GOP leaders' proposal clarifies oil tax distributions

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Top Republicans in the Legislature are supporting a proposal that clarifies oil tax distributions but doesn't reimburse a pair of school funds that may have been shortchanged.

Land Commissioner Jodi Smith believes that more than $120 million in state revenue from the oil-rich Fort Berthold reservation should have been deposited over the past decade in two constitutional funds that benefit schools. Smith thinks the money went elsewhere.

Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner and House counterpart Chet Pollert say they believe the state's share of taxes from the reservation were correctly distributed based on guidance from the attorney general's office in 2012.