N.D. House Update: May 10, 2021

The 67th Legislative session adjourned about midnight on Thursday evening. The session was stressful to say the least, as we worked through the restrictions forced upon us by the pandemic, but we were still able to complete the work we were entrusted to do by all of you.

It was very different for everyone. There were really no visitors for most of the session. We are excited during most sessions to welcome students, farm groups, and others from throughout our districts, when they come to visit the legislature. But that wasn’t possible in a world of face masks and social distancing. The ability of the citizens of our great state to engage with us during the session is vital to good government in our state. So, we had to work out an alternative way to interact with our state’s citizens.

This probably became the most open and transparent session in our state’s history. We were able to utilize video technology to allow citizens across the state to not only view the floor sessions and committee hearings, but also to testify from home if they wished.

We think it worked exceedingly well and probably much better than many of us expected. In looking at the session-ending numbers, we could see there were 495,731 contacts and 5,205,538 minutes watched during the session. Over two thousand people were able to provide testimony from their home or business. We certainly believe that this will be continued, and opportunities expanded in future sessions. The technology allowed citizens from across our state to participate in the process without driving to Bismarck. We believe those opportunities will increase in future sessions.

Our leadership pointed out several accomplishments in their session wrap-up, and we want to mention some of those accomplishments. Majority Leader, Rep. Chet Pollert noted that during this session, we utilized our state’s Legacy Fund in several important ways. When the fund was established in 2010, we made the promise to utilize it for the benefit of all North Dakotans. This session, we took significant steps to make good on that promise. We passed legislation directing the State Investment Board to consider investing at least 20 percent of our Legacy Fund principal right here in North Dakota. In addition, we passed an historic $680 million bonding package, which will be used to finance infrastructure projects around the state. From highways and bridges in the west, to flood control projects in the east, this legislation will have an impact on every North Dakotan. By using the Legacy Fund to finance these bonds, these infrastructure projects will be completed at no cost to the taxpayers. We funded tens of millions of dollars for township roads as well. Good roads are critical for the future of our state, and we believe we made a very positive impact on our future with the work we did for infrastructure at every level.

We believe all types of energy are vital for our future. This session we worked particularly hard to enhance the future of our coal industry. We are working with some very exciting technology to help make coal a cleaner energy source. The experts tell us we can help develop 21st century technologies which will produce less emissions and reduce our environmental footprint. Moreover, we passed a five-year holiday for our state’s coal conversion tax. As the coal industry continues to face unprecedented challenges, it is our hope that this tax relief will serve as an opportunity to take these challenges on, while protecting thousands of North Dakota jobs.

The Legislature remained committed to addressing the needs of North Dakota veterans. We increased our existing property tax credit for disabled veterans. We also passed legislation creating a first of its kind veteran’s court docket. This specialized docket will be tailored to address the needs of our veterans who may be struggling with mental and behavioral health issues related to their military service. Finally, we expanded the eligibility for family members of deceased or disabled veterans to attend our state’s colleges and universities at no cost.

As always, we took steps to invest in our young people. We passed legislation to increase funding for mental health and suicide prevention resources in our schools. It is our hope these resources will better allow schools across the state to address the mental and behavioral health issues faced by many students. We also enacted legislation creating alternative, educational opportunities for high school students, which may take place outside of the classroom. These alternative opportunities will allow students to receive class credits while getting real world, hands-on experience by participating in community programs and internships.

We worked with the executive branch to make sure we are more involved in addressing future health emergencies. We passed HB 1118, which sets up a mechanism for the legislature to be involved in the process during a pandemic. The Governor, working with legislative management, will have to call the legislature back into session if he or she wants to keep a health emergency declaration in place. We heard from countless citizens, across the state and throughout our district, frustrated by what was taking place with the emergency orders and who wanted our involvement. There were other changes as well that we believe will be very positive for our citizens.

The lack of visitations for people in long-term care facilities was causing unintended, but serious health implications. We addressed this is by passing legislation which is designed to develop a protocol to allow for in-person visitation during a declared emergency or disaster. This protocol allows for residents of long-term care facilities to appoint one or more “essential caregivers,” such as family members, to provide in-person physical, emotional, or spiritual support, regardless of any executive orders or proclamations. It is our hope that in the future this legislation will protect our most vulnerable citizens while also preventing the tragic isolation we witnessed over the last 13 months.

Leadership noted that we have a lot to be proud of this session. We can leave Bismarck knowing we balanced our budget, funded many of our top priorities, and avoided any form of tax increases. We entered this session with high expectations, and truly believed our work over the last four and one-half months has exceeded those expectations.

There were a lot of emails this session that asked us to prevent the state of N.D. from mandating a vaccine passport. We accomplished this in HB 1465, which prevents state and local government from instituting vaccine passports. The bill would prevent government from making a citizen provide proof that they had been vaccinated against COVID-19 before they would be allowed to travel in the state. It also prevents businesses from requiring proof of a vaccination before a person can enter a business.

We did repeal the statewide mask mandate after hundreds of emails and calls asking us to do so. However, local government and schools will still be able take the precautions they think are necessary in their respective communities.

We were able to increase the money for education. The per pupil payment rate for K-12 education will increase by one percent each year to a record level, along with the total formula amount at $2.13 billion.

We made several changes to laws dealing with the second amendment. We passed legislation which changes a victim’s requirement to try and escape, before defending themselves against an attacker, making North Dakota a “Stand Your Ground” state. We also expanded constitutional carry in North Dakota.

The legislature worked hard, and we believe did an excellent job passing laws that met the priorities of our citizens.

The next big challenges facing the legislature will be redistricting. Normally, we would already be involved in the process as we would get new census numbers in March. However, due to problems at the federal level, we will not even see the preliminary numbers from the census until August, with the final ones coming in September. We expect that rural North Dakota could lose three or four districts, with the urban areas picking up those seats. We will start the hearings later this summer and need to have the work completed in time for a special legislative session in December, where the map of the new districts will need to be passed. These will be used in the 2022 elections.

We thank all of you for reading our legislative columns and interacting with us about these reports. We are very thankful that we have such great weekly newspapers in our district, who willingly provide space each week for our columns. We sincerely thank the newspaper publishers and thank all of you for contacting us throughout the session. You made our job so much easier. Best wishes everyone! Bill and Don