Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
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The North Dakota Legislature met in special session last week to deal with redistricting, tax relief, covid-related issues, and the allocation of American Rescue Plan Act federal funds. The Legislature was called into special session by Governor Doug Burgum. The redistricting of the legislature takes place every ten years after the federal census reports new numbers for the state. Because of the loss of population in rural areas across the state, three rural districts including District 23, were combined with others. A district was added in...
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 w...
Members of the House and Senate are completing the action needed on the various bills and resolutions as we work to finish up the 67th Legislative Session. This will be our last legislative report, until we do a wrap-up of the session, after everything is completed. We greatly appreciate the willingness of the newspapers in our district for making the space available each week. We are grateful to everyone who has read the reports and contacted us about various issues and legislation. The process works much better when the citizens of our...
The end of the 67th Legislative Session is in sight. We hope to be done sometime the third week in April. We need to save days to vote on the redistricting plan, and to make spending decisions when the next round of federal funding for the pandemic comes to the state. Federal spending guidelines have not been released yet, and we are being told that might not happen until later this year. Leadership is talking about a special session in December to deal with both of those issues. We are limited by the constitution to 80 days, every two years....
Members of the House of Representatives are taking final action on bills coming from committee and making decisions on whether they should support bills that were amended in the Senate and are now back before us. We can accept bills as amended, or we can decide not to concur with the amendment, and establish a conference committee to work out the differences. The House gave final approval to five budget bills on Wednesday, which contained raises of one and one-half percent in the first year of the biennium including a $100 minimum, and two...
Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives reached agreement with the Senate, this week, on the financial forecast they will use going forward. Now that an agreement has been reached, based on the latest projections, the legislature can complete work on the various budget bills. As reported earlier, the Appropriations Committees from both chambers heard revised revenue forecasts from Moody’s Analytics and IHS Markit. These forecasts were for the remainder of the current biennium, and the 2021-2023 biennium. Using these reports, the A...
Last week, members of the North Dakota Legislature received the fiscal forecast for the upcoming months. Although the forecast provides a more upbeat assessment, mainly due to a rise in oil prices, it doesn’t provide the projected increase many were hoping for, as we look ahead. The legislature will need to continue their conservative approach to the budgeting process, as we work to complete the constitutionally required, balanced budget, before we adjourn later in April. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees received the March 2021 R...
Members of the N.D. House of Representatives continue to work in committee on proposed legislation that has come over from the N.D. Senate. We will be taking final action on the house floor when the committee work is finished. Legislators, others in state government, and citizens around the state, received very welcome news on Wednesday, as the Center for Medicaid and Medicaid Services (CMS) relaxed their rules for visitations at long-term care facilities in the state. The Governor also rescinded two of his emergency orders last Friday. The...
Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives returned to the capital on Wednesday, March 3, 2021, to start the second half of the session. Other than a few resolutions that we needed to act upon the first day back, everything else involved working on the bills that came over from the State Senate. They will be doing the same thing in that chamber, as they work on House bills. There will need to be many compromises made on financial matters as we work together in the second half. We look forward to working with our fellow legislators to...
Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives are finishing their final bill work in the 67th Legislative Assembly before cross-over break starting later this week. We will be on break until Wednesday, March 3. After the break we will start hearings on Senate bills in our chamber and they will be hearing House bills. It has been such a different session, with the lack of visitors, mask mandates and the other issues we have dealt with as part of the pandemic. We are seeing more and more legislators and others getting their vaccinations,...
Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives in the 67th Legislative Assembly continue their work on various bills and resolutions. Most policy committees have completed their review of bills assigned to their committee. However, there are a few left waiting for final committee action. Many of those will see extensive debate in committee and on the house floor before final House action is taken. The Government Operations Division of Appropriations continues their review of various budgets as part of the appropriation process. HB 1016 is...
Although the total number of bills is down slightly this session the workload for the members of the 67th Legislative Assembly seems just as heavy as before. The House had 45 fewer bills this session and Senate has 15 fewer. There are also a few less resolutions in each chamber this session. Both chambers need to complete action on all bills before they move to the other chamber, later in February. The House acted on several bills that have been of interest to not only our constituents, but residents across the state. On Tuesday HB 1299, which...
The pace of the 67th Legislative Assembly certainly picked up this week as committees are very busy hearing bills and sending them to the House floor for action. Unlike many states, all bills introduced in our chambers must have a committee hearing and a vote in the chamber, where they were introduced. A bill can be withdrawn by the sponsor, before the hearing, but even that takes a vote in the respective chamber. We received the latest financial forecasts this week. Allen Knudson, Legislative Council Budget Analyst, gave a presentation to the...
