190: Investing the Legacy Fund in North Dakota

North Dakota's Legacy Fund, since it was created by the Legislature and approved by voters in 2010, has turned a slice of the state's oil tax revenues into a nearly $8 billion balance.

That balance is invested in stocks and bonds across the nation, and the world, including in some ways that, as a moral matter, we shouldn't be happy about.

Almost none of it is invested in North Dakota.

Rep. Mike Nathe wants to change that. Or, at least, the part where practically none of these North Dakota tax dollars are invested in North Dakota.

He has proposed legislation that, if passed, would require that 20 percent of the Legacy Fund's balance (he pins that number at about $1.4 billion) would be earmarked for investment in North Dakota. It would be available as capital not just for companies and start-ups, but also for infrastructure.

He talked about the proposal on this episode of Plain Talk.

North Dakota has long been plagued by a shortage of capital. It's hard for companies that want to do business in our companies to find investment. Economic diversification is another long-standing issue dilemma for the state. While our most dominant industries, agriculture and energy, have created no small amount of prosperity here, they're also commodity-based and prone to volatility. The state's leaders have long seen this as having our eggs in too few baskets, but a solution hasn't been obvious.

Nathe's bill, which has broad support including from legislative leadership, is aimed squarely at those problems. Not only would companies looking to operate in the state have access to more capital, but the funds could also be invested in cheaper financing for needed infrastructure (think things like sewage plants and bridges).

Since the state would essentially be lending money to itself, that process would be faster and less of a financial burden to taxpayers.

What better use could there be for the Legacy Fund than to address some of North Dakota's legacy problems?