SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - FEBRUARY 8, 2021
FRONTRUNNER ND has seen a dramatic drop in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and positive test rates over the past 2 ½ months. Deaths have been steadily dropping and this week only 37 people were hospitalized. For the last seven days, on a per capita basis, ND was the 2nd lowest state for both new cases and deaths. Minnesota is also in the 10 lowest states on both measures. SD is among the 10 lowest for new cases.
LEGACY FUND “It’s become a political cookie jar into which many lawmakers hope to reach.” — GF Herald editorial critical of many efforts by lawmakers to raid the Legacy Fund, particularly, a proposal to use it to reduce property taxes. Former ND Treasurer Kelly Schmidt was likewise critical of a proposal to invest 20% of the fund in ND; she said, “It's never good to make an exemption to the prudent investor rule.” She told Rob Port that the rule is more than ND law and is a standard in the investment world.
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES OF ND is closing its doors. There is an immediate need to find other nonprofit organizations to provide critical services. LSS of Minnesota is stepping in to rescue a senior program from closure and hiring four of its employees. The program matches 70 volunteers who are 55 and older with 700 older adults who need help with errands, groceries or transportation. LSS of ND also maintained nearly 7,000 adoption files which are critical to adoptees researching their life history. LSSND had run an adoption program for 101 years — a Fargo organization called The Village will take custody of the files.
SHOCK IN THE OIL INDUSTRY The U. of Wyoming said the impact of Biden’s leasing ban on federal lands will have a “relatively small” impact on ND compared to states such as Wyoming and New Mexico. However, the UW study said ND would still “lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue and thousands of jobs.” The ND Petroleum Council expressed “complete shock” at rollbacks that occurred in just a few days. They said, “Those are things it took the Obama administration eight years to develop, and they’re rolling them out in eight days.” They said there has been almost no consultation with industry and the states involved.
HITTING BACK Gov. Burgum and ND’s congressional delegation are hitting back at Biden’s leasing ban and his action stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. The congressmen are proposing bills to reverse the Keystone action while Burgum called on state agencies to determine the economic and workforce consequences of Biden's executive orders and to look for "all available tools to challenge federal overreach.” What may really be going on here is a warning shot to Biden about interfering with the Dakota Access Pipeline — an action that would have immediate economic consequences for the state.
WAR AGAINST WIND Legislators from ND coal counties do not like wind farms because they are federally subsidized and hurt the coal industry. One state legislator has proposed a multi-million dollar annual tax on the wind industry to be given to the coal industry. Critics say that would drive new wind farms out of ND. The proposal should not go far.
NO MORE BLOCK 9 That was the construction name of the 18-story tower which dominates the center of downtown Fargo. The tower is now named after its co-owner and principal occupant, R.D. Offutt Co. For short, it will be called the RDO Building. This week RDO began transferring 400 F-M employees to the new building, which is the corporate office for RDO’s food processing facilities, farms, real estate and development operations, and farm and construction equipment stores. The $117 million building will be managed by the other owner, the Kilbourne Group, and will also be home to the 125-room Jasper Hotel and its restaurant, ground floor retail and condominiums.
NOTABLE GIFTS The UND Nistler College of Business & Public Administration has scored again. A $70 million new home for the college is under construction as a result of a $20 million lead gift from Werner and Colleen Nistler. This week it was announced that Tom and Connie Middleton made a $5 million gift to the Entrepreneurial and Management School, part of the Nistler College. The Entrepreneurial School will bear the Middleton name.
THE BEST OF INTENTIONS For the first week of 2020, ND made its court records remotely accessible for free, fulfilling an ambition to eliminate access barriers. The free access was terminated on January 7th when it was learned that the records contained information such as Social Security numbers, birth dates and credit card numbers. The court system can’t redact that information for both legal and logistical reasons, so remote access will be indefinitely unavailable. Oddly, you can go to a computer at any court house and access the information.
IT’S TIME FOR LEGAL MARIJUANA A Forum editorial informed ND and Minnesota legislators they were living in “a backward island of pot prohibition.” The editorial said the majority of citizens in both states supported the recreational use of marijuana, so legislators should pass a well-crafted law, rather than risk a flawed ballot measure. SD, Montana and Canada nearly surround ND with legal marijuana.
SOBERING About 10,000 people live in ND nursing homes, where around 850 virus deaths have occurred — that is about 60% of all ND virus deaths. The data comes from Josh Askvig, AARP ND state director, who opposes legislation which reduces the liability of nursing homes for such deaths.
DAKTOIDS: Soft ice cream heaven — ND has the highest number of Dairy Queens per capita of any state. DQ is owned by Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway . . . Don’t even try it — that was the attitude of a Bismarck Tribune editorial regarding legislation to test “road trains” in ND . . . The Creighton University business index showed ND soaring from 62.8 in December to 75.6 in January.
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