N.D. House Update: Dec. 14, 2020

Members of the upcoming 67th Legislative Assembly met in Bismarck December 1-3 for the organizational session. It was a whole different experience as almost everyone was wearing face masks or face shields, which were required by a temporary rule change voted on by the members in both chambers. The legislators also voted to require masks or shields during the upcoming session, where social distancing isn’t possible, as the state continues to be impacted by COVID-19.

We remain hopeful that the vaccine will be available sooner than originally expected to help keep all of our citizens safe. We expect there will be much more virtual testimony this session, from not only legislators, but members of the public wanting to testify on bills and resolutions. We will provide more details as we get closer to the session.

During the organizational session, the legislators kept busy with technical training, the selection of committees and drafting rules for the session. Both of us were involved with the work of the Committee on Committees, which met a number of times to assign the 94 members to their respective committees. Rep. Devlin was also on the Rules Committee and chaired an Administrative Rules Committee meeting on Tuesday morning.

We discussed at length which committees might be most beneficial to our constituents and made our selections 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 again this session.

Rep. Devlin will again 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 2021-2023 Executive Budget, which provided an insight on how the Executive Branch wants to prioritize spending during the next biennium. We like some of the information he provided but remain concerned about how his approach might negatively affect rural North Dakota, including our District.

His budget proposal for a 1% inflator for nursing homes, in-home care and basic care is certainly a concern to all rural facilities. The 2% raise he is proposing for state employees would be more helpful for long-term care, as they struggle to find the employees they need.

The proposal for lowering provider rates for those serving the Medicaid Expansion population is also of deep concern. It would have a huge negative impact on rural hospitals and most likely all hospitals in the state.

The freezing of the per pupil payment for schools is certainly a concern as are the cuts to higher education in his proposal. There are a lot of areas the Legislative Appropriation Committees will have to work through to make sure they best meet the needs of the state.

The proposal for bonding of infrastructure and other capital projects will also be a matter of contention. We understand the needs and wish lists, but the concern expressed by one of the leaders in the minority party, who said, “The last thing we need is to be shackled by debt” is shared by others in both parties. We will want to make sure that we don’t mortgage the future of our state for something in this legislative session.

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]. Before the session, mail can be sent to Rep. Don Vigesaa, PO Box 763, Cooperstown, ND 58425, and Rep. Bill Devlin, PO Box 505, Finley, ND 58230.

During the session, starting January 5, 2021 we will have a toll-free number where the state’s residents can leave a message for any legislator. We will provide that number as the session starts.

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.