This constitutional ballot measure would limit how much of the Legacy Fund principal that legislators can spend.
The current policy for the state’s oil tax savings account allows lawmakers to spend up to 15% of the Legacy Fund principal during a two-year budget cycle. State Treasure Thomas Beadle has compared that to keeping cash under a mattress because the state has to keep that 15% in low-risk, liquid securities in case the Legislature decides to spend it.
The ballot measure would reduce the spending threshold to 5% of the principal.
North Dakota lawmakers voted in 2023 to place this on the ballot. There was no testimony in opposition during the legislative session.
The text of the measure reads:
This constitutional measure would amend and reenact section 26 of article X of the Constitution of North Dakota, relating to spending and transfers from the legacy fund. The measure intends to decrease the amount of principal available for spending each biennium and clarify the distributions from the legacy fund. The proposed amendments would require transfers and earnings accruing prior to July 1, 2017 to be deemed as the principal of the legacy fund; reduce the amount of the principal of the legacy fund available to be expended during a biennium from fifteen percent to five percent; require the state investment board to invest the moneys in the legacy fund, not limited to the principal; and on July first of odd-numbered years, require the state treasurer to make a distribution of the legacy fund earnings into a legacy earnings fund.
This Measure Would
- Reduce how much of the Legacy Fund’s principal can be spent by the Legislature from 15% during a two-year budget cycle to 5%.
- Improve investment opportunities for the Legacy Fund, valued at nearly $11 billion in June.
- Define the principal of the Legacy Fund to include transfers and earnings accrued before July 1, 2017.
