State Treasurer Thomas Bridal told the Transportation Committee that House Bill 1065 would revise how the township portion of the County and Township Infrastructure Fund is distributed, moving from equal per-township shares to a mileage-based formula.

"This fund was created during the 2019 legislative session," Thomas Bridal, North Dakota State Treasurer, told the committee, describing the fund as part of the oil-and-gas production tax revenue "waterfall" commonly called Operation Prairie Dog. He said the overall county-and-township bucket can total $115,000,000 during a biennium, and the township share is set at 13 percent, or about $14,950,000.

Bridal said the current equal-share approach produces a remainder when the dollar amount does not divide evenly among townships and, more importantly, does not align distribution with maintenance needs. "Right now, under current law, we give the same dollar amount to a township whether they have 1 mile or 20 miles," Bridal said, arguing a mileage basis would better reflect road-maintenance needs and make the distribution process cleaner for his office.

He provided a county-by-county impact breakdown that shows some counties would receive less under the mileage approach while others would receive more. Bridal noted Stark County sometimes does not qualify; when it does not, its roughly $360,000 share is redistributed to qualifying counties.

Committee members raised implementation and fairness questions. Senator Rummel asked whether per-mile funding properly accounts for road condition or pavement type; Bridal said the committee could not practically execute a more granular formula tied to pavement condition and that a pure mileage numerator/denominator method is administrable. On reporting, Bridal said township distributions under Prairie Dog carry no reporting requirement: counties or organized townships receive funds for infrastructure use without subsequent spending reports.

Testimony supporting the bill came from stakeholders. Larry Severson of the North Dakota Township Officers Association said the mileage formula "indicates the townships that are using the most funds to maintain the most roads. We think that's the most equitable method of doing it." Jenny Dietzmann of the Association of Counties said counties administer funds for unorganized townships and that the counties support the mileage-based distribution.

After public testimony the committee voted. A motion for a do pass on engrossed House Bill 1065 was made and seconded; the roll call showed Senators Paulson, Romo, Clemens (chair), Vice Chair Corey, Hogan and Klein voting aye. The motion passed; Senator Paulson agreed to carry the bill.