I trust that this communication finds you and yours well today, after what I hope was a terrific Thanksgiving weekend. I am certain that it will find you remarkably busy doing your important work and preparing for the upcoming Holiday Season.
As I write this column on the morning of Dec. 4, the North Dakota state Legislature is a few hours away from beginning the third day of its biennial organizational session. I was at the Capitol yesterday, and I can tell you that while there were many familiar faces, there were also many fresh faces of citizen legislators.
The organizational session provides an opportunity for new and veteran legislators alike to familiarize themselves with the processes and practices of the Legislature, as well as the legal and ethical responsibilities of each legislator. It is the goal of legislative leaders to ensure that the public’s confidence in the integrity of the institution and its members improves after some negative revelations were exposed in the interim.
When the 69th Legislative Assembly convenes on Jan. 7, 2025, it will do so under the same leadership in both chambers. Sen. David Hogue will lead the Senate with a super majority of Republicans, while Rep. Mike Lefor will lead the House side with a solid majority of Republicans there, as well.
There will be a new leader of the executive branch, though, as one of Legislature’s former colleagues, Kelly Armstrong, takes the reins from Governor Burgum on Dec. 15. In addition to their party affiliation, these leaders have something else in common: an imperative to do something big about property taxes. At a meeting with the Governor-elect Armstrong on Nov. 15, it was made clear to us that property taxes are priority one for the new Governor, and the same has been expressed by legislative leaders on multiple occasions.
Even though your union, ND United, led a coalition of 113 organizations from across ND to resoundingly defeat Measure 4 on Nov. 5, it became abundantly clear that the voters of North Dakota want the Legislature to do something substantial and lasting to slow down the increases in property taxes.
So, what will the Legislature do? We will not know, of course, until the Legislature gets to work. However, we are hearing that a consensus may be forming around the state assuming responsibility for funding the local share of K-12 education while also establishing caps on how much the other local taxing entities can raise property taxes. We also know that some 40+ bills dealing with property taxes have been filed already and that is significant because in ND’s Legislature, all bills get a hearing.
Unless they find a way to consolidate these bills, the property tax issue may consume a disproportionate amount of time in the constitutionally mandated 80-day session. That will be unfortunate because there is no shortage of issues that this Legislature must contend with and depending on the final price tag of the property tax bill, resources could become an issue.
We will be following and testifying on many bills this session. Those bills will be related to higher education funding, salary increases for public employees, universal school lunch, K-12 infrastructure, public monies going to private and religious school tuition, and culture war issues, among others.
Please know that we will be communicating with you more frequently and in different ways than we have in past sessions. We will also be inviting you to join us for our Lobby Day at the Capitol on Presidents Day, Feb. 17. If you'd like to register early, please click here.
Most importantly, we will be calling on you to help us communicate with your legislators as they consider bills that have a direct impact on you as a public employee. Your voice is the most important and effective tool that we can employ to effect policies that positively impact you and the community where you live and work.
So, until then, here’s to a joyous Holiday Season and a brilliant New Year!
