North Dakota voters split on Legacy Fund spending limit
A voter fills out a ballot at the Hillside Aquatic Complex in Bismarck on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
North Dakota voters were split Tuesday on whether to further limit the amount of the North Dakota Legacy Fund available for legislators to spend.
About 52% of voters supported Measure 3 in early, unofficial results.
This measure would reduce how much of the Legacy Fund principal that legislators can spend from 15% to 5% during the state's two-year budget cycle. It was placed on the ballot by the Legislature.
The change would give the state more investment options for the 10% that had previously been available in case lawmakers decided to spend it. The Legislature has never spent any of the Legacy Fund principal.
The state's Legacy Fund, which collects some of North Dakota's oil tax revenue, was valued at nearly $11 billion in June. North Dakotans approved a constitutional amendment establishing the Legacy Fund in 2010.
poll of 500 North Dakota voters commissioned by the North Dakota News Cooperative this fall found that 47% were undecided about Measure 3 — the highest percentage of undecided voters on any measure.
The next legislative session begins in January.
