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HB 1461

Agriculture; Oklahoma Agriculture Act of 2025; effective date.

2025 Regular Session Introduced by John Kane

Creates a state tribal health care coordination fund with ongoing distributions to tribes for essential public health services and CHR programs, overseen by audits and reports.

Second Reading referred to Rules
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Bill Summary · HB 1461

HB 1461 — Summary (North Dakota version)

Title: An Act to amend and reenact subsection 3 of section 50‑24.1‑40 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the tribal health care coordination fund

Status: Withdrawn from further consideration (indefinitely postponed 2025)

Introduced: November 22, 2024

Purpose and intent

The bill would revise subsection 3 of NDCC § 50‑24.1‑40 to formalize the operation, distribution rules, oversight, and reporting requirements for a newly created "tribal health care coordination fund" in the state treasury. Its aim is to provide a continuing appropriation for targeted distributions to tribal governments to support public‑health activities and community health representative programs while establishing controls on allowable uses and auditing.

Key provisions

  • Creates (or reaffirms) a tribal health care coordination fund in the state treasury and appropriates money in the fund to “the department” on a continuing basis for distribution to tribal governments under written agreements.
  • Requires agreements between the department and each tribe to:
    • Limit use of distributed funds to purposes related to the 10 essential public health services (per CDC) and to development/enhancement of community health representative programs or services.
    • Restrict use for capital construction to no more than 50% of distributions through June 30, 2025, and no more than 35% thereafter.
    • Require annual reports from the tribe detailing use of funds.
    • Require an independent CPA audit of tribal use at least every two years (tribes may pay audit costs); tribes may elect more frequent audits.
  • Distribution mechanics:
    • Distributions to tribes would be proportional to federal funding received from care‑coordination agreement requests originating within that tribal nation.
    • Department will make distributions at least annually after any required auditing/verification actions.
  • Enforcement/oversight:
    • The department may withhold distributions if a tribe fails to file timely annual reports or audits.
    • If an audit or departmental review finds misuse of funds, future distributions to that tribe will be withheld in an amount equal to the improperly used funds; withheld funds may be restored if later audit shows compliance.

Who is affected

  • Tribal governments in North Dakota that receive state tribal health coordination funding.
  • The state department charged by statute to administer distributions and oversight (referred to in the bill simply as “the department”).
  • Community health representative programs and other tribal public‑health activities supported by the fund.

Procedural / timeline notes

  • Introduced Nov 22, 2024.
  • Advanced through committee activity in early 2025 (committee referrals and hearings are recorded).
  • Ultimately reported as indefinitely postponed/withdrawn from further consideration (May 3, 2025), so it did not become law in this session.

Potential effects

  • Would have provided a stable, continuing funding mechanism to tribes for public‑health and community health representative services, with specific audit and reporting obligations intended to increase transparency and accountability.
  • Capital construction limitations would prioritize programmatic/public‑health service spending over infrastructure.
  • Administrative burden on tribes to meet reporting/audit requirements; administrative workload for the state department to verify audits and manage proportional distributions.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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