LEGISLATIVE BULLETIN – January 14, 2005

Rail rate complaint bill heard:  HB 1008, the PSC’s budget bill that includes the $900,000 to prosecute a railroad rate complaint, was heard on Thursday.  Organizations testifying in favor included Farm Bureau, Grain Growers, Basin Electric, Wheat Commission, Ag Coalition and Grain Dealers.  Speaking against were BNSF and the United Transportation Union.  Representative Mike Timm of Minot questioned the BNSF lobbyist as to why the shipping rates on North Dakota wheat are so high.  Answer given was that the market sets these rates. 

            The Government Operations Division of the House Appropriations Committee will likely pass the legislation on up to the full House Appropriation Committee for a final decision on the $900,000 for the House side of the legislature. 

HB 1125: Eliminates the “five percent” in the statutory language that gives a Workplace Safety and Insurance premium discount for having a risk management program.  There are still provisions for a discount.  Your Association is looking into this one.

HB 1142:  Specifies the sequence of payments made from the credit sale indemnity fund.  If elevator A goes insolvent prior to elevator B, and both have credit sale losses, all the credit sale contract holders of elevator A will be paid before any payments are made on B.  This has already passed the House 91-1 on 1/13. 

HB 1167:  This is another PSC bill, regarding scale tickets and storage contracts.  It was heard in House Ag on 1/13.  NDGDA supports and it is expected to pass. 

HB 1292:  The credit sale contract indemnity fund is now capped at $10 million.  There is something like $1 million in there now.  When it reaches $10 million, assessments stop.  If claims bring it back down to less than $5 million, assessments begin again until it goes back up to $10 million.  This bill would lower that cap to $5 million.  The current assessment rate on credit sale contracts is 0.2% of value ($2 on $1,000).  This bill would leave that as is until the fund gets to $2.5 million, at which point the assessment would be cut in half to 0.1% of value, to be collected until the fund reached the new $5 million cap.  The hearing on this bill is set for Friday January 21 in the House Ag Committee.  Sponsors are Representatives Brandenburg, Belter, Kempenich, Nicholas and Senator Erbele.

HB 1333:  Repeals the confidentiality of railroad property tax assessment records.  This will be heard in the House Finance and Tax Committee on 1/19 at 9:30 a.m.  Sponsors are Representatives Brandenburg, Boe, Nicholas, Wiesz, and Senators Erbele and Klein.

HB 1346:  Sets forth requirements for display and monitoring of methaphetamine precursor drugs.  Tighter control of these essential ingredients might be a more direct method of control than further restrictions on anhydrous ammonia.

HB 1353:  Requires that any seed sold as organic must be tested by the Seed Commissioner for transgenic content and so labeled. 

HB 1369:  Adds a railroad rate factor into the calculation of railroad property taxes.  The factor will be the average ag commodity rate in North Dakota as compared to the average ag commodity rate elsewhere.  Sponsors are Representatives Brandenberg, Boe, Headland, Nicholas, and Senators Erbele and Warner.  No hearing scheduled yet.

HB 1370:  Prohibits railroad fuel surcharges in North Dakota higher than the average of fuel surcharges in other states served by the same railroad.  Sponsors are the same as HB 1369.  No hearing scheduled yet.

HCR 3008:  Would direct a Legislative Council study of agricultural commodity organizations appropriations and charges.   No hearing scheduled yet.

SB 2044:  Is a cleanup and rewrite of statutes for the Seed Department.  This came out of the Interim Public Services Committee study.  It was heard in Senate Ag on 1/13. 

SB 2136:  This one has to do with roving grain buyers.  It is one piece of the legislative package offered by the PSC and discussed with the Grain Dealers since last summer.  It passed the Senate on 1/7 by a vote of 44-0. 

SB 2217:  This is a tax credit on biodiesel. 

SCR 4004:  Would put on the 2006 general election ballot a Constitutional amendment to prohibit income taxes on individuals or corporations. 

In the category of common sense, though not directly related to Grain Dealers, is HB 1364:  It says that college professors in North Dakota have to speak fluent English.  Now isn’t that a novel idea?  Students could get their tuition money back if they could not understand the instructor.  If 10% or more of the students said they couldn’t understand him or her the department chairman would have to assign the instructor to a nonteaching position.  Sponsors are Representatives Grande, Iverson, Sitte and Senators Freborg and Hacker.