Committee recommends do‑not‑pass on bill to lock TrainND distribution formula; members want to see implementation first

The Senate Workforce Development Committee recommended a do‑not‑pass on Senate Bill 2,131, a bill that would have placed a recently adopted TrainND funding distribution formula into statute. Committee members said the Department of Career and Technical Education board (TrainND governance) adopted a policy in December to redistribute a longstanding $2,000,000 appropriation among the regions, but implementation had not yet occurred.

Witness Wade Sicks, State Director for the Department of Career and Technical Education, told the committee that the board adopted the policy in December and it is scheduled for implementation in fiscal year 2025‑26. Committee members said the distribution has not been in statute for many years (the prior statutory allocation dated to 1999) and that the board had not shown a pattern of capricious redistribution; several senators favored waiting to see how the board’s policy worked in practice before codifying it into statute.

One senator moved a do‑not‑pass recommendation to avoid premature statutory change; the motion carried on roll call. A committee member noted that if problems arise with implementation the Legislature could revisit the issue next session. The committee recorded the do‑not‑pass recommendation and that senator Larson would carry the measure if reintroduced.