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HB 1461

An Act amending the act of March 10, 1949 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949, providing for the Career and Technical Education Investment Incentive Program.

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Marc Anderson and 11 co-sponsors

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.

Referred to Finance
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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Status: Withdrawn from further consideration (indefinitely postponed 2025)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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