North Dakota legislators finished their assigned duty of deciding how to spend the $199 million grant to improve rural health care. In addition, they approved a loan to help the struggling Elgin hospital.
But what they didn’t pass was a bill to provide breakfast and lunch for school children. It did pass the House, but failed by two votes in the state Senate.
A constitutional measure requiring that the state provide free school meals will likely be on the ballot this fall.
During discussion in the joint Appropriations committee, Sen. Jeff Magrum (R-Hazelton) attempted to “hoghouse” the bill – to take the appropriation and add it to property tax relief. It failed in committee. Then, he also tried it on the Senate floor to no avail. After the vote (22 yes, 24 no) he was going to make the so-called “clincher motion” – a parliamentary procedure to make sure there wouldn’t be a reconsideration.
How the clincher motion works: The Legislator moves to reconsider the vote, but then lays that motion on the table, meaning it would take a two-thirds vote to bring it back.
Before Magrum could make that motion, the Senate Majority Leader David Hogue asked that he not do it. Magrum agreed, but the bill died anyway.
Budget Clouds
It appears lower oil prices may affect what the Legislature will have to spend in the next biennium.
Budget advisers in the Legislative Council say the Legislature could very likely have $1 billion less than they did in this biennium. And Legislative leaders say it would likely impact the state’s SIIF (Strategic Investments and Improvements) Fund. They say we’ll know more about this at the March meeting of the Legislature’s Budget Section.
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor (R-Dickinson) said the state has been through a number of these “boom and bust” cycles, so lawmakers will know how to deal with it.
This is not set in stone – yet. It bears watching.
