Yesterday I had House Majority Leader Al Carlson and Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner on my radio show on 970 WDAY (podcast) to recap the legislative session. The big thing on a lot of people’s minds heading into this interim, and the 2018 election cycle, is property taxes. Every press release I’ve seen from the…
Republican Legislative Leaders: We Balanced the Budget and Didn’t Raise Taxes
This guest post was submitted by House Majority Leader Al Carlson and Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner As the legislature leaves Bismarck, we are returning home with a balanced budget and no tax increases. This session has proven the importance of exercising fiscal responsibility and saving for lean times. Despite facing one of the largest…
Lawmakers Probably Aren’t Finishing Today: “My Guess Is Day or Two More”
The goal for finishing North Dakota’s 2017 legislative session was day 70 of the constitutionally allowed 80. That was last week. Obviously, since lawmakers are still in session, it didn’t happen. The fall back deadline was today. When lawmakers broke for the weekend the idea was to come back this week and finish by Wednesday…
Bailout for Embattled Dickinson State University May Bog Down Efforts to End Legislative Session
Earlier today I wrote about some lawmakers in Bismarck expressing doubt that they can complete their legislative session on Tuesday. They already blew past their goal of being done on day 70 last week. Contributing to the delays in finishing up is a surprise Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner dropped on his colleagues on Friday.…
State Lawmakers Criticize Sen. John Hoeven in Letter, Say Wind Companies “Use North Dakota” to “Mine” Tax Dollars
Wind energy has been a hot topic down in Bismarck this legislative session, and for good reason. As wind energy developers rush to build new developments in order to gobble up massive federal subsidies, and take advantage of a policy allowing them to sell all of their energy into the power grid before anyone else,…
Majority Leaders Wardner and Carlson: Living Within Our Means and Balancing the Budget
This guest post was authored by Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner (R-Dickinson) and House Majority Leader Al Carlson (R-Fargo) We have reached the halfway point of the 65th legislative session, bills that have passed the House move on to the Senate and vice-versa. Most bills are still works-in-progress, and plenty of time still remains to…
Video: With Strong Bipartisan Support, Senate Passes Changes to Medical Marijuana Measure
One of the most contentious topics in the North Dakota legislature so far has been the issue of medical marijuana. Much of that contention focused on what is and is not the will of the people. Opponents to SB2344, legislation backed by the bi-partisan leadership of the House and Senate chambers, say that the Legislature…
Governor Doug Burgum Runs Afoul of State Senate’s Prohibition on Wearing Jeans
Of course, right after I write a post about how well Governor Doug Burgum and lawmakers are working together, the former runs afoul of the latter’s dress code. Burgum is, rather famously, a sort of dress-down kind of guy. Earlier this legislative session there was some grumbling among lawmakers about the way Burgum and Lt.…
The Medical Marijuana Measure Was So Stupidly Written It Didn’t Actually Decriminalize Medical Marijuana
There has been a lot of carrying on about the Legislature undermining the “will of the people” by taking up some modifications to law created by Measure 5 in November. That measure, of course, was the medical marijuana initiative. It earned nearly 64 percent of the vote, but as evidence of just how little scrutiny…
Democrats May Introduce Bill to Raise Oil Tax During Special Session
On Tuesday next week North Dakota lawmakers will convene in Bismarck for a special session called earlier this month by Governor Jack Dalrymple. The proceedings will kick off with an address from Dalrymple at 9:30am, at which point he’ll apparently lay out what his specific priorities are for fixing the budget shortfall which necessitated the…