Legislative Report: Rep. Devin and Vigesaa

Members of the 66th Legislative Assembly met in Bismarck on Dec. 3-5 for the organizational session. The legislators were kept busy with technical training, various educational seminars and the selection of committee assignments. Rep. Vigesaa chaired the Committee on Committees that met a number of times to assign the 94 members to their respective committees. Rep. Devlin also chaired an Administrative Rules Committee meeting on Monday morning.

Rep. Vigesaa finished out his term as Assistant Majority Leader. He had chosen earlier not to seek re-election to that position, choosing instead to concentrate more on his appropriation committee duties.

We discussed at length which committees might be most beneficial to our constituents and made our selections based accordingly. Rep. Vigesaa will again serve on the House Appropriations Committee, which meets five days per week. He will chair the Government Operations sub-section of appropriations this session.

Rep. Devlin will serve on the Human Services Committee the first three days of the week. He will then move to the Energy and Natural Resources Committee the last two days each week. Those are the same committees he served on last session.

Legislators listened as Gov. Doug Burgum presented his 2019-21 Executive Budget, which he said provides tax relief, major investments in education, infrastructure needs, healthcare, flood control and other statewide priorities. The Governor provided a different approach and interesting concepts in his first detailed budget.

The Legislature will review the budget over the next few months and make changes they feel are necessary to best meet the needs of the citizens of our great state. While we agree with some of the Governor’s proposals, we will certainly want to make sure the needs of rural North Dakota, including District 23, are met in all areas. As always, the governor’s budget is just a proposal until the Legislature completes its work.

People that want to review the budget in more detail can do so by going to the state website: http://www.nd.gov or the Office of Management and Budget at: http://www.nd.gov/omb/. There are links to various documents, offices, officials and other information.

In looking ahead to the next session, District 23 residents who wish to contact us with legislative ideas or comments on what is being discussed or proposed can e-mail us at: [email protected] and [email protected]. Mail can be sent to Don at: Rep. Don Vigesaa, PO Box 763, Cooperstown, ND 58425. Mail for Bill can be sent to Rep. Bill Devlin, PO Box 505, Finley, ND 58230.

During the session, starting Jan. 3, 2019 constituents that wish to leave a message for us may call (888) 635-3447. Of course that number will not be active until then.

We will be providing weekly columns once the session starts in January. We wish to thank the weekly newspaper publishers in our District, who provide space for our columns free of charge, for making that happen.

We also want to send Season’s Greetings to all of you as we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Bill and Don.