Jill Schramm/MDN Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, speaks at Saturday’s legislative forum. At right is Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot.

Building a legislative office building on the grounds of the North Dakota state Capitol is an idea legislators have decided is worth studying. Whether it will be studied is another matter, though.

Both the House and Senate passed Senate Concurrent Resolution 4024, which directs Legislative Management to consider studying whether to use dedicated funds in the Capitol building fund to construct a legislative office building.

At a legislative forum Saturday, Rep. Dan Ruby, R-Minot, said he did not vote for the resolution.

“I don’t know that it will go anywhere,” he said, noting it is not a mandated study. Legislative Management has a choice whether to have an interim legislative committee take up the issue.

Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, said there are space issues generally with the Capitol building, but he called the idea of a new legislative building “futuristic.”

“I don’t know that it’ll ever come to any fruition,” he said.

The resolution states many legislative meeting rooms are too small to accommodate the public, lack secondary or emergency exits and aren’t designed to function with today’s technology. The legislative parking lot also is in frequent need of repair. Conversations have been held about a potential parking structure with space for modern committee rooms and legislative offices.

The resolution also states the building fund was created at statehood through a grant of 50,000 acres of land to the state for the purpose of financing construction of state buildings. The 1967 Legislature directed the Capitol building fund be reserved for the exclusive purpose of the construction of an addition to the legislative wing, but since then the fund has been used for various purposes, including the payment of special assessments and the construction and maintenance of the governor’s residence.

The fund has estimated assets of more than $5 million after disbursing nearly $13 million to various projects over the past three bienniums, according to the resolution.