Latest news with #BernieSatrom
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Library content bill narrowly passes North Dakota House
Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, speaks on the House floor on April 14, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) A bill requiring school and public libraries to relocate content deemed 'sexually explicit' passed the House on a 49-45 vote Monday after nearly 90 minutes of debate. Senate Bill 2307, sponsored by Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, would allow people who challenge library content to seek a state's attorney's opinion if they don't agree with a local content review process. If the content is deemed obscene by the state's attorney and not removed, state funding to the library or school could be withheld. The bill also allows a state's attorney to prosecute violations, though it's not clear who would be prosecuted. Implementing the bill is estimated to cost $1.1 million for 2025-27, or $2 million over the next four years, to add an age verification system for the state's online library database. Rep. Eric Murphy, R-Grand Forks, who voted against the bill, said the bill's fiscal note doesn't address the costs that will be added to county state's attorney's offices. Committee recommends 'do not pass' on controversial North Dakota library content bill 'The cost of this was not determined and, of course, was a concern for the (Appropriations) Committee,' Murphy said. Other critics of the bill have said there will be additional costs for local libraries to implement it. The House Appropriations Committee issued a do-not-pass recommendation for the bill on a 22-1 vote Friday. Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, who voted in favor of the bill, said the $1.1 million in costs for the age verification was a small price to pay to ensure that obscene content is kept from children. He said he found it odd the House Judiciary Committee voted 12-1 to recommend passage of the bill while the House Appropriations Committee came to the opposite result. Many comments from lawmakers referred to some library content as pornography. 'By passing this bill, we affirm that taxpayer dollars should never be used to purchase pornography,' said Rep. Kathy Frelich, R-Devils Lake. One book lawmakers objected to was the 'Heartstopper' LGBTQ graphic novel series that had been challenged at the Forman school library. The bill sponsor also distributed a list of the American Library Association's top challenged books, along with a list of which North Dakota libraries carried them. Many of the books have LGBTQ themes or discuss sexual assault. In a statement, the ACLU of North Dakota said the bill amounts to censorship and questioned who will decide what is considered obscene or sexually explicit. 'Government officials cannot impose their personal moral values on others,' Cody Schuler, ACLU of North Dakota advocacy manager, said in a statement. 'If you don't like a book, don't read it – or don't let your kids read it. It's as simple as that.' Barring a reconsideration of Monday's House vote, the bill will be sent to Gov. Kelly Armstrong for his consideration. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Library content bill narrowly passes North Dakota House
Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, speaks on the House floor on April 14, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) A bill requiring school and public libraries to relocate content deemed 'sexually explicit' passed the House on a 49-45 vote Monday after nearly 90 minutes of debate. Senate Bill 2307, sponsored by Sen. Keith Boehm, R-Mandan, would allow people who challenge library content to seek a state's attorney's opinion if they don't agree with a local content review process. If the content is deemed obscene by the state's attorney and not removed, state funding to the library or school could be withheld. The bill also allows a state's attorney to prosecute violations, though it's not clear who would be prosecuted. Implementing the bill is estimated to cost $1.1 million for 2025-27, or $2 million over the next four years, to add an age verification system for the state's online library database. Rep. Eric Murphy, R-Grand Forks, who voted against the bill, said the bill's fiscal note doesn't address the costs that will be added to county state's attorney's offices. Committee recommends 'do not pass' on controversial North Dakota library content bill 'The cost of this was not determined and, of course, was a concern for the (Appropriations) Committee,' Murphy said. Other critics of the bill have said there will be additional costs for local libraries to implement it. The House Appropriations Committee issued a do-not-pass recommendation for the bill on a 22-1 vote Friday. Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, who voted in favor of the bill, said the $1.1 million in costs for the age verification was a small price to pay to ensure that obscene content is kept from children. He said he found it odd the House Judiciary Committee voted 12-1 to recommend passage of the bill while the House Appropriations Committee came to the opposite result. Many comments from lawmakers referred to some library content as pornography. 'By passing this bill, we affirm that taxpayer dollars should never be used to purchase pornography,' said Rep. Kathy Frelich, R-Devils Lake. One book lawmakers objected to was the 'Heartstopper' LGBTQ graphic novel series that had been challenged at the Forman school library. The bill sponsor also distributed a list of the American Library Association's top challenged books, along with a list of which North Dakota libraries carried them. Many of the books have LGBTQ themes or discuss sexual assault. In a statement, the ACLU of North Dakota said the bill amounts to censorship and questioned who will decide what is considered obscene or sexually explicit. 'Government officials cannot impose their personal moral values on others,' Cody Schuler, ACLU of North Dakota advocacy manager, said in a statement. 'If you don't like a book, don't read it – or don't let your kids read it. It's as simple as that.' Barring a reconsideration of Monday's House vote, the bill will be sent to Gov. Kelly Armstrong for his consideration. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill requiring Legacy Fund disclosure website sees support in North Dakota Legislature
Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, speaks on the House floor on March 25, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor) The state may soon start development on a new website detailing its Legacy Fund holdings after the North Dakota Senate last week unanimously passed an investment transparency bill. The Legacy Fund, worth more than $12 billion as of January, is a state trust fund supported by oil revenue. It was created by a ballot measure approved by voters in 2010 with the goal of being a source of perpetual revenue for the state. House Bill 1319, sponsored by Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, says the website must include all Legacy Fund 'companies, funds and other financial mechanisms in which the Legacy Fund is invested,' so long as the information may be disclosed under state and federal law. 'Some people don't care what they're invested in,' Satrom said in February testimony on the bill before the House Finance and Taxation Committee. 'To me, it matters.' The North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office estimated the cost for the website at about $421,000, according to a fiscal note attached to the bill. It said it would cost around $27,500 annually to maintain the website. The House in February approved the bill by a vote of 92-1. The Retirement and Investment Office also supports the bill. Interim Executive Director Jodi Smith said that the agency already shares a wealth of information online about the fund, but a new website could make it more straightforward for members of the public to digest. 'I feel like all that language and information is on our website, but if you've been on our website and try to find it all, it can be a bit cumbersome,' Smith said. 'It's not easy to navigate.' The office expects the website to save both state employees and members of the public a lot of time and effort. Smith said that about a third of records requests filed with the Retirement and Investment Office relate to the Legacy Fund. The agency has dedicated thousands of dollars worth of staff time to fulfilling the records requests, she said. Getting a website up and running will take a long time, Smith said. The agency hopes to have an interface similar to one that Norway uses for its sovereign wealth fund, which allows visitors to sort all of its investments by country. 'It might take us a couple of years to get there,' she said. The Retirement and Investment Office already discloses how much Legacy Fund money is invested in particular companies, Smith said. However, for a portion of the money invested in commingled funds, the agency does not disclose which investments are made by specific fund managers. Smith said this would violate the agency's contracts with those managers. About $3.1 billion of the Legacy Fund is in these commingled funds, also known as institutional funds. 'We can't reveal a fund manager's investment strategy,' she said. Bismarck attorney Tory Jackson last year asked for the North Dakota Attorney General's Office to weigh in on whether the Retirement and Investment Office violated public records laws by withholding this information. Gov. Kelly Armstrong during his campaign for governor advocated for more transparency with Legacy Fund investments. He is now chair of the State Investment Board. Another Legacy Fund-related bill sponsored by Satrom, House Bill 1330, would instruct the State Investment Board to divest from all Chinese companies. The Senate has yet to vote on the bill. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Bill to repeal RIO incentive compensation program gets do not pass recommendation
Feb. 10—JAMESTOWN — The North Dakota House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee gave a do not pass recommendation on Thursday, Feb. 6, on a bill that would repeal a section in the North Dakota Century code related to an incentive compensation plan for the state Retirement and Investment Office. Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, vice chairman of the House and Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, was the lone dissenting vote. Satrom and Reps. Mitch Ostlie, both R-Jamestown, and Mike Beltz, R-Hillsboro, introduced House Bill 1348, which would also amend North Dakota Century Code 54-44.3-20 by removing investment and fiscal operations positions of the Retirement and Investment Office from being exempt from the state employee classification system. The passage of HB 1348 would repeal an incentive compensation program that could allow the top officials in the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office (RIO) to earn up to 100% of their salaries as incentive compensation although RIO officials said that might not happen every year. The annual salaries for the RIO executive director and chief investment officer are $237,400 and $312,000, respectively. Rep. Vicky Steiner, R-Dickinson, said she appreciates Ostlie for bringing HB 1348 forward. "I think when something goes through budget section and that is actually our own problem is being legislators is it's very difficult to find out the budget section heard this and what it meant and doesn't get back to all of us and you are thinking there are four people involved and not 20," she said. "But when you hear the explanation today, it's pretty obvious that it's being vetted very well. So I feel comfortable that it's being vetted." Rep. Austen Schauer, R-West Fargo, chairman of the Government and Veterans Affairs Committee, said there was a lack of communication between legislators about the development of the incentive compensation program. He said he wasn't sure if the incentive compensation program should be repealed or opened up for further review. The documents of the incentive compensation program say it is designed to help attract and retain talented investment professionals. The program is also designed to help RIO earn the highest possible investment returns at a reasonable cost and at controlled levels of risk and rewards long-term investment performance. During the 2023 legislative session, the state Legislature authorized the Retirement and Investment Office to develop an incentive compensation program for its investment and fiscal operations positions necessary for the management of funds under the control of the State Investment Board. North Dakota Century Code Chapter 54-52.5 says that the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office may develop an incentive compensation program for full-time-equivalent investment and fiscal operations positions necessary for the management of the investment of funds under the control of the State Investment Board. The State Investment Board must approve annually the provisions of the program. Nineteen of the 34 RIO employees are eligible for the incentive compensation program, said Jodi Smith, RIO interim executive director. The incentive compensation program provides incentive compensation as a percentage of regular compensation with 80% of the incentive compensation based on the financial performance of the investments and 20% based on individual goals, according to the Retirement and Investment Office's budget No. 190 for SB 2022. If the three-year rolling average return of the investments exceeds the benchmark return by 0.5%, 100% of the incentive compensation based on financial performance is available to the employees, the document says. The maximum incentives as a percentage of regular compensation are as follows: * 100% for the chief investment officer and executive director * 90% for the deputy chief investment officer * 75% for the chief risk officer, senior investment officers, and portfolio managers * 60% for the chief financial officer * 50% for investment officers, risk officers and accounting managers * 25% for senior investment accountants and investment accountants Plan participation is determined based on employment status and the executive director's assessment of the position's impact on the Retirement and Investment Office's overall investment performance. "The 100% down to 25% seems to be a little bit max, but we don't really know the going rate ... ," Schauer said. "So I don't know if it's like we just cut it out completely, or we just open the door for further review on what we're doing." Those who oppose HB 1348 say the incentive compensation program was needed to recruit and retain employees for RIO and to incentivize them to perform on their investments. "In their industry, that's what they're accustomed to," Smith said. "That's how they're set up a lot of times in their industry to perform as they have that base salary, and then they get that incentive compensation. So from that perspective, for those individuals, they are under market." She said RIO could lose employees to other states that have a higher base salary for similar positions. Having internal investment managers saves RIO about $17 million per year for internally managing 15% of the state's assets, Smith said. Ostlie, who spoke in favor of the bill, said the incentive compensation program that was approved by the State Investment Board was different from what he recalled would happen. "When I asked many other legislators for clarification of this, they couldn't remember this either and/or they said that it probably should have maybe been vetted just a little bit more," he said. Steiner said she agrees with Ostlie and was also surprised about the details of the incentive compensation program. "I didn't realize that it was that extensive," she said. "I remember when we talked about it, I thought it was just going to be a couple of fund managers that we had to incentivize just like the private market, and it's much larger than that, so it's definitely a concern." Rep. Keith Kempenich, R-Bowman, who spoke against HB 1348, said the communication between legislators about the incentive compensation program could have been better. "I'm not going to argue that point," he said. Ostlie said the incentive compensation program should be repealed and replaced with a new one that is vetted by the Legislature. He said Gov. Kelly Armstrong is now the new chair the State Investment Board. "It would allow their input into this process, and then also the full legislative body here would have maybe a little more input than what we had the last time or if nothing changes, at least we are a little bit more aware of what we did," he said. Smith said the State Investment Board should get an opportunity to fix the incentive compensation program. She said Armstrong asked for a review of the program. "Allow them that opportunity because you can see the State Investment Board, and this is in the policy, reserves the right to modify, terminate and or rescind any or all of the compensation schedules, provisions, policies and procedures contained in this and supporting documents at any time," she said. Ostlie said about 20 positions that were declassified are eligible for the incentive compensation program, including the executive director and chief investment officer. "I do not believe that all of these other classes of employees were intended by the last Legislature to be on this new comp plan," he said. He said he understands the need to declassify some RIO employees from the state employee classification system. "Everybody I talked to thought the list was expanded quite a bit larger than what was intended," he said. Section 3 of SB 2022 during the 2023 legislative session amended North Dakota Century Code Section 54-44.3-20 to exempt investment and fiscal operations positions of the Retirement and Investment Office staff from the state employee classification system. Smith said the original intent was to reclassify those employees and put them at a higher level of classification. "They were denied those reclassifications to be able to bring their salary levels up because they have a very specialized skill set within the agency," she said. "So the agency's response to being able to bring on the team members at the level that we need to bring them on then was to unclassify them." State Treasurer Thomas Beadle, who spoke against the bill, said there was opposition to the incentive compensation program on the State Investment Board when it got approved. "Primarily a couple of other agency heads to serve on the state investment board," he said. "They were concerned that they might lose fiscal staff who might think that this is more attractive and they want to jump shift to a different agency, so they dissented in their votes." The State Investment Board approved in a 10-3 vote the incentive compensation program in February. Board members Adam Miller, Joe Morrissette, who is the director for the North Dakota Office of Management and Budget, and Susan Sisk were opposed. The incentive compensation plan allows more than just the investment advisers to be eligible for the plan and includes the executive director and the fiscal team of the Retirement and Investment Office, Morrissette told The Jamestown Sun in November. All employees in RIO are not eligible for the plan, he said. He also told The Sun that he was against the structure of the bonus system because the plan awards a bonus at one basis point of performance that exceeds the benchmark. "A basis point is a 100th of a percent," he said. "That seemed like too small of a margin for me. I felt like there should be a larger gap between the benchmark and what our performance is before we started awarding bonuses."
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House committee approves amended bill on Legacy Fund disclosure
Feb. 6—BISMARCK — The House Finance and Taxation Committee approved an amendment to a bill on Wednesday, Feb. 5, relating to a website that would disclose all North Dakota Legacy Fund investments. Introduced by Reps. Mitch Ostlie and Bernie Satrom, both R-Jamestown, House Bill 1319 would require the State Investment Board to maintain a website accessible by the public containing information regarding all Legacy Fund investments. Sen. Cole Conley, R-Jamestown, is carrying the legislation in the Senate. The amendment removes the requirement of the website to list all companies, funds, derivatives and other financial mechanisms in which the Legacy Fund is invested along with the country of incorporation for each investment. The website will no longer be required to list the county of the principle manager of the fund, derivative or other financial mechanism. The amendment also removes the requirement of the website to list the amount of Legacy Fund money invested in a company, fund, derivative or other financial mechanism. The amended bill now says the website must list all companies, funds and other financial mechanisms in which the Legacy Fund is invested in accordance with state and federal laws. The bill also says the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office may spend funds necessary for the development and maintenance of the website within the limits of legislative appropriations. The fiscal impact of building the new website and hiring an additional full-time employee would be about $461,000 for the 2025-27 biennium. For the 2027-29 biennium, the fiscal impact would be over $246,700. In 2010, North Dakota voters approved a measure that created the Legacy Fund, which is a perpetual source of state revenue from the finite national resources of oil and natural gas, according to the Office of State Treasurer's website. Thirty percent of the taxes on petroleum produced and extracted in North Dakota are transferred to the Legacy Fund monthly, according to the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office's website. The Legacy Fund has almost $11.5 billion as of Oct. 31. The State Investment Board has statutory responsibility for the administration of the investment programs of several funds including the Legacy Fund, according to the Retirement and Investment Office's website. Satrom spoke in support of the bill on Tuesday, saying that there is $3.1 billion invested from the Legacy Fund where the underlying investments are hidden from public view. "The problem is we have $3.1 billion we really don't know about," he said. "Somebody signed contracts that said we can't know. ... If it's the people's money, we have a higher responsibility. We have responsibilities to them." He said the Legacy Fund could be invested in derivatives. "You really don't own it. It's kind of like a bet," he said. "Warren Buffet ... called it weapons of mass financial destruction." He also said the Legacy Fund is being invested in foreign countries, including China. He said the Legacy Fund was also invested in Russian government bonds before it invaded Ukraine. He said those investments were divested after Ukraine was invaded. Satrom previously told The Jamestown Sun that the Legacy Fund is or has been invested in over 60 foreign countries, including Argentina, China, Columbia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Mexico, Togo and Turkey. He said the general public would be "appalled" if they knew the Legacy Fund was or is invested in Russia or China. "I don't care how much money you make. If it's morally wrong, then I think it's morally wrong," he said. "I don't think you can justify (Chinese investments) with any amount of money." Satrom said an attorney general's opinion has not been issued for an open records request regarding Legacy Fund investments. Tory Jackson, a Bismarck attorney, wrote in a column for the North Dakota Monitor that he requested a list of all foreign and domestic holdings and the investments made by each private money manager hired by the State Investment Board. He also requested information about the investments made by 50 South Capital, a Chicago-based firm, that is responsible for the portion of the Legacy Fund that is supposed to be invested in North Dakota. Jackson wrote in his column that the list of Legacy Fund investments as of Nov. 30, 2023, contains "a few curious items, including over $160 million invested in the 'emerging markets region,' over $520 million in the 'global region,' and nearly $46 million in the 'international region.' " The list of those Legacy Fund investments shows no countries that the money managers have invested in and only categorizes the investments being in the "global region," "international region" and "emerging markets region." Jackson requested an opinion from North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley on Feb. 9, 2024, on whether the North Dakota Retirement and Investment Office violated the open records law. The opinion has not been issued. In a letter to former Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller, who formerly chaired the State Investment Board, Conley asks why Jackson was denied information about foreign investments in categories such as "global region," "international region" and "emerging markets region" but not for other investments in countries that range from Argentina to Thailand. In a response to Conley's letter, Miller wrote that Jackson was not denied information about foreign investments in categories such as "global region," "international region" and "emerging markets region." She wrote that certain investments such as commingled funds that have exposure in more than one country of risk are listed by regional categories because "to do otherwise would require RIO to alter the record from its custodian and thus be less transparent." "Further there is significant additional information regarding country of risk exposure of such funds available in reports that RIO publishes on its website," Miller wrote. The Retirement and Investment Office and the State Investment Board support the establishment of a website dedicated to the Legacy Fund, said Jodi Smith, interim executive director of the Retirement and Investment Office, in her testimony opposing HB 1319. "My concern is that as that fund grows, the light that's shining on it is also going to grow," she said. "The more money you have, the more attention you are going to get. If we continue to grow at $2 billion a biennium, as that fund continues to grow, there is going to be more and more questions. There's going to be a higher light on that. Just creating that transparency, so it's easier to digest and more easier to synthesize, I think is in the best interests of everyone." She said the website needs to be simple for the public to find the Legacy Fund investments. She said individuals shouldn't have to open a PDF that is 100 pages long. "Then you have to understand how to read it," she said. The original bill "risks undermining the very investment strategies that have allowed the fund to grow and generate substantial earnings for North Dakota," according to written testimony by the Retirement and Investment Office opposing the bill. "The proposed public disclosure requirements would create contractual conflicts, limit investment opportunities, and expose the fund's strategies to undue market risks," the written testimony says. Smith said the amendment will allow the website to list the companies, funds and other financial mechanisms of how the Legacy Fund is invested in accordance with state and federal laws. "If the law requires that we disclose certain information, then we want to be prepared to disclose that," she said. "If the law says no you cannot or should not disclose that information then we won't." She said what can be disclosed is where the Legacy Fund is invested, the country of origin and how much each fund manager has. "It's that in between that is less than clear at this point in time," Smith said. "The agency has interpreted the statute that we can't disclose that information. There is an attorney general's opinion pending whether or not we need to disclose that." She said disclosing the information of the $3.1 billion that Satrom says are underlying investments hidden from public view would lose some investors. "They would probably pull out of the investments and there might be some legal challenges because we would then be disclosing the proprietary information," Smith said. "If that's what the Legislature chooses, we just need to be prepared for that outcome, the consequences. We can do that, it's just then we probably would take a step back from some of the earnings that we have there." Smith said the website would also cut down on the open records requests regarding the Legacy Fund. She said the Retirement and Investment Office is only receiving open records requests for the Legacy Fund.
