State of North Dakota

OFFICE OF STATE TREASURER

Kelly L. Schmidt, State Treasurer

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July 17, 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Andrea W. Collin, Deputy & Director of Communications
701-328-2643

SCHMIDT: Record high deposit made to Legacy Fund this month
BISMARCK, N.D. State Treasurer Kelly Schmidt will make a record high deposit into North Dakotas
Legacy Fund this month. The amount of nearly $112 million includes a first-time deposit this year of more than
$23 million initially intended for the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund (SIIF).
Schmidt says the law establishing SIIF provides that if the unobligated balance exceeds $300 million at the end
of any month, 25 percent of any revenues received for deposit must be deposited in the Legacy Fund. The fund
reached this trigger in the 2011-13 biennium, resulting in $148.7 million in additional deposits to the Legacy
Fund. The $300 million trigger was reached this year in June.
Through May, deposits to the Legacy Fund totaled $2 billion, and with this months deposit Schmidt says the
total transfers into the fund to date are more than $2.207 billion. The Legacy Fund, which reached $1 billion in
April 2013, was created in 2010 by a vote of the people, and received its first deposit of $34.3 million in
September 2011. Until this month, the monthly deposits have ranged from $32 million to $93 million. The Fund
is invested by the State Investment Board in a broad range of assets, including stocks, bonds, real estate and
infrastructure.
Under Article 10, Section 26 of the North Dakota Constitution, 30 percent of state revenue derived from North
Dakotas oil and gas extraction and gross production taxes are deposited into the Legacy Fund.
Schmidt says neither the principal nor the income of the Legacy Fund may be spent prior to July 1, 2017. The
legislation establishing the fund requires that income earned after this date will be transferred to the state
General Fund at the end of each two-year budget cycle, she says. To spend any principal of the fund will
require a two-thirds majority vote of both the House and Senate.
The mission of the Office of State Treasurer is to fulfill its constitutional and statutory responsibilities, to assure
sound financial oversight and transparency to all public funds, and to promote prudent practices in government.
Learn more at www.nd.gov/ndtreas.

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