A joint House–Senate conference committee met to reconcile differences in House Bill 1018, focusing on one-time appropriations that include funding for a military gallery expansion at the North Dakota Heritage Center and several community grant line items.

Senator Meyer, presenting the Senate’s changes, told conferees the Senate reduced State Investment Fund (SIF) support for the military gallery expansion from $20,000,000 to $15,000,000. "This was a reduction of $5,000,000 from 20,000,000 in SIF to 15,000,000 in SIF," Senator Meyer said. He said the Senate planned for SIF dollars to pay off a roughly $4,200,000 balance on a line of credit rather than split repayment between donations and SIF funds.

The reduction and proposed contingency language were part of a broader list of Senate edits to the bill’s one-time funding section. Senator Meyer walked conferees through other changes included on the long sheet: Madora area planning funding moved from the House amount to $2,000,000 in the Senate version; the Fargo historic theater grant was reduced to $250,000 with a 1-to-1 local match requirement because it is a larger community, while smaller communities would carry a 1-to-2 match; and the proposed $1,000,000 trolley allocation was removed.

The Senate also halved funding proposed for celebration activities tied to America’s 250th from $2,000,000 to $1,000,000. Senator Meyer said an email from Dr. Peterson noted organizers still estimated about $1,000,000 in additional needs, including approximately $600,000 for a governor’s gallery exhibit, $50,000 per position, and $75,000 for a consultant.

Representative Hansen, identified in the committee as a budget carrier, asked whether the Senate had discussed the project’s cash-flow sequencing—specifically whether SIF or the line of credit would be used first for the military museum. "Was there any discussion related to the military museum, and the project related to the cash flow of using SIF versus the line of credit in a certain order and how that might be, optimal for the project?" Representative Hansen asked. Senator Meyer replied there had been no direction given on order of use; the Senate’s primary discussion focused on reducing SIF exposure because the fund was heavily committed.

Committee members also debated contingency language tied to donor pledges. Senator Meyer said the Senate had included a provision tying SIF access to a percentage of pledged donations — originally described as 50% of donations that were pledged but not yet collected. He provided examples showing how different percentages of pledged donations would translate into available dollars given roughly $38,774,524 in total donations and about $10,000,000 currently pledged: at 40% the figure would be about $15,509,000; at 33% about $12,795,000; at 30% about $11,623,000.

Senator Meyer described a proposed memorandum of agreement between the historical society and the adjutant general to set policy on public displays, signage, and museum content for the military gallery inside the North Dakota Heritage Center Building, and said the regimental room would be named the North Dakota National Guard regimental room in the Senate draft. He also noted the Senate added an emergency clause in section 11 of its draft to allow paying off the line of credit immediately to avoid further interest payments.

No formal votes or final decisions were recorded at the meeting. Committee members agreed to secure printed copies of the bill language and to meet again; scheduling will be handled through staff. The chair adjourned the session and asked members to check schedules for the next meeting.

Votes at a glance: No formal motions or roll-call votes on the bill were taken during this session; conferees discussed Senate amendments and outstanding language.