SCHMID: LOOKING BACK FROM THE LEFT COAST - MARCH 1, 2021
HITTING ON THE LEGACY FUND A $680 million bonding proposal is moving down the runway in Bismarck. HB 1431 passed 74-17 and will be sent to the Senate. The bond will be used for infrastructure projects — the largest allocation is $435 million to the Fargo-Moorhead diversion project. The next largest is $75 million for a Minot flood-control project. The Fargo area will receive another $50 million for renovations on a NDSU agriculture building. A variety of highway and infrastructure projects account for the remaining $120 million. Earnings of the $8 billion Legacy Fund are to be used to repay the bonds.
SEND US YOUR CARBON DIOXIDE ND was selected for a carbon capture and storage project described as the largest in the world. Twenty ethanol plants based in four states will use a $2 billion pipeline network to carry liquefied carbon dioxide they produce to underground storage in ND. The state was selected because of its favorable geology — the exact site has not been announced.
URBAN ND GROWS MORE LIBERAL The ND House passed HB 1298 65-26, largely on a party-line basis — the bill limits the participation of transgender athletes in girls’ sports. Legislative districts in ND along the border with Minnesota voted 21-11 against the bill. Nine of those votes against the bill were Republicans. A GF Herald article indicated the “gap highlights the political divide between North Dakota’s deeply conservative rural regions and its more urban, eastern spine.”
MEDICAL MARIJUANA is permitted in ND by a 2016 law administered by the Health Department through eight dispensaries. Those in Fargo, Bismarck and Williston are owned by Pure Dakota Health; a fourth in Grand Forks is owned by Strive Life — both are ND companies. The remaining four dispensaries in Jamestown, Devils Lake, Minot and Dickinson are owned by Illinois-based Herbology. Financial information about the dispensaries is not publicly available, although there are indications they have low profitability.
RECREATIONAL MARIJUANA may be just around the corner. House bills have passed in ND which legalize and tax recreational marijuana. The legislation is restrictive and limits sales to the eight existing medical marijuana dispensaries. The proposed law imposes a 10% tax on growers and a 15% tax on dispensaries, part of those taxes will go to cities and counties with dispensaries. Montana, South Dakota and Canada already permit recreational marijuana.
AN ANNUAL LEGISLATURE “So, should North Dakota finally ease its stubborn grip on the past and change to annual sessions? Unequivocally, yes.” — The GF Herald joined the chorus calling for a switch to annual sessions. As to those legislators who have said “I like my winter off,” the Herald editorial said “Then take winters off, permanently.”
STAND-YOUR-GROUND legislation has made its way through the ND House (HB 1498) by a lopsided voted of 77-16. The proposed law expands an existing “castle” law by allowing deadly force against an assailant without attempting to retreat. Supporters say it promotes victims’ right to protect themselves from attackers in public. Opponents fear the law would be used by bad actors to falsely claim self-defense.
UPPER UPSCALE Does that sound pretentious? It’s the way the Radisson Blu Fargo describes itself after a $6 million remodeling of its 151 rooms. The hotel has been the premium large hotel in F-M for nearly 40 years. Radisson probably felt challenged by the 125-room Jasper Hotel opening in the RDO Building.
TIGIRLILY is a country music duo of sisters from Hazen, ND, who have just released a new single, “Somebody Does.” The song has soared to No. 1 in all genres and the sisters have been offered a major record deal. Krista and Kendra Slaubaugh are based in Nashville.
ALTRU HEALTH SYSTEM is once again working on its new hospital. The Grand Forks health provider paused construction a year ago when its financial picture was weak. Since then Altru has reduced costs and stabilized its operation. Financial arrangements to complete the hospital by 2024 are yet to be arranged.
DEJA VU Earlier this month the U.S. Attorney’s office in Fargo unsealed a case involving 26 people moving oxycodone from Detroit to three ND Indian reservations. The office is back again with 22 new defendants, mostly from Detroit, who have moved “tens of millions of dollars” of narcotics to the Spirit Lake, Turtle Mountain and Fort Berthold reservations over the past five years. ND reservations appear to be prime targets for illegal drug distribution.
SD ATTORNEY GENERAL Five months ago, the South Dakota attorney general was driving on a rural highway at night after a political event when he hit and killed 55-year-old Joseph Boever who was walking on the shoulder of the road. Jason Ravnsborg maintains he was unaware he hit a person and it was only the next day when he searched the accident scene that he discovered Boever’s body. This has become a high profile story well beyond SD.
RAVNSBORG DODGES A FELONY After a long investigation involving expertise from outside the state, Hyde County State’s Attorney Emily Sovell charged Ravnsborg with three misdemeanors, but said his conduct did not meet the threshold for a felony. His spokesman likened the charges to “in essence traffic violations.” Members of the SD Legislature have introduced articles of impeachment against Ravnsborg and the SD governor has called for his resignation. Ravnsborg remains on the job awaiting disposition of the misdemeanors and expecting to be the subject of civil legal action by Boever’s widow.
DAKTOIDS: In ND from 2014 to 2019, the number of rural grocery stores dropped to 98 from 134, according to the ND Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives. . . . January boardings at ND’s eight commercial airports dropped 58% from January 2020 (pre-pandemic) to January 2021. Williston’s 70% drop was the worst . . . Starting this week, the GF Herald, the Jamestown Sun and the Fargo Forum will be printed in Detroit Lakes, Minn., instead of downtown Fargo.
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