988 Fee Dropped From N.D. Bill Amid Industry Opposition

North Dakota House appropriators wrestled with how to pay for 988 after legislators stripped a proposed 30-cent fee on phone bills from a funding bill (SB-2149). Industry opposed the surcharge, which would have applied to landline and postpaid cellphones, Rep. Craig Headland (R) said at a livestreamed House Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. “The pushback ... was that those bills are already loaded up with fees.” North Dakota Public Service Chairman Randy Christmann (R) shared similar concerns with lawmakers, said Headland. The bill now proposes a $2 million appropriation from the general fund, but the authors “still don’t know what the right number is,” conceded Headland: A 30-cent fee would have generated about $4.2 million. Committee member John Nelson (D) suggested funding the program through the health and human services budget at an even smaller amount: “We need another $2 million added to that budget about as badly as we need more snow in Bismarck right now.” North Dakota must make sure it adequately funds 988, said Rep. Karla Hanson (D): “North Dakota has a huge suicide problem.”