WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND
By Scott Hennen
Host of “What’s On Your Mind?” Radio Show
heard on the Flag Family Network including KTGO 1090AM in Watford City, Williston and Tioga, North Dakota
Let’s look back at the word of the 69th North Dakota Legislative Assembly to review some highs and lows of this session.
Governor Kelly Armstrong hit the ground running, aided by his previous tenure in the state senate and six years of bold legislating in Congress. You never want to be between Armstrong and his end-game goal.
Equally impressive was the leadership of House Majority Leader Mike Lefor from Dickinson and Senate Majority Leader David Hogue of Minot. Their combination of previous experience as legislative leaders and respect earned from their caucuses, paved the way for a fairly smooth session.
Highs
· Property tax relief and reform was the heavy lift. While there were many ebbs and flows, the ultimate product was a victory for North Dakota taxpayers. 3 of 4 homes will get triple the current credit and 1 of 3 homes will have zero property taxes. But the best part of the $410+ million relief package is putting a 3 percent cap on year over year spending increases on schools, cities, counties and other local subdivisions. That will curb the unsustainable rate of growth that property taxpayers have been burdened with for too long.
· The additional investment dedicated to incentivizing a pipeline delivering stranded natural gas all across our state is an absolute game changer. It will be a job juggernaut for value-added ag projects and put us in a strong position to attract data centers to power the AI revolution. And the massive increase in research dollars to expedite widespread use of enhanced oil recovery provides enormous opportunities to keep our golden goose of oil and gas development healthy for decades.
· The bell-to-bell cell phone ban in public schools is a much-needed dose of tough love for public education.
Lows
· The last two governors have vetoed bills that would have been a decent start for school choice. Armstrong supports school choice. Both chambers of the legislature support school choice. Yet, for the umpteenth session in a row our elected leaders failed us. Work should begin today to craft legislation for a Florida-like model of school choice in North Dakota.
· I was disappointed that the voices of law enforcement were disregarded once again on their plea for violent criminals to serve at least 50 percent of their sentences before they are eligible for parole. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation needs better transparency, accountability, and leadership on this issue. Also, law enforcement in our state should keep accessible statistics on how many interactions they have with repeat violent offenders, as a way to enlighten the public to demand change.
· Amtong the loudest criticism I heard from citizens this session was frustration over Armstrong’s veto of legislation that would have protected children from obscene materials in North Dakota libraries. We simply must be better in addressing this common sense concern of parents.
Win or lose, right or wrong, Republican or Democrat...your legislators work long, hard days. Do me a favor and thank them. In the spirit of our founding fathers, they are citizen civic leaders.
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