The chairman of the Legislative Management Committee has appointed a new interim committee to look at the potential of federal funding for rural healthcare.
North Dakota could be in line to receive $100 million to $200 million per year for a five year period. The state has to apply for the money, and the interim committee would work on legislation to make that happen.
But that’s a change from earlier practice, when it comes to receiving federal funds.
After the state received a lot of COVID relief money, some legislators decided they should have more of a say on how the federal money is spent. It used to be that the grant money would first be recommended by the state’s Emergency Commission, and would then be approved by the Legislature’s Budget Section – made up of members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The objection at the time was that decisions involving millions of dollars would be approved by a sub-set of the Legislature.
So, lawmakers put caps on how much money could be handled. For federal money, anything over $50 million in federal funds, and $20 million in special funds, would have to be handled by the full Legislature.
But in this case, there is a deadline to apply for the money, and a deadline to use it. So we have an interim committee taking a look at it, and the potential for a special session in early 2026.
Legislative leaders have said they hope Gov. Kelly Armstrong calls for the special session, leaving the Legislature with the option of calling itself back, should the need arise.