North Dakota’s lone Congressman Kevin Cramer voted for the rushed, unknown, non-analyzed Republican plan to replace Obamacare today. The bill had zero committee hearings and no scoring from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The public couldn’t even see the text of the bill the day before 217 Congressional Republicans cheered its narrow passage. I’m […]
Governor Doug Burgum line-item vetoed a number of bills over the last couple of days. One of the budgets Burgum line-item vetoed was the Public Employees and Retirement System (PERS). Make no mistake; this was a direct rebuttal to House Majority Leader Al Carlson. You may recall, the end of the session was drawn out […]
On Sunday night, Congress reached a bipartisan deal to fund the federal government through the end of its fiscal year which ends September 30th. Included in the compromise is approximately $15 million for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Emergency Federal Law Enforcement Assistance Program. This program could provide federal funds to reimburse state and local law enforcement […]
Governor Burgum issued a line-item veto to the state’s Parks and Recreation Department budget to remove special privileges placed in by an amendment. Section 13 of HB 1019 directs the Department to establish rules to the state park marinas to allow only individuals and their immediate families who currently rent a slip to swim in […]
Tonight at 6:30 in Bismarck the “Sine Die” party is scheduled to take place. This party is the celebration held by legislators to mark the end of the session. It’s meant to be a joyous occasion. However, over the last few sessions, it’s resembled more of a junior high dance with the Senate members huddled […]
If you thought the fight over the NDSU Nursing Program in Bismarck was over and an isolated event, think again. It seems as if there is never an end to the vindictive back room deals that come from the ND House of Representatives. And I’ve said it before – nothing occurs in the waning moments […]
An attempt to give themselves additional weapon exemptions was turned back to conference committee today in the Senate. SB 2139 was amended in conference committee by Rep. Glenn Bosch (read Rep. Todd Porter and Senator Kelly Armstrong) that would allow “state elected officials” a.k.a. Legislators to carry a concealed weapon in a “publicly owned or operated building” […]
Day 71 of the 80 day legislative session starts today. You may recall hearing House Majority Leader Al Carlson and Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner state they wanted to finish on day 70. Just as they’ve done in the previous two sessions, they failed to achieve their self-imposed deadline even though they “control the flow […]
Over the weekend, I visited with former U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon about the state’s process to pipeline siting in North Dakota. Specifically, we focused on the Dakota Access Pipeline siting and protest. Purdon is now a partner at Robins Kaplan LLP and Co-Chair of American Indian Law and Policy Group. Earlier in April, he delivered a speech […]
The Legislature’s Commission to study the initiative measure and referral process have succumbed to partisan maneuvering by Rep. Ben Koppelman and Rep. Al Carlson in the final weeks of the session. Throughout the life of SB 2135, many different commission models were discussed. The final product created by amendment in conference committee should raise some […]