Senator Sorebach, carrying Senate Bill 2003, told the Senate the measure provides the higher education budget for the North Dakota University System and related units and asked colleagues to concur after the Appropriations Committee gave it a due pass.

The bill funds the state's 11 public higher education institutions (including the University of North Dakota Medical Center), the university system office and the forest service and contains a mix of formula adjustments, student aid increases, challenge grants and capital project authorizations. "This budget includes our 11 institutions, UND Medical Center, the university system, and the system, and the forest service," Senator Sorebach said on the floor.

Why it matters: the bill adjusts the state funding formula used to allocate operating dollars, provides one-time and ongoing increases to student financial-assistance programs and authorizes both state investment-finance (SIF) spending for specified capital projects and non-state financed institutional projects.

Major provisions and dollar amounts in the bill include:
- Student financial assistance: the bill increases an ongoing grant program by $2,000,000 (described on the floor as an addition to an approximately $29.09 million base).
- Tribal college grants: an additional $200,000 to expand scholarship access for non‑enrolled students to tribal colleges.
- Funding-formula adjustments and hold‑harmless provisions: the bill continues statutory hold‑harmless protections (96% floor) for institutions such as Williston and Valley City and removes averaging of certain formula factors for the coming biennium.
- Operating formula increase: committee staff placed a 4% increase into the formula as the biennial adjustment; on the floor Senator Sorebach described that as an added $444,000,000 in the formula base to address operating and salary adjustments.
- Capital projects (SIF-authorized): $63,000,000 in SIF dollars to support two building projects (an $8,132,000 multi-project package for Williston and a $55,640,000 phase of the UND STEM project); Mayville’s Old Main project appears in the bill at approximately $34,924,000. Senator Sorebach noted that some institutional projects listed in the bill are funded with non‑state sources (revenue bonds, donations, student fees).
- Research, computing and program investments: increases to the high-performance computing allocation (from $5 million to $7 million, split between NDSU and UND), $12,000,000 toward NDSU’s New Horizons program, and a $950,000 Emerald Ash Borer mitigation allocation for the forest service.
- Workforce and capital grant restructuring: the bill creates or funds a $12,000,000 workforce-education innovation grant program limited to nine institutions (explicitly excluding UND and NDSU from applying); it expands tier 3 capital funding from $9,000,000 to $16,500,000 and relaxes matching requirements for smaller institutions to increase access.

Debate and floor amendments
A floor amendment (amendment 25.0170.02001) to add the two private institutions — the University of Jamestown and the University of Mary — to the challenge-grant program and to provide $750,000 each from SIF was offered and debated. "This particular amendment would go exclusively to scholarships for students," the amendment sponsor, Senator Wanzek, said, arguing the funds would benefit students whose parents pay state taxes. Senator Sorebach opposed the change on committee and floor grounds, saying the challenge-grant program is designed to strengthen public institutions and that existing privately targeted scholarships already can follow students. The verification roll call on that amendment was 22 ayes, 24 nays; the amendment failed.

Action: After debate and the failed private‑school amendment, the Senate adopted the proposed committee amendment to the bill earlier in the day and later voted on final passage. Final passage tally for Senate Bill 2003: 44 ayes, 2 nays, 1 absent/not voting. The bill passed the Senate.

Discussion vs. decision: the body debated both programmatic policy and technical drafting (Sorebach noted a typographical reference to "general fund" that should read SIF), but the Senate’s recorded actions — the failed private‑school amendment and the final passage vote — are formal and reflected in the bill’s passage.

What’s next: the bill will be transmitted to the House for its consideration and any further amendments or conference work.

Ending: Sponsors emphasized student affordability and institutional stability as the bill’s primary goals. Senator Sorebach framed the work as an attempt "to keep it affordable and we want 11 healthy institutions for our students and for the state of North Dakota."