Sixty-ninth Legislative Assembly of North Dakota
In Regular Session Commencing Tuesday, January 7, 2025
HOUSE BILL NO. 1332
(Representatives Hagert, Brandenburg, Grueneich, Headland, Ista, Lefor, O'Brien, K. Anderson)
(Senators Meyer, Myrdal, Patten, Thomas)
AN ACT to amend and reenact section 4.1-01.1-07 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to a
value-added agriculture facility incentive program; to provide for a transfer; to provide an
expiration date; and to declare an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF NORTH DAKOTA:
SECTION 1. AMENDMENT. Section 4.1-01.1-07 of the North Dakota Century Code is amended
and reenacted as follows:
4.1-01.1-07. Agriculture diversification and development fund - Continuing appropriation.
1.There is created in the state treasury the agriculture diversification and development fund. The
fund consists of all moneys transferred to the fund by the legislative assembly, interest upon
moneys in the fund, and payments of interest and principal on loans made from the fund.
Moneys in the fund are appropriated to the Bank of North Dakota on a continuing basis for
loan disbursements and administrative costs pursuant to this section, and moneys in the fund
are appropriated to the agriculture commissioner on a continuing basis for grants and value-
added agriculture facility incentive funding pursuant to this section and section 4.1-01-27. The
agriculture diversification and development committee shall designate the amount available
from the fund for loans, interest rate buydowns, and grants, and value-added agriculture
facility incentive funding.
2.Loans, interest rate buydowns, or grants under subsections 3 and 4 may be issued from the
fund to support new or expanding value-added agriculture businesses that demonstrate
financial feasibility, enhance profitability for farmers and ranchers, create jobs, and grow the
state's economy. Grants under section 4.1-01-27 may be issued from the fund for
infrastructure improvements necessary for the development or expansion of new or existing
value-added agriculture businesses. Value-added agriculture businesses include food
production or processing facilities; feed or pet food processing facilities; commodity
processing facilities; agriculture product manufacturers; and animal agriculture production
facilities, including swine, poultry, dairy, and feed lot production facilities.
3.The Bank of North Dakota shall develop policies for loans and interest rate buydowns from the
fund in consultation with the agriculture diversification and development committee. The Bank
shall review loan applications. To be eligible for a loan under this section, an entity shall agree
to provide the Bank with information as requested. The Bank may develop policies for loan
participation with local financial institutions. The Bank shall deposit in the fund all principal and
interest paid on the outstanding loans. The Bank may use a portion of the interest paid as a
servicing fee to pay for administrative costs, which may not exceed one-half of one percent of
the amount of the outstanding loans. The fund must be audited annually pursuant to section
6-09-29, and the cost of the audit must be paid from the fund.
4.The agricultural diversification and development committee shall develop policies for grants
from the fund to support new or expanding value-added agriculture businesses, including
eligibility criteria, maximum grant amounts, and reporting requirements. Based on
recommendations from the agricultural diversification and development committee, the
agriculture commissioner shall distribute the grant funding. H. B. NO. 1332 - PAGE 2
5.The agricultural diversification and development committee shall develop a value-added
agriculture production facility incentive program to provide grants. Grant award funding for the
value-added agriculture production facility incentive program under this subsection is limited to
thirty million dollars.
a.To be eligible for a grant award under the value-added agriculture production facility
incentive program, the production facility must:
(1)Be located within the state;
(2)Be a new construction project on an industrial-ready site with access to existing
municipal infrastructure;
(3)Have capital investment of at least three hundred fifty million dollars and leverage
regional agricultural producer capital investment to support the facility's operations;
(4)Have a competing offer from at least one other midwestern state;
(5)Produce a new agriculture product or variant of an existing agriculture product to
provide a domestic supply of the product and to diversify the market for agriculture
products; and
(6)Have an estimated economic contribution of at least twenty million dollars when fully
operational based on an economic analysis conducted by the Bank.
b.Grant funding under the program is a reimbursement for infrastructure, site acquisition, or
other capital expenditures necessary for the value-added agriculture facility construction,
including natural gas supply, electricity supply, roads, water lines, wastewater lines, storm
water conveyance, or rail lines.
c.Upon issuance of a certificate of occupancy for the value-added agriculture production
facility, the agriculture commissioner shall distribute a grant equal to fifty percent of the
total grant award from funding available in the agriculture diversification and development
fund.
d.Upon achieving fifty percent of the production capacity of the value-added agriculture
production facility, the agriculture commissioner shall distribute the remainder of the grant
award from funding available in the agriculture diversification and development fund.
e.The Bank of North Dakota may extend a line of credit of up to thirty million dollars to the
agriculture commissioner to support a grant from the fund under this subsection. The
interest rate associated with the line of credit must be the prevailing interest rate charged
to North Dakota governmental entities.
f.If the agriculture diversification and development committee approves a grant under this
subsection, the agriculture commissioner may access the line of credit under this
subsection through June 30, 2029, to provide funding for the grant. Any moneys
borrowed from the Bank pursuant to this subsection must be transferred to the fund. If
the agriculture commissioner accesses the line of credit, the commissioner shall request
from the legislative assembly a deficiency appropriation to repay the line of credit.
SECTION 2. EXPIRATION DATE. This Act is effective through June 30, 2029, and after that date is
ineffective.
SECTION 3. EMERGENCY. This Act is declared to be an emergency measure. H. B. NO. 1332 - PAGE 3
____________________________ ____________________________
Speaker of the House President of the Senate
____________________________ ____________________________
Chief Clerk of the House Secretary of the Senate
This certifies that the within bill originated in the House of Representatives of the Sixty-ninth Legislative
Assembly of North Dakota and is known on the records of that body as House Bill No. 1332 and that
two-thirds of the members-elect of the House of Representatives voted in favor of said law.
Vote: Yeas 76 Nays 17 Absent 1
____________________________ ____________________________
Speaker of the House Chief Clerk of the House
This certifies that two-thirds of the members-elect of the Senate voted in favor of said law.
Vote: Yeas 42 Nays 5 Absent 0
____________________________ ____________________________
President of the Senate Secretary of the Senate
Received by the Governor at ________M. on _____________________________________, 2025.
Approved at ________M. on __________________________________________________, 2025.
____________________________
Governor
Filed in this office this ___________day of _______________________________________, 2025,
at ________ o’clock ________M.
____________________________
Secretary of State