Summary — HB 1104 (North Dakota, 69th Legislative Assembly, 2025 session)
Status: Introduced November 12, 2024; withdrawn from further consideration (withdrawn January 10, 2025).
Purpose
- The bill’s primary purpose is to change the statutory name “job development authority” (and related phrases) to “economic development authority” throughout the North Dakota Century Code in a set of specified provisions. It is principally a nomenclature/terminology update rather than a substantive overhaul of authorities’ powers or duties.
Key provisions and changes
- Amends and reenacts language in multiple statutes to replace references to “job development authority” (or “job economic development authority” variants) with “economic development authority.” Affected statutory provisions include:
- Subsection 5 of section 10‑30.5‑02 (use of development fund moneys),
- Sections 11‑11.1‑01, 11‑11.1‑01.1, 11‑11.1‑02, 11‑11.1‑03, and 11‑11.1‑04 (county job/economic development authority creation, board composition, joint authorities, powers),
- Subdivision h of subsection 1 of section 40‑01.1‑04,
- Subsection 14 of section 57‑15‑06.7,
- Section 57‑15‑61.
- Retains existing programmatic references and authorities (e.g., county commissioners’ ability to create or discontinue an authority; board membership rules; ability to contract with active economic/industrial development organizations; levy authority and use of proceeds) while updating names to reflect “economic development.”
- Adds or clarifies cross‑references where necessary so statutory functions continue under the new name.
- In one instance (10‑30.5‑02), retains the authority for the development fund to be used to provide financing or matching grants/loans for licensed early childhood facilities; the statutory language is updated to reference “economic development authorities” and related entities.
Who is affected
- County governments and county commissioners (who create, discontinue, and oversee these authorities).
- Existing county job development authorities (they would be renamed “economic development authorities” by statute).
- Municipalities and regional planning councils that interact with or are represented on these authorities.
- Local economic/industrial development organizations, chambers of commerce, and entities that contract to perform development authority functions.
- Recipients of authority programs, including businesses, nonprofit and public entities, and licensed early childhood facilities that access matching funds or financing.
Procedural / timeline aspects
- Introduced Nov 12, 2024. Legislative records show the bill was withdrawn from further consideration on January 10, 2025; therefore it did not become law in this session.
- Because the bill is primarily a name-change across multiple statutory sections, had it advanced it would have required only statutory amendments (no new programs, funding authorizations, or implementation rules anticipated).
Impact note
- The bill is largely technical/housekeeping in nature: it standardizes terminology to “economic development authority.” No substantive change to powers, funding mechanisms, or governance is indicated in the text excerpts provided. Fiscal impact would likely have been minimal (administrative costs for updating documents, signage, web pages, etc.).
