Legislative Bulletin

January 30, 2007

Two pages broadcast fax

To:  North Dakota Elevator Managers and all Allied Members

SB 2365 is the bill requiring the PSC to do a study of grain grading procedures at North Dakota elevators.  In a typical year the PSC receives three complaints about elevator grain grading.  PSC estimates it will cost $125,000 to conduct this study.  This bill will be heard in the Senate Ag Committee on Friday February 2 at 9:45 a.m.  Steve Strege will be there to speak against it on behalf of NDGDA.  This is an open pubic hearing and anyone can come to testify.  Please let the NDGDA office know if you plan to do so.  Contacts can be made anytime with Senate Ag Committee members – Senators Flakoll of Fargo, Wanzek of Jamestown, Erbele of Lehr, Klein of Fessenden, Behm of Niagara, Heckaman of New Rockford, and Taylor of Towner.  Senators Wanzek and Taylor are sponsors.

HB 1470 is a Grain Dealers bill introduced by Representative Chet Pollert.  It corrects an unintended consequence of HB 1167 in the 2005 session.  North Dakota Century Code Section 60-02-31 now says elevators must tell receiptholders the elevator intends to sell all their grain when the storage contract expires, usually on June 30.  It is the elevator’s right to sell enough grain to pay accrued storage charges and to sell all the grain if it doesn’t intend to renew the storage contract.  But if the elevator and the farmer want to renew the storage contract there is no reason for the elevator to tell the farmer it intends to sell all his grain.  This is more of a housekeeping bill than anything.  It does combine a couple sections of the Code that have much duplicative language in them.  When we get done maybe even non-lawyers will be able to understand it!

HB 1181 lowers the credit sale indemnity fund cap from $10 million to $4 million.  The House Ag Committee will probably take action this week.  There will be an amendment to merge HB 1360 into 1181.  This will allow investment of the fund through the State Treasurer instead of the Bank of North Dakota, yielding a much better return.  Judging from the comments and questions at the hearing, the amendment will be adopted and the bill will be given a Do Pass recommendation.

HB 1338 started out saying if the receivables covered by a processor’s or supplier’s lien are sold, the priority would go with those.  This is a Farm Credit Services bill.  FCS testified it wants to know if those receivables could be sold and if the priority goes along.  It preferred that, but could live with it either way.  The bankers presented amendments saying those receivables could be sold but the priority would NOT go with them.  Their argument is that the supplier’s lien is a special deal designed for suppliers and should not become a commercially traded vehicle.  Grain Dealers agrees and is supporting the banker amendments.  When our liens were attacked by bankers in previous sessions we have always distinguished them as something separate and apart from a normal lender agreement.  These banker amendments continue that concept.  If the receivables covered by liens are to be traded with the priority attached there is less of a distinction. 

SCR 4014 proposes a Constitutional amendment to reduce the size of the Public Service Commission to one person by 2012.  SB 2383 appears to do the same.  Senator Mathern and Representative Gruchalla, both from Fargo, are sponsors.  These measures will be heard in the Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee on February 1 at 10:00 a.m. 

SCR 4009 proposes a Constitutional amendment to require every gasoline dealer to offer a ten percent ethanol blend and every diesel dealer to offer a two percent biodiesel blend.  Sponsors are Senator Heitkamp of Hankinson and Representative Nelson of Wolford.   

SB 2077 is a good PSC bill regarding weighing and measuring devices.  It passed the Senate 47-0.

SB 2139 orders a study of  North Dakota laws that relate to agriculture for the purpose of eliminating provisions that are irrelevant or duplicative, clarifying provisions that are inconsistent or unclear in their intent and direction, and rearranging provisions in a logical order.  Sounds like quite an undertaking.  This has passed the Senate 43-0. 

HB 1250 was a grant program of $5,000 per farmer for raising new or nontraditional crops.  It was killed in the House by a vote of 2-87. 

HB 1252 would have created a hybrid agricultural commercial truck license, allowing farm trucks to haul commercially for other farmers.  Sponsor Representative Kempenich said at the hearing it would legitimatize what’s going on already.  The bill received a 11-1 Do Not Pass recommendation in the House Transportation Committee and was killed in the House by a vote of 16-75. 

SB 2063 was a Soybean Council bill exempting organic soybeans from the checkoff.  It was killed in the Senate by a vote of 1-41.

STB RULES ON FUEL SURCHARGES

On January 26 the Surface Transportation Board issued its Final Rule regarding railroad fuel surcharges.  STB says it is an unreasonable practice for railroads to compute fuel surcharges in a manner that does not correlate with actual fuel costs for specific rail shipments.  Railroads can no longer use a percentage of rate surcharge.  Railroads are prohibited from double dipping, which means assessing a fuel surcharge on a movement to which an existing rate escalator such as the Rail Cost Adjustment Factor applies.  The RCAF includes a fuel component.  One thing the STB did NOT order is use of a uniform fuel index by all railroads.  Shippers had called for that for purposes of comparison and transparency.  The STB is still working on reporting requirements for railroads regarding their fuel usage and costs.  STB Vice Chairman Douglas Buttrey dissented from the portion of the Board’s decision pertaining to a fuel index.  He would have mandated a single, well-recognized index for use in calculation of fuel surcharges.