BISMARCK — Communities in North Dakota with 1,000 people or fewer could benefit from a proposed $5 million permanent investment fund that would create grants for making infrastructure improvements.

Repurposing vacant buildings for housing, fixing roads and bolstering local economic development are the kind of projects that would be funded by the Rural Community Endowment Fund, which

Senate Bill 2097

aims to establish.

The fund would be overseen by the State Investment Board and use its annual interest to fund competitive grant-making while preserving its principal amount.

Those grants would be awarded by a committee that also evaluates how they’re used.

The committee would consist of one commissioner who appoints nine people from rural North Dakota and a representative of a nonprofit organization that supports rural communities.

The original proposal sought to use $50 million of the projected $6.5 billion general fund,

but that was reduced by 90% to $5 million before advancing through the Senate.

In a House Political Subdivisions Committee hearing Friday, March 7, each of the three bill sponsors said the funding reduction should be reconsidered.

“I personally don’t think it’s enough,” Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, said.

Primary sponsor Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, said the price tag should be returned to $50 million while the state is in the “best position” it’s ever been in financially.

“The viability of rural communities is important economically, but it is more important to preserve the base of our value system,” Mathern said. “Hard work, self resiliency and cooperation are values grown in rural North Dakota. We need more of this in our country.”

Sen. Terry Wanzek, R-Jamestown, also sponsored the bill.

Strengthen ND, a rural community development nonprofit, called the legislation the “rural trust” bill.

“It’s the product of over a decade worth of conversations with rural community leaders across North Dakota” said Megan Langley, executive director of Strengthen ND.

“Time and time again, I have received calls from rural communities in need of funding for projects,” she continued. “Time and time again, there was nowhere to refer them. The resource they needed simply did not exist.”

Nine people testified in favor of the bill during the hearing, and none stood in opposition.

In addition to the three legislators who sponsored the bill, those in support included the North Dakota Farmers Union, Strengthen ND, the League of Cities, Rolla Job Development Authority and the Roosevelt Custer and Red River regional councils.

Of the more than 40 testimony entries online, one opposed the bill.

The effort is duplicative, wrote Alexander Public Schools Superintendent Leslie Bieber, who added she supports more state funding going to rural communities.

A House floor vote has not been scheduled.