OCTOBER 25, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature adjourned Wednesday (Oct. 25, 2023) after rewriting a major budget bill that was voided by the state Supreme Court, resolving a mess that had threatened to stymie government operations.
The Legislature completed its special session in three days, less than a month after the surprising ruling that rejected the law as unconstitutional for violating a single subject requirement.
Additionally, the Senate rejected an unrelated, expanded income tax cut pressed by Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who was off his presidential campaign trail during the special session. Burgum called the situation a “missed opportunity” for more tax relief amid recent years’ inflation.
Lawmakers drank coffee, munched brownies and mingled in the Senate chamber while waiting for final votes, with wintry weather bearing down on the state. They quickly left the state Capitol after adjourning around noon.
Fourteen bills were passed to reconstruct the voided legislation, including a modified bill to appoint more legislators to serve on the state’s public employee retirement board. The special session was sparked by a lawsuit that challenged that provision of the original law.
Burgum urged lawmakers to expand a recent income tax cut, using $91 million of excess state tax revenue. The proposal sailed through the House of Representatives, but the Senate killed the bill. Opponents said the bill needed more vetting, and cited constituents’ greater interest in property tax cuts than income tax relief.
The Legislature’s next regular session is scheduled for January 2025.
OCTOBER 24, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s Republican-led Legislature has convened a special session to begin fixing a budget mess. Lawmakers quickly got to work on 14 bills that would resurrect provisions of a major budget bill struck down last month by the state Supreme Court. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum has urged the Legislature take up unrelated proposals, such as expanded income tax relief and more funding for infrastructure projects and a tourism attraction grant program. The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to introduce a bill for Burgum’s tax proposal. Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue said a three-day special session appears likely.
OCTOBER 23, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature is scheduled to convene to fix a budget mess. The special session set for Monday (Oct. 23, 2023) will address a major budget bill struck down last month by the state Supreme Court. The bill has traditionally been used a catchall or cleanup bill passed at the end of the biennial session. Fourteen bills would resurrect the voided bill’s provisions. A top legislative panel on Friday heard nearly 30 proposals from lawmakers for additional legislation to propose in the special session. Only a resolution in support of Israel advanced. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum will be in Bismarck all week with the exception of Wednesday, when he will give a welcome address in Watford City.
OCTOBER 17, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum called a special session Tuesday (Oct. 17, 2023) of the Republican-controlled Legislature to address a major budget bill struck down by the state Supreme Court last month, leaving a giant hole in state government operations lawmakers are rushing to fill.
The special session will convene Monday. Burgum’s executive order for the session comes after the court ruled last week that it won’t delay its surprising Sept. 28 decision that invalidated the funding bill for the state Office of Management and Budget.
The bill, usually the last one passed in the biennial session, is traditionally used as a catchall or cleanup bill. The court said the bill is unconstitutional because it violates the state Constitution’s single-subject requirement for bills.
Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue has said the Legislature would convene for a three- to five-day session. A top panel of lawmakers was meeting Tuesday to address plans for the session, including a list of 14 bill drafts to resurrect the voided bill’s provisions.
The Legislature could have called itself back into session using the five days remaining from its 80-day limit every two years for session. Burgum’s office said legislative leaders asked him Friday to convene a special session, noting that “all legislation enacted during a special session called by the governor becomes effective on the date specified in the act.” Otherwise, any bill passed in a reconvened session would not take effect for 90 days unless two-thirds of the Legislature approves an emergency clause to give the bill immediate effect when signed by the governor.
Burgum in a statement said he expects the situation can be fixed before Nov. 1. The special session could pull the governor, who is running for president, off his campaign trail to focus on the legislation.
The bill contained about $322 million for the state’s 2023-25 budget cycle.
The Supreme Court ruled on the bill because of a lawsuit brought by the board that oversees the state’s government retirement plans. The board argued it is unconstitutional for state lawmakers to sit on the board, and targeted a section of the bill that increased legislative membership from two to four.
An all-Republican House-Senate panel negotiated the final version of the bill, which passed before 3 a.m. on a weekend, ending the session after four months.
OCTOBER 13, 2023:
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota lawmakers are scrambling to fill a giant hole in state government operations left by a surprising state Supreme Court ruling that voided a major budget bill, leaving uncertainty until a resolution is reached.
Lawmakers might be back at the state Capitol as soon as the week of Oct. 23, 2023, for a three- to five-day session, Republican Senate Majority Leader David Hogue told The Associated Press.
The court’s surprising Sept. 28 decision put funding for parts of the state government in jeopardy, with a session likely to pull Republican Gov. Doug Burgum, who is running for president, off the campaign trail to focus on the legislation.
The court on Thursday (Oct. 12, 2023) issued a subsequent opinion denying the Republican-controlled Legislature’s requested delay of the court’s decision. The court also rescinded a previous stay that a majority of the justices had apparently granted until Oct. 28 — a move the state’s attorney general decried on Friday.
“They reverse themselves from two weeks ago — now it’s going to be done the painful way with a lot of anxiety for state employees and people throughout the government,” North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley told the AP.
Burgum has directed state agencies not to retrieve previously spent or transferred money in the bill unless further directed, and to pause work on any of its expenditures, transfers or policies not yet implemented “until a resolution is reached.” It wasn’t immediately clear what is affected.
North Dakota’s Legislature is part-time, usually meeting for four months every two years. Lawmakers are now figuring out scheduling conflicts with crop harvests, scheduled surgeries, weddings and overseas vacations, Hogue said.
Burgum in a statement expressed confidence in the Legislature resolving the situation before Nov. 1 “to avoid any interruptions to state government operations.”
He also told state agency leaders that he and Republican legislative majority leaders don’t expect interruptions to state employees’ pay or operations or impacts to previously approved pay raises.
The Supreme Court invalidated the funding bill for the state Office of Management and Budget, which is usually the last one passed in the biennial session, and often used as a catchall or cleanup bill for various items.
The court ruled the budget bill was “unconstitutionally enacted and is void” because it goes against a provision limiting bills to just one subject. The justices couldn’t tell which provisions of the bill were primary or secondary, or whether the bill would have passed without any of its 68 sections, Justice Daniel Crothers wrote.
The Legislature afterward asked the court to clarify the date that the decision is effective, and for a delay on the ruling’s effective date until Dec. 18, for time for the Legislature to meet.
The Legislature could reconvene using the five days remaining from its constitutional limit of 80 days every two years to meet in session. In addition, Burgum could call a special session, as he did in 2021 for redistricting and allocating federal coronavirus aid.
No decision has been made as to a reconvened or special session, Hogue said.
“There is a lot of uncertainty, but we’re going to remove the uncertainty before the end of this month,” he said.
Funding in the voided bill totaled about $322 million for the state’s 2023-25 budget cycle, according to Legislative Budget Analyst and Auditor Allen Knudson. Items included salary raises for state employees, snow removal grants and numerous transfers from state government funds.
Many of those transfers have already been made or committed, said Republican state Treasurer Thomas Beadle, whose office is documenting where all the money has gone if funds have to be reconciled or “clawed back.”
Not everything in the final bill passed. Burgum in May vetoed some items, including major policy changes for the state’s $9 billion oil tax savings.
The Legislature may be able to include all of the voided bill’s provisions into 14 bills, Legislative Council Director John Bjornson said Friday.
The court ruled on the bill because of a lawsuit brought by the board that oversees the state’s government retirement plans. The board argued it’s unconstitutional for state lawmakers to sit on the board, and targeted a section of the bill that increased legislative membership from two to four. The board cited separation of powers and single-subject violations among points in its argument.
An all-Republican House-Senate panel that included legislative leaders and top budget writers negotiated the final version of the bill, which passed before 3 a.m. on a weekend, ending the session after four months.
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