BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota’s Legislature is considering a resolution that would require a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate to spend earnings from the state’s oil tax savings account.
The resolution sponsored by Democratic Rep. Corey Mock has broad bipartisan support from legislative leaders.
Voters in 2010 endorsed a constitutional amendment that requires setting aside 30 percent of state tax revenues on oil and natural gas production in the Legacy Fund. Currently, a two-thirds vote of the fund is needed to spend any of the fund’s principal.
Mock told a Senate committee on Monday that the same threshold should be applied to the fund’s earnings.
Mock says earnings should be “retained and reinvested” instead of automatically going into the state’s general fund for lawmakers to spend.
