Senate Bill 2021 passed the North Dakota Senate unanimously with a recorded 46 ayes, 0 nays and 1 absent not voting.

Sponsor Senator Tim Davison described the bill’s amendment as effectively the budget for the North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) department and said it covers salaries, pooling, and multiple operating adjustments across fund sources. The amendment functions as the bill in this case, he said.

Key allocations cited on the floor include $608,000 added for the State Interoperable Radio Network (SIRN), $4,100,000 for cybersecurity network enhancements and $391,000 for an EduTech training application. Davison said NDIT’s funding is a mix of special funds, federal funds and general fund dollars; he noted the department will draw down an existing $37,000,000 reserve before using newly appropriated general funds.

Davison also explained that a 50-cent fee on cell phones yields about $4.5 million per biennium for the SIRN program and that an additional $147,000,000 originates from federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act capital for broadband work, with a required state match of $487,000. The bill includes exemptions that allow NDIT to spend previously appropriated federal coronavirus capital project dollars for broadband (about $45,000,000) and other enterprise digitalization project funds that have not yet been spent.

The bill also seeks continuing appropriation authority for certain internal rental/transfer arrangements to avoid double-counting in the state budget; Davison said the House will further consider transparency concerns. The engrossed bill amends and reenacts sections 54-59-14 and 54-59-15 of the North Dakota Century Code and provides appropriation and transfer language.

The Senate recorded a final tally of 46 ayes, 0 nays, 1 absent not voting; the bill is passed.