of tracks where those folks go.

Keywords: 908, all

Transcript Highlights:

• I think they're on the right track.
• Off-track betting kind of stuff.
• Off-track betting, some, and these are online off-track betting-type sites.
• Is the off-track betting portion of your business growing, same to same?
• It's a wonderful tool that kind of tracks where those folks go.

Summary: The committee convened, approved the prior meeting minutes, and received a memo summarizing major audit items. The State Auditor’s office and outside auditors then presented a series of audits, many of which were clean with unmodified opinions and no findings, including the Bank of North Dakota, the Guaranteed Student Loan Program, the Office of the Governor, the State Treasurer, the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Quality, Lake Region State College, and the Office of the Governor. The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association audit was also clean overall, but it repeated findings about limited segregation of duties and auditor assistance in preparing financial statements, which the auditor said were expected to continue because of the organization’s small size. Committee members asked about out-of-state board addresses, and the association explained those members were North Dakota residents using South Dakota mailing addresses. Several audits did include findings. The Council on the Arts audit identified two issues: payroll charged to federal awards without supporting time records, and $12,825 in Cultural Endowment Fund spending that was not allowable under state law, including staff training, retreats, and executive director candidate travel. The Department of Public Instruction audit found unsupported scholarship applications in the paraprofessional-to-teacher program, but additional testing confirmed the funds were credited properly and students completed required school district work, so no improper payments were identified. The University of North Dakota audit found a lack of documentation and transparency in School of Law admissions decisions; the auditor said the law school used a holistic process but did not keep notes or evaluation tools to show why applicants were admitted, waitlisted, or denied. UND leadership said the school is in good standing with the American Bar Association and agreed better documentation is needed, and the auditor said the issue was the missing documentation, not ABA accreditation itself. The most extensive discussion centered on the North Dakota Racing Commission audit, which found four findings: overspending the promotion fund’s 25% operating cap, grant conditions not being met, improper breeder fund awards, and improper procurement. The auditor said promotion fund spending exceeded the cap by $327,447 and the fund balance dropped sharply over the audit period. Racing Commission director Bruce Johnson said the agency had become complacent, that grant requests were treated as routine, and that controls and documentation need to be tightened. He also explained that the breeder fund overpayments involved two horses whose ownership transfers were not properly documented before racing, and that the procurement issue stemmed from an advertising contract that proceeded without proper written procurement procedures after a misunderstanding with the State Procurement Office. The auditor said the Racing Commission will now be audited every two years because of the findings. The committee also received updates on Dakota College at Bottineau’s bank reconciliations, which Minot State University said had been brought current after an 18-month backlog, with only one account still needing cleanup; members asked for a written report on the corrective actions. The North Dakota Fair Foundation was reported to have dissolved, with remaining funds transferred to another nonprofit account for continued support of the state fair. Finally, the Department of Public Instruction provided an update on school meal debt, revising the earlier estimate to about $1.1 million based on incomplete district survey responses, and said the Anti-Lunch Shaming law likely increased meal debt because schools must feed students regardless of account balance. Members discussed the need for a more accurate year-end debt figure and possible future reporting at a later committee meeting.

Transcript Highlights:

• It still does not reflect a comprehensive framework for implementation or tracking that ensures that
• That is very significant in terms of how we're tracking the data on the CCR dashboard.
• We are tracking this in terms of every child prior to a placement change should be receiving a child
• And so that really transforms the ability to track and have consistent adoption of a standard of what
• But we do track that measure both in our CFSR measures as well as on the CCR dashboard, and so I will

Summary: The hearing covered several child welfare, human services, tribal housing, child care, and long-term care bills. SB 1099 would clarify local governments’ authority to provide state or local public benefits to all residents under PRWORA; SB 1190 would regulate private youth transport services by requiring permits, background checks, training, and bans on blindfolds, hoods, restraints, and overnight pickups; SB 1322 would streamline tribal access to Community Care Expansion housing grants and better align the process with tribal sovereignty; SB 1109 would require an annual license renewal review for STRTPs with five or more Type A citations in a year; SB 1234 would require fentanyl testing in juvenile dependency cases when a court finds a risk of fentanyl use; SB 991 would require DSS to identify the specific type of abuse on its public licensing database; SB 1200 would redefine “infant” for family child care ratio purposes as under 18 months; and SB 1345 would strengthen foster youth rights regarding access to and dignified transport of personal belongings. The committee also approved a consent calendar including SB 534, SB 1410, and SB 1421. Testimony was largely in support of the measures, often from authors, advocates, county officials, and people with lived experience. Supporters of SB 1190 described traumatic youth transport practices and argued for basic safety standards. SB 1322 supporters said tribal grantees face unnecessary delays and collateral demands that conflict with sovereignty. SB 1109 drew support from county probation officers who cited repeated serious violations and public safety concerns at STRTPs, while the chair ultimately opposed the bill as duplicative of existing CDSS authority. SB 1234 drew emotional support from a grandparent who lost a child to fentanyl, but also opposition from the Drug Policy Alliance and a dependency attorney, who argued the bill was redundant, vague, and could create biased or unnecessary testing; amendments were accepted to narrow the standard. SB 991 supporters said the public needs more specific information about abuse findings, SB 1200 supporters said the change would expand infant care capacity and help working families, and SB 1345 supporters said foster youth deserve dignity rather than having belongings packed in trash bags. Votes were taken after quorum was established. SB 991, SB 1200, SB 1345, SB 1190, SB 1234, SB 1322, and SB 1099 were all reported out of committee, most on unanimous or near-unanimous votes; SB 1234 passed 6-0 as amended to Appropriations, and SB 1099 later had a vote change recorded, ending 5-1. SB 1109 did not advance after the motion failed for lack of a second, and it was held in committee. The committee then adjourned and transitioned into an oversight hearing reviewing the outcomes of AB 2247 (placement stability and notice protections for foster youth) and AB 2496, with presenters discussing how the earlier foster youth placement law has changed practice and the importance of dignity, notice, and youth voice in placement decisions.

Transcript Highlights:

• The legislature also, on your topic of gaming, appropriations committees have now tracked...
• Appropriations committees have now tracked the amount of money that's coming in from that gaming, and
• , I would recommend you more closely with the Indian Affairs Commission because they track all of those
• Yeah, kind of along with Senator Marston just said, only because Indian Affairs tracks them, and I'll
• The Kaiser Family Foundation does an incredible job of tracking waivers by state.

Summary: The committee met at Spirit Lake Tribe and first heard welcoming remarks and introductions from tribal leaders and program directors. Chairwoman Street and other tribal representatives outlined a range of concerns and requests for state action, including taxation of reservation lands, support for non-beneficiary students at the tribal school, homelessness funding, Indian-managed health care, gaming and e-tabs, Feather Alert improvements, industrial farming near waterways, tourism, and better state-tribal consultation. Committee members responded that the meeting was intended to improve understanding and communication, and several members suggested future legislation or resolutions could be used to advance some of the issues. The tribe also offered to provide training on treaties, IHS 638, and compact services to legislators and staff. A major portion of the discussion focused on Spirit Lake fish and wildlife jurisdiction and the lake boundary. Tribal representatives asked for an MOU or co-stewardship agreement with the state to clarify hunting and fishing rights, recognize tribal licenses, and reduce recurring disputes over “gray areas” on the reservation and lake. Committee members discussed whether to draft a bill or resolution directing the executive branch and state agencies to negotiate such an agreement, and asked that North Dakota Game and Fish be invited to a future meeting. Related concerns included aquatic nuisance species prevention, with both sides agreeing that more aggressive boat inspection and cleaning measures would be beneficial. The committee also discussed taxation and county relations. Tribal leaders raised concerns about county resistance to fee-to-trust transfers and about property and vehicle taxation affecting members living on or near reservation lands. Committee members and tribal counsel reviewed federal treaty principles and court cases, and one member noted that the committee had previously taken no formal action on similar issues. Later, Benson County’s tax equalization director explained how the county values taxable land, handles inundated land applications, and tracks land coming off the tax rolls when the tribe repurchases acreage. The discussion ended with a presentation from the president of Sisseton Wahpeton College, who described the college’s programs, economic impact, and funding needs, followed by an HHS presentation on 1115 Medicaid waivers and the IMD exclusion as the committee moved to its next topic.

Transcript Highlights:

• we're also going to show our progress on our dashboards, which is something I know that you have tracked
• <00:01:37.880> Uh have tracked carefully. Uh have tracked carefully.
• And we kind of track that in like five-year periods.
• And we kind of track decertification.
• Madam Chair and Senator Dibble, that isn't something that we track specifically.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• , pediatrics, and psychiatry, we will have 20 primary care accelerated tracks serving North Dakota for
• , pediatrics, and psychiatry, we will have 20 primary care accelerated tracks serving North Dakota for
• So the only students that will qualify for the Primary Care Accelerated Track are North Dakotans.
• And you're showing right now we can track. Yep, Chairman Sorvog, I think we can.
• So do you track, you know, get the system, get AP information to see how that...

Keywords: 908, all

Summary: The Higher Education Funding Committee met to discuss possible changes to North Dakota’s higher education funding formula, with a particular focus on separating the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences MD program from the general formula. Dr. Jenkins outlined several options for the MD program, including a fixed-funding model, a hybrid model, or keeping it in the formula, and emphasized the need to preserve strong support for medical education while making future funding clearer. He also discussed efforts to increase the share of North Dakota students in the MD program through ND85, expanded recruiting, early acceptance pathways, MCAT prep, a four-plus-one program, and the Primary Care Accelerated Track, along with future cost pressures such as AI licensing and residency growth. The committee then reviewed a simplified funding model from the University System Office that would base funding more heavily on student FTE, credentials awarded, and a few incentive factors such as small institution and research adjustments. Members questioned the use of placeholder numbers, the lack of a clear methodology for the small institution and research factors, and whether the model would adequately account for differences among institutions, high-cost programs, and graduate education. Several members raised concerns that arbitrary factors would be hard to defend politically and could distort funding or create competition between schools, while others said the exercise was useful as a starting point for discussion. Alex presented a second alternative that kept the current SIP-code structure but increased CTE weighting, added a progressive economic size factor, and separated out the MD program. His model also added an on-campus face-to-face headcount component and a credentials component, with the intent of rewarding in-person enrollment and completions. Members questioned the use of headcount instead of FTE, how hybrid, online, dual-credit, and off-campus students would be treated, and why face-to-face enrollment was weighted more heavily than completion. No formal votes or final actions were taken; the committee instead continued discussion and asked members to provide direction on which elements, if any, should be developed further.

Transcript Highlights:

• Um, we track that data.
• It's my intent to exceed this minimum percentage of tenured track faculty at this level.
• FYI 25 is on track to be 26% with upward trending projections of 32% in FYI 27.
• We're on track to, to exceed 100,000 students in the near future, possibly even by this fall.
• Texas State University is on track to achieve R1 Carnegie status by the year 2027.

Transcript Highlights:

• OK, so there's two different tracks that I think we're dealing with here.
• We currently receive an average of 600 complaints a year and are on track to inspect over 1600 licenses
• Um, track record of where we're headed and what we're doing and working with them.
• The objective is to establish a unified information technology platform that will track all licensees
• There's a repeat of that funding in this current budget, um, and it also will help track with a lot of

Transcript Highlights:

• , and we track all of that base appropriation in the Health Committee, so that reduces the total DHS
• That amount is a tracked offset, but not necessarily appropriated; it's just a negative.
• Representative Matt Norris: Are we tracking the budget for direct care and treatment separately?
• Representative Matt Norris: Are we tracking the budget for direct care and treatment separately?
• Representative Matt Norris: Are we tracking the budget for direct care and treatment separately?

Keywords: 1183, house

Transcript Highlights:

• You are not about to change that track record in Hawaii, I can guarantee, because I've been part of many
• You are not about to change that track record in Hawaii, I can guarantee, because I've been part of many
• You are not about to change that track record in Hawaii, I can guarantee, because I've been part of many
• You are not about to change that track record in Hawaii, I can guarantee, because I've been part of many
• you are not about to change that track you are not about to change that track record<00:34:49.240

Keywords: 912, senate, all

Summary: The committees first heard Senate Bill 151 relating to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and geothermal development on Hawaiian homelands. DHHL and Ulupono Initiative testified in strong support, saying the measure would help advance clean energy goals, create economic opportunities, and support DHHL’s mission. Fine Electric also supported the bill. Several members of the public testified in opposition, raising concerns about consultation with beneficiaries, water impacts, land issues, and the scale of the proposed spending. In response to questions, DHHL staff explained slimhole drilling, the permitting distinctions between water exploration and geothermal exploration, and said prior studies and geophysical testing had been done. The chair then recommended passage with amendments, including SMA technical amendments, a directive to establish a permitted interaction group to study geothermal options, removal of the appropriation language, and a new effective date. The committees adopted the recommendation and passed SB 151 with amendments, with one senator voting no and several excused. The joint committees then took up Senate Bill 371 on property damage to critical infrastructure facilities. The Department of the Attorney General supported the bill with amendments, recommending broader critical infrastructure language to cover systems such as transportation, gas, power, water, and oil, and suggesting additional changes to improve prosecution. Utility and other supporters also testified in favor. The chairs proposed adopting the AG’s amendments except one, and further expanding the bill to make manslaughter explicit when a death results from disruption of critical infrastructure, and to add water as a covered infrastructure category. The committees adopted the amended recommendation and passed SB 371 with amendments. Finally, the Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs committee heard Senate Bill 585 on special purpose revenue bonds for Bana Pacific. The Attorney General noted a possible issue with the company’s entity status and the bill title, but Bana Pacific stated it was in the process of converting from an LLC to a corporation and was satisfied with the title. The State Energy Office supported the concept, and Bana Pacific described the project as an integrated biogas and green hydrogen facility that would support energy security, create jobs, and reduce emissions. The committee then moved on to Senate Bill 964 on waste-to-energy, where the State Energy Office offered supportive comments but many testifiers opposed the measure, arguing incineration is costly, polluting, and inferior to recycling. Written testimony showed more opposition than support, and public testimony focused on environmental and cost concerns.

Transcript Highlights:

• And we do have, we track those ratios very closely on the male to female ratios.
• And we know this because it tracks in Arkansas this way: the percentage of females in the harvest goes
• considerable amount of money, like in the millions of dollars, having Oklahoma State University researchers track

Bills: HB4128, HB3659, HB3270, HB3145

Keywords: wildlife conservation, hunting regulations, mountain lions, black bears, archery season, senior citizens, licensing fees, waterfowl, nonresidents, public lands, farmed cervidae, chronic wasting disease, genetic resistance, wildlife management, agriculture, wildlife tagging, Cervidae family, feral swine, exotic wildlife, conservation

Transcript Highlights:

• A grandmother in rural Texas, who's voted in every election since LBJ, now has to track down a birth
• Tracking down flagged voters and reporting it to the state.
• Requiring millions of individuals to track down and submit this additional documentation places an unnecessary

Keywords: legislation, public policy, testimony, committee meeting, debates

Summary: The committee meeting involved various discussions pertaining to legislative initiatives and public policy concerns. Members engaged in debates around significant topics, highlighting their diverse perspectives. The atmosphere was lively with members presenting arguments for and against certain measures. Testimonies from the public were also a key feature, shedding light on community sentiments related to proposed bills.

Transcript Highlights:

• <02:11:23.040> It<02:11:23.199> tracks<02:11:23.520> every It tracks every mass
• So we have we track every homicides.
• We track university, at a workplace.
• So we did track the first year of data. We haven't continued tracking just because of resources.
• We are tracking to see district level.

Keywords: 1187, senate, all

Transcript Highlights:

• This is an amendment to an existing contract, and it is to deploy Right Track where Division of Youth
• Handle Information Technologies, this amendment to an existing contract and it is to deploy right track
• To deploy Right Track, where the Division of Youth Services and its service providers around the state
• connect remotely into Right Track over the internet to provide service placement and billing data.
• This is to provide a mobile inventory solution for asset tracking for all the campuses of the U of A

Keywords: 1204, all

Transcript Highlights:

• all these individual add-ons that appear to greatly complicate the apportionment, to something that tracks
• all these individual add-ons that appear to greatly complicate the apportionment, to something that tracks
• And will this upgrade be able to more effectively track that and handle if there is a future change to
• And then every school district has its own system and is inputting... to something that tracks funding
• per student, and will this upgrade be able to more effectively track that and handle if there is a future

Keywords: 904, all

Summary: The committee heard a State Auditor’s Office performance audit on OSPI’s school apportionment system, which distributes K-12 funding to districts. Auditors said the system and its underlying 2008-era infrastructure are outdated, unstable, inefficient, and at high risk of errors or failure. They also found weak controls over data input, documentation, oversight, and monitoring, with heavy reliance on a small number of staff and vendor knowledge. In limited testing of three districts, the system calculated 2023–24 funding correctly, but auditors identified small discrepancies between state budget inputs and underlying statutory language and said broader system risks remain unresolved. JLARC members asked about the scope of the district testing, whether smaller districts face greater risk, the meaning of the funding discrepancies, and whether the system could support a future change to a simpler per-student funding formula. Auditors said the discrepancies were small but could compound into millions statewide, and that the audit did not evaluate broader policy questions or alternative system owners. They recommended OSPI modernize or replace the system and address current control weaknesses while the new platform is developed. OSPI officials largely agreed that the current platform needs replacement and said a feasibility study completed in 2024 found the system at catastrophic risk of failure. They clarified that the Legislature had approved up to $16 million in the state IT pool for the project, but that funding is released through gated oversight and not all of it had yet been appropriated for the current biennium. OSPI disputed the auditor’s characterization of some rounding and budget-law issues, saying the calculations were consistent with agency rules and legislative inputs, and explained that some manual workarounds are used to handle newer statutory requirements. One member of the public testified in support of modernizing the system and strengthening controls. The committee then adjourned.

Transcript Highlights:

• We've added structured Badging so that we can better track where the teachers are that have the expertise
• positive trainings The fourth critical need area is accountability and data and how we're keeping track
• Track with my line of questioning. So the agenda item was Martinez Yazi.
• I just wanted to make sure that I was on track here.
• We will see what we can track down for you percentage-wise very shortly. And Mr.

Transcript Highlights:

• And then just track the trend in the employment share for each of those.
• And then just track the trend in the employment share for each of those groups.
• Housing permits are what we track in the center.
• It's something we're going to have to continue to track through the lens of what's happening to energy
• another reason why we could see revisions, is that the monthly estimates don't do a good job of tracking

Keywords: 1182, all

Summary: At the April meeting of the Finance Advisory Committee, staff presented an updated state revenue forecast that was more cautious than January’s because of heightened economic uncertainty tied to the Iran conflict and broader national risks. The general fund’s available resources were revised down from $577 million in January to $378 million in the April forecast, with the lower estimate driven by reduced revenue projections while spending assumptions were unchanged. Staff said the outlook depends heavily on how long the Middle East conflict lasts and noted that a prolonged disruption could weaken the forecast further, while a quick resolution could improve conditions. George Hammond of the University of Arizona gave a broad economic overview, highlighting geopolitical risk, elevated oil and gasoline prices, sticky inflation, weak Arizona job growth, and uncertainty around federal policy, tariffs, immigration, and AI-related investment. He said Arizona’s recent job growth has been very weak and concentrated mainly in health services, while most other sectors lost jobs, and he attributed much of the slowdown to low hiring rather than layoffs. He also discussed population growth, noting that Arizona remains above the national average but is increasingly dependent on net migration as natural increase slows, and he warned that housing affordability remains strained even as Phoenix inflation has moderated. Panelists generally echoed the cautious outlook but pointed to some offsets. Liz St. Clair said Arizona’s near-term revenues could benefit from tourism tied to spring training and the Final Four, though higher fuel costs could dampen discretionary spending. Other panelists noted that the federal policy environment, tariffs, and immigration changes are likely to restrain growth, while productivity gains, especially from technology and AI, may help businesses maintain output. Several members also discussed housing, saying single-family permits have fallen while rental supply has improved affordability, and they raised concerns about labor-force growth, wage disparities, and the reliability of recent employment data revisions. No formal votes or actions were taken.

Transcript Highlights:

• Right now, there's no way to consistently identify or track school support employees statewide when they
• In my conversations with the lead investigator from SDE, there was no way for them to track support employees
• a number that's associated with their teacher certification, and that's the number that's used to track
• So, a couple of things, number one, we didn't track people for the first couple of years.
• We didn't track people that started in public school and moved over.

Bills: HB3674, HB4326, HB4331, HB3029, HB2963, HB3551, HB2973, HB3019, HB3461, HB2961, HB3261, HB3759, HB3429, HB3069, HB3372, HB3705

Keywords: school resource officer, sexual assault training, law enforcement training, CLEET, school safety, mental health, continuing education, HB4326, Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program, Oklahoma's Promise, scholarship, tuition assistance, higher education, State Regents for Higher Education, eligibility expansion, adopted students, foster care, DHS custody, child-placing agency, tribal custody

Transcript Highlights:

• THESE OF ALL OF THE SAME RULE TRACK. ON NOVEMBER 19 WE HAD A WORKSHOP.
• AND AGAIN THE NURSING HOME MODULE IS ON TRACK TO BE FINISHED BY THE END OF THIS MONTH.
• YOU ARE NOT GIVEN THE VISITOR THE CARE AND IT TELLS ME TYPICALLY BUT I DON'T KNOW IF WE ARE ALSO TRACKING
• INDIVIDUAL CARE THROUGHOUT THE TIME THEY ARE WITH THE PLAN ARE AVAILABLE THAT THOSE OUTCOMES ARE BEING TRACKED
• MANAGING THE ASSOCIATION, IS THERE A DIRECT CORRELATION TO THE LIQUIDATED DAMAGES THAT ARE IMPOSED TO TRACKING

Transcript Highlights:

• I track it monthly—very, very rarely. If ever, I don't know the answer to that.
• With DFA, kind of trying to track down every dollar that has been spent, and that number should be coming
• **Chair**: And then I assume you keep track of that, though, is my question.
• But we don't track right now that investment level.
• So these are very new fund investments, and it takes a while for us to really start to see a track record