(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota has launched a new website aiming to make Legacy Fund investments more transparent to the public.
The long-awaited website allows users to see where and how the state has invested taxpayer money through the Legacy Fund, a sovereign wealth fund fueled by oil taxes, which is valued at $15 billion.
“We’re creating the transparency we’re looking for,” said Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, who chairs the Legacy Fund advisory board.
State officials who sit on the two boards responsible for overseeing the Legacy Fund hailed the website as a major step forward during a presentation Wednesday. Some praised how easy it is for a typical person to navigate.
“I’m pretty excited about this,” said Gov. Kelly Armstrong. “I was really, really impressed, and I can barely turn on an iPad.”
But Rep. Bernie Satrom, R-Jamestown, one of the sponsors of the 2025 law requiring the website’s creation, said the intent was to improve the transparency around investments state officials have declined to disclose. He said the website falls short.
“It’s a beautiful website, but transparency means more than putting information on a website,” Satrom said. “My goal was to have transparency, not just making information more accessible.”
The lawmaker said no information has been made available to North Dakotans that wasn’t already public in some form. Satrom would like more disclosure related to investments known as commingled funds.
“I’d like to see a complete accounting of the portfolio, including the underlying holdings of those commingled funds; a clear explanation of what information is being withheld and why,” Satrom said.
What the website includes
The website highlights the fund’s history and how the earnings have been spent by the Legislature.
It also has a page dedicated to explaining what role different arms of government have in managing the fund’s investments. Jodi Smith, executive director of the Retirement and Investment Office, said she hopes it will cut down on the number of questions staff get about how the earnings are spent, which they have no control over.
State officials hope it will be easy to understand and allow members of the public to browse for information.
State Treasurer Thomas Beadle said he frequently hears questions from the public about why the Legacy Fund isn’t being used for one initiative or another. He said the information on the website about the fund’s history includes a helpful reminder that the fund exists to provide a safety net for the state down the road.
“This is the one-time harvest. This is the retirement account for after oil is done producing. After you’re done working, after oil is done producing, then you can touch your retirement account more,” Beadle said. “This was set aside, so we don’t relive the bust of the ’80s.”
The Legacy Fund was established by a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2010. Earnings from the Legacy Fund have been used by the Legislature since 2019 for property tax credits and other purposes.
Investment details can be found on the holdings page. The investments can be sorted by country, region, economic sector or investment type.
Limitations
Satrom’s criticism focuses on pooled funds, sometimes known as commingled funds, that pool money from multiple entities and invest it in a variety of ventures. Those underlying investments are not made public.
The website includes 75 line items totaling $6.4 billion, or 42% of the Legacy Fund, for investments that are not listed individually. These include both pooled funds and cash.
Those underlying investments are not available on the website because they are considered “proprietary” and confidential under North Dakota’s open records laws.
“If we provide that to the public, we’re giving up the external manager’s strategy. So that’s where it becomes trademarked confidential information,” said Sarah Mudder, communications director for the Retirement and Investment Office that oversees the Legacy Fund’s investments.
Satrom is skeptical there isn’t a way to disclose those investments without compromising the external manager’s strategy.
The lawmaker said he may propose legislation in the session that begins in January addressing commingled funds and open records laws.
“There’s information they should be providing, and if they don’t feel like they can under our laws, then we need to change the laws,” Satrom said.
Satrom is worried the Legacy Fund may be invested in what he considers risky ventures, or in countries or companies that may be working against the United States’ national interests, like Russia. He said the key is transparency so the public can have confidence in how it is invested.
“Would the people of North Dakota approve of these investments if they knew what they were? I don’t think so,” Satrom said, but he can’t be sure and that’s the point. “It’s more than just making a return on the investments. Money can do good when we invest in good things.”
Not all of his legislative colleagues share his level of concern. Rep. Jonathan Warrey, R-Casselton, vice chair of the Legacy Fund advisory board, said it is a “minor concern” in his eyes. He said the website “is a huge step forward for clarity on where the investments are” and he hasn’t seen any evidence that the state’s money is being invested into any “nefarious” companies or projects that aren’t visible to the public.
“We’ve got professional fund managers managing this. We’ve given them the charge to eliminate direct investments into adverse countries,” Warrey said.
What’s next
State officials plan to continue improving the website. Smith said they plan to add information about how much is deposited into the fund from oil taxes by the end of the year.
The investment data will only be updated annually. Smith hopes to improve that, but real-time reporting isn’t on the table.
“This is a long-term investment for the state of North Dakota. I’m far less concerned about what happened last Tuesday as I am about what happened last fiscal year,” Armstrong said.
The website cost roughly $500,000 to develop in one-time costs, not including licensing, maintenance and other fees. Members of the public with requests or suggestions are invited to reach out to state officials via the Contact Us form on the website.
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