North Dakota lawmakers to propose Legacy Fund Transparency Act

BISMARCK — Three Republican lawmakers from District 12 plan to bring legislation during the 2025 legislation session to require the state to publish all investments of Legacy Fund money online.

The Legacy Fund was established by a constitutional amendment approved by North Dakota voters in 2010. It’s supported by the state’s oil taxes and is intended to be a source of perpetual revenue for the state. As of June, the fund’s value was nearly $11 billion.

The State Investment Board currently does not disclose specifics about all of the Legacy Fund’s investments.

Sen. Cole Conley, Rep. Bernie Satrom and Rep. Mitch Ostlie, all of Jamestown, said they’re concerned the money could be supporting governments or businesses that oppose North Dakota’s interests, and that this legislation is needed in order to bring such information to light. In 2022, the State Investment Board voted to divest public money including Legacy Fund dollars from Russia.

“When we invest our principal, we need to have principles,” Satrom told the North Dakota Monitor.

In response to a records request asking for all of the Legacy Fund’s foreign and domestic investments by Bismarck attorney Tory Jackson earlier this year, the state disclosed it had roughly $160 million of the fund invested in what it called the “Emerging Markets Region,” more than $520 million in the “Global Region” and nearly $46 million in the “International Region,” among other holdings.

Jackson requested an attorney general’s opinion regarding the response to his request.

“The public and the media should not have to file a formal open records request to see where their money is being invested all around the world,” Conley said in a statement.

The state Retirement and Investment Office administers the Legacy Fund, following the direction of the State Investment Board.

Retirement and Investment Office Executive Director Jan Murtha on Monday said she hadn’t seen any proposed legislation, so she could not comment on it.

“It is the role of the Legislature to create the state laws applicable to the Legacy Fund, and the Retirement and Investment Office adheres to the law and will adhere to any changes to the law,” she said.

Murtha told the North Dakota Monitor previously that the state already publishes a lot of Legacy Fund-related data, but some information must be kept under wraps in order to protect the state’s ability to invest. For example, it cannot identify the investments of specific fund managers because that could expose those managers’ investment strategies, which is considered confidential commercial information.

She also noted that the Legacy Fund’s holdings are always changing, so if the state were to publicize all of its investments, it would have to update the list constantly.

Lt. Gov Tammy Miller, who chairs the State Investment Board, has also disputed the claim that the Legacy Fund is not transparent.

In a gubernatorial debate with U.S. Rep. Kelly Armstrong in April, Miller noted that North Dakotans can already find a lot of information about the Legacy Fund online. The office publishes monthly financial statements and performance reports.

“We have great transparency with the Legacy Fund,” she said at the time.

Armstrong has said during debates that the public should not need to make an open records request to access information about the Legacy Fund.

The North Dakota Legislature passed a bill in 2021 requiring the state to invest a certain amount of the Legacy Fund into the state.

North Dakota’s current target is to invest up to $1.3 billion of the fund in-state.

Satrom and Conley both said that while they consider the in-state investment program a step in the right direction, they both want to see even more of the Legacy Fund put back into the state’s economy.

“We should be investing in our future,” Satrom said.

The lawmakers are still working on a bill draft, Conley said in an email.

District 12 encompasses most of Jamestown as well as land east and northeast of the city.

The three lawmakers are all running for reelection for their respective seats this election season. The House members are running unopposed. Democrat Olivia Schloegel is running against Conley for Senate.

This story was originally published on NorthDakotaMonitor.com