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| Volume 17, Issue 2 | Summer 2005 |
North Dakota Legislative Session in ReviewThe 2005 North Dakota Legislative Session proved to be much busier than any of us anticipated in early January. The North Dakota Senior Service Providers (NDSSP) is the organization in which many of our agencies are members. NDSSP hired Erica Cermak as our executive director and for lobbying purposes during the session. Having an executive director was a new experience for our organization during a legislative session. I had also taken a long hiatus from being on the NDSSP Legislative Committee, so it was a real surprise I ended up as chair! The rest of the Legislative Committee members were Carol Wright, Rick Thoms, Brian Arett and Chuck Bosch. We started January with NO bills that we intended to submit - we were just going to follow bills of interest. NDSSP had its quarterly meeting in early January. We talked about revisiting an idea from the 2003 session that did not pass - rebate of state fuel tax for public transit providers - about a $300,000 fiscal note for the biennium. With that idea in mind, we contacted Senator Dave Nething from Jamestown who sits on the Senate Transportation Committee. We were very late in doing this; our first meeting with Senator Nething came two days before the bill submission deadline. After presenting the facts and figures about public transit to Senator Nething and showing him the amount of local dollars agencies come up with to fund transit - Senator Nething said something VERY surprising. He said, "You guys are not asking for enough money!" He strongly felt we should ask for more dollars instead of dealing with a rebate of the state fuel tax. He suggested we should look to increase the appropriation we get from the State Aid for Public Transportation Fund. The State Aid fund obtains its money through a $2 per license plate fee that is added to vehicle registrations that go to public transportation providers on a formula basis. Senator Nething felt we should go for an additional $1 per plate (which had a fiscal note of $1.5 million for the biennium) - making the fee $3 per license plate. This is what we decided to do and this proposed legislation became SB 2348. Long story short - Senator Nething was a wonderful advocate for us. The four times we testified on this bill, we had great and varied testimony. We felt especially good when we received compliments from a long-time lobbyist and a transportation committee member on how well our testimony was organized and that it really told our story!!! There were more ups and downs and twists and turns concerning transportation legislation during this session than I can even begin to remember. SB 2348 passed overwhelmingly! Collection of the extra $1 per license plate for public transportation begins August 1 and Bruce Fuchs and the N.D. Department of Transportation are working on getting the public transit providers the extra money as of January 2006 instead of having to wait until July 2006. I want to mention that NDSSP also spent an enormous amount of time on a bill that concerned the State Mill Levy Match for Senior Programs - SB 2267. We are thankful to say we were also very successful with this bill. The fund will see about a $500,000 increase this biennium and now has a mechanism that will allow it to grow as the value of a mill grows at the county level. Another great step forward. There are some things that our Association can take away from the 2005 session. Erica made valuable contacts with other lobbyists and legislators during the session and did a great job for the NDSSP. Erica and I talked almost every day during the session - sometimes three, four or five times in a day. Much of my role was staying home in Dickey County and sending email updates (often very long ones) to the rest of the members and compiling information while Erica would be sitting in on committee hearings and sessions and buttonholing people we needed to tell our story to. The legislative committee members and all of the members of NDSSP went above and beyond the call of duty to get to hearings, testify and talk to legislators. We had such a strong and unified group effort this year that it was really a positive thing to see - especially from my viewpoint of more than 20 years as a member with our state association. If any of us had known in early January how involved we would be getting in the 2005 session, I think all of us (including and especially me) would have said - we don't have time to do this!! However, when opportunities arise we need to step up and take advantage of them. Thanks again to Erica and all of the people who worked so hard to make these positive things happen to help our agencies more adequately serve the citizens of North Dakota.
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