Funding reduced for bill that would create grant program for fair associations
Apr. 2—BISMARCK — The funding was cut in half for a bill that would help county fair associations in North Dakota with infrastructure projects.
The Senate Appropriations Committee gave a do-pass recommendation on Friday, March 28, to an amended version of House Bill 1591 — sponsored by Reps. Mitch Ostlie and Bernie Satrom and Sens. Cole Conley and Terry Wanzek, all R-Jamestown — that would create a grant program for county agriculture fair associations. There are 33 county agriculture fair associations in North Dakota.
Wanzek said the funding for the bill was reduced from $3 million to $1.5 million because the state general fund is $300 million over a balanced budget for the next biennium.
"Every dollar counts," he said.
HB 1591 goes back to the House where the amended version can be approved. If the amended bill isn't approved, the House and the Senate would each appoint three members for a conference committee who would try to come to an agreement on the bill's final language.
"By then, we will have a better idea," Wanzek said, referring to potentially appropriate $3 million to HB 1591. "Maybe we'll have the budget balanced. The steps or efforts made in all the other numerous bills and budgets, maybe we'll have it balanced and can afford to add it back."
HB 1591 would create a matching grant program and appropriate $1.5 million to the agriculture commissioner to provide grants to county agriculture fair associations for the planning, design and construction of infrastructure projects. No more than $100,000 can be awarded to a county agriculture fair association.
Wanzek said discussions were held to lower the maximum dollar amount that could be awarded to a county agriculture fair association.
"We rebelled against that a little bit," he said. "I just feel that $100,000 unfortunately doesn't go very far anymore."
He said a fair association would be completing a $200,000 project with a 1-for-1 match with the grant program.
The agriculture commissioner would be responsible for creating the guidelines to distribute the grant funds, including the requirement for a recipient to provide $1 of matching funds from nonstate sources for up to $2 of grant funding received. The matching funds may be provided in cash or in-kind contributions.
The grant program would be funded one time and ends on June 30, 2027. The bill was amended to have an emergency clause, meaning it would take effect immediately after the governor signs it into law.
"The minute this passes and is signed by the governor, they can start the program and maybe they could get their money in sooner rather than later," Wanzek said. "Maybe they could actually get the money and utilize it for this year's fair this summer."
He said there were questions on whether some smaller county fair associations could meet a dollar-for-dollar match to get the maximum $100,000.
"Some of them maybe won't be able to fully utilize the full $100,000 and might only (utilize) say $30,000, $40,000, $50,000," Wanzek said. "So there was a thought that maybe considering that it was a new idea and considering the fact that some of the smaller fairs were going to struggle to meet the match, we changed the matching requirements ... . We changed that to the discretion of the ag commissioner — it will be his department that oversees this grant — and we were going to let them develop some guidelines or rules and it had to be anywhere from 1-to-1 to 1-for-2."
He said in-kind contributions can include work donated to a fair association that can be used as a matching fund. For example, donated time by an electrician or plumber could be viewed as an in-kind match for the grant program.
Wanzek anticipates the grant program will be popular among county agriculture fair associations. If the bill is popular, he said the Legislature could look at appropriating $3 million for the program in the next legislative session in 2027.
"So many of our citizens have memories of their county fair," he said. "I think this might be an ongoing idea."
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