Bill
HB 1591
Provides a one-time $1.5 million grant program to strengthen county agricultural fairs through planning, design, and infrastructure, with 2:1 state to local match.
Status: Enacted April 2025 (signed by Governor Apr 17, 2025; filed with Secretary of State Apr 21, 2025). Declared an emergency (effective immediately upon enactment).
Purpose
- Provide one‑time state grant funding to strengthen county agricultural fairs through planning, design, and construction of infrastructure projects that increase resiliency.
Key provisions
- Appropriation: $1,500,000 one‑time, from the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund to the Agriculture Commissioner for a County Fair Resiliency Grant Program.
- Program period: From the Act’s effective date through June 30, 2027.
- Eligible recipients: County agriculture fair associations.
- Use of funds: Planning, design, and construction of infrastructure projects (program language is general; specific eligible project types will be set by the commissioner’s guidelines).
- Award limits: No more than $100,000 may be awarded to any single county agriculture fair association.
- Matching requirement: Recipients must provide $1 of matching funds from nonstate sources for every $2 of grant funding received (i.e., recipient must provide 50% of the grant amount; match may be cash or in‑kind). The Agriculture Commissioner will issue guidelines for distributing grants and specifying acceptable match types.
- One‑time item: Funding is explicitly identified as one‑time.
Scale and leverage (simple math)
- At $100,000 maximum awards, $1.5 million could fund up to 15 grants.
- Match requirement means recipients would collectively contribute up to $750,000 (15 × $50,000), yielding up to $2.25 million in total project investment (state grants + local match).
Administration and timeline
- The Agriculture Commissioner is responsible for creating program guidelines, verifying matches (including in‑kind), and awarding grants during the program period that ends June 30, 2027.
- Because the Act contains an emergency clause, the program and appropriation take effect immediately upon the governor’s approval (April 2025).
Who is affected
- Primary: county agricultural fair associations that operate county fairs and own/maintain fairgrounds infrastructure.
- Secondary: local contractors, vendors, and communities that benefit from improved fair facilities.
- Administrative: North Dakota Department of Agriculture (program administration).
Notes
- Earlier drafts/versions of the bill proposed different funding amounts and sources (initial house version proposed $3,000,000 from the general fund and different matching). The enacted version reduces the appropriation to $1,500,000, moves the source to the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund, and sets the 2:1 state:local grant/match ratio described above.
- This summary addresses North Dakota HB 1591 (Sixty‑ninth Legislative Assembly). Other states may have unrelated bills numbered 1591; those are not covered here.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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