BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – Legislators on both sides of the aisle sparred yesterday during an interim budget section hearing over authorizing federal funding to support North Dakota’s weatherization assistance program. The effort to bring an additional $19 million of Infrastructure and Jobs Act money to the state failed on a 15-18 vote, despite a number of Republicans joining the committee’s Democrats in supporting it.
Outgoing Senate majority leader, Republican Rich Wardner of Dickinson, voted yes and led the bipartisan effort to authorize the funding.
“It’s going right to the bottom line, helping people weatherize their house – low income people. Getting the money there as soon as possible I think is important,” Wardner said.
The Division of Community Service within the state’s Department of Commerce administers the program, working with eight regional Community Action Agencies. The program works to increase the energy efficiency of homes owned or occupied by low-income residents, reducing energy expenditures, and improving the health and safety of the home. Each household is visited by an energy auditor who decides which conservation measures will be most effective for the home, which ranges from from insulation to new windows and doors to heating and cooling unit installation or repair.
The funding authorization would not have required any kind of matching dollars from the state.
House Appropriations chair, Republican Jeff Delzer of Underwood, led the opposition to authorizing the money.
“There was talk about about the federal government…you know ‘if we don’t take it, it might go back.’ Well, you know, tell you what: we’re in pretty good shape in this state, and maybe it’s time to start sending some money back to the feds and then asking them to put that against debt reduction, because our federal government is driving inflation with a lot of these funds,” Delzer said.
Some opponents said it was inappropriate to authorize this type of funding in the interim, and that the full legislature should have the chance to review it. Others, like Republican Rep. Keith Kempenich of Bowman, suggested the funding would come with requirements to focus on conservation rather than weatherization.
“I’m guessing there’s a lot of little hooks in here coming from the feds on how this money’s being used,” Kempenich said.
Maria Effertz Hanson is the head of the state Division of Community Services. She said while the dollars might not be available later, her team will try again during the regular session of the legislature to secure additional funding for the program, because there is an opportunity to serve more North Dakotans in need.
“Those dollars are sitting, ready for us to take. If we don’t take them, some other entity somewhere else probably would use them, but that would mean less opportunity to help communities. It (the funding) all goes into helping local people of need, using local contractors, and helping lowering heating costs, so eventually we don’t have as much of a need out in our communities with individuals, and we have better homes,” she said.
House minority leader, Democrat Josh Boschee of Fargo, said rejecting the funding was a disappointing missed opportunity.
“I work in real estate. Not only has this program directly improved the quality of living for people – whether they are my neighbors or clients that I’ve worked with – I can tell you it’s improved their homes, so it’s an asset that is also better able to be transferred to another owner and taken care of in our community. While I understand that there might be a philosophical difference in the fact that this is federal money that we might not be asking for, this is money that is coming to us and if we don’t accept it, it’s going to go elsewhere so why not take care of North Dakotans, and our neighborhoods and our communities here, while we can…why would we give this back so that Minnesota or California or Nebraska can get this money because we rejected it?” Boschee said in a floor statement.
