North Dakota
How will North Dakota spend its $6.5 billion budget? Here are some of the most expensive bills
BISMARCK —
As North Dakota’s biennial lawmaking season passes its midpoint,
a handful of sweeping changes have taken center stage alongside their hefty price tags — from property tax relief and K-12 education funding to criminal justice reform and new mental health infrastructure.
The Legislature has taken a “conservative” approach in terms of what legislation has moved forward, with the state budget hovering at around $6.57 billion — less than half a percent below Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s recommendation ahead of the session.
That standing is likely to reverse as legislators catch up to state agency requests, according to state Treasurer Thomas Beadle.
“They’re trying to rush in that first month to get up to speed,” Beadle said. “As the session goes on, their knowledge base will continue to increase and they’ll usually adjust accordingly. But for right now, they certainly are taking a more conservative approach.”
Peyton Haug / Forum News Service
Property tax relief has been the most expensive legislation.
The House
distilled around 20 differing proposals down to three
that are now under consideration by the Senate. As-is, the approaches combined would cost nearly $312 million over the 2025-27 biennium,
according to a February Legislative Council report.
State money spent on tax relief may seem contradictory, but it’s simply giving that money back to taxpayers, Beadle said.
“It (the legislation) still shows up as a legislative expenditure and as a budget increase, even if an increase of the budget just giving the money back to the taxpayers,” he said.
Legislation that would fundamentally change state aid to K-12 education also advanced with steep costs after
the House defeated a $140 million push for free school meals.
The Senate approved
a plan that would provide $1,000 annually to a state education savings account
for every student whose family income was at or below 300% of the federal poverty line. Any student whose family met the income criteria would be eligible, whether they attend private or public school or are homeschooled.
Tom Stromme / The Bismarck Tribune
This would cost $22.8 million in the program’s first year, plus $3 million in administrative expenses.
The House approved a separate plan that would direct around $4,000 to every student attending private school, potentially costing the state over $103 million over the first three years of implementation.
One criminal justice reform bill also has a notable price tag.
Senate Bill 2128, brought by Attorney General Drew Wrigley, would mandate people convicted of drug trafficking or violent crimes
spend at least half of their sentence in prison rather than in transitional housing.
According to the bill’s fiscal note, the action would cost the state approximately $44 million over the next four years.
The bill was originally projected to cost around $200 million and was written to apply to more incarcerated individuals, according to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Wrigley, who has been at odds with the department over the fiscal note, said $44 million is still too high and maintains that front-end costs will lower overall costs by preventing future crime.
The Legislature deviated from the governor’s recommendation by approving a higher portion of one-time spending proposals compared to those that are ongoing.
Beadle said as lawmakers become more up-to-speed with agency requests, that ratio will shrink and be closer aligned with the governor’s proposed budget.
While earnings on oil and gas revenues are high, North Dakota can afford expensive projects, according to Beadle — like a
more than $330 million new State Hospital in Jamestown
.
Other sizable projects approved thus far include a $30 million incentive that is
likely to go toward constructing a $450 million potato processing facility in Grand Forks,
as well as a $20 million contribution to build a military expansion in the State Historical Society museum.
Contributed / North Dakota Department of Human Services
The state could lose $40 million in revenue to a bill seeking to restructure its tax bracket system, providing tax relief for some North Dakotans.
House Bill 1388’s
most significant change nearly doubles the income threshold for married couples filing jointly to be subject to the state’s full tax rate from over $244,000 to nearly $490,000. The bill aims to offset some of the lost revenue by repealing the
section of state law
that provides a marriage penalty credit.
More state revenue would be lost to a $21 million proposed tax cut for coal processing plants, according to the Legislative Council report.
Some state costs are also state investments, Beadle emphasized.
“We’re in a position where our commodity markets have done well. We’re sitting in a good cash position as a state,” he said. “This is a time where we can invest in some of those areas for the state so that we make sure that we’re providing the services that our citizens need.”
GRAND FORKS — A North Dakota composer’s dream is turning into a statewide invitation.
Williston-based musician Emily Black-Driscoll was chosen as the North Dakota Music Teachers Association’s commissioned composer for 2026. She’s preparing an original composition that will premiere in August.
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North Dakota
Challengers declare victory after ND Supreme Court rules against Legislature’s attempt to alter term limits
BISMARCK — A constitutional ballot measure to amend the state’s term limits law as proposed by the Legislature will not appear on November’s ballot, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled Thursday, siding with petitioners who argued the Legislature exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution in proposing the changes.
“The people’s voice was heard,” Grand Forks County Commissioner Terry Bjerke said in reaction to the news.
Bjerke was a member of the sponsoring committee behind the successful 2022 effort to pass a term limits initiative, which amended the state constitution by capping legislative term limits to eight years in the House and eight years in the Senate. The amendment, which became article XV of the state constitution, also included a clause barring the Legislature from making constitutional changes to term limits.
During the 2025 session, however, lawmakers narrowly approved Senate Concurrent Resolution 4008, in which the legislature proposed Constitutional Measure 1, a ballot measure to amend the term limits language to allow legislators to decide in which chamber they want to serve their 16 years, and to repeal the clause limiting the legislative assembly’s authority to propose an amendment to alter or repeal term limits.
Bjerke and former Minot legislator Oley Larsen brought the lawsuit challenging the validity of the Legislature’s action in January, and the state Supreme Court
heard oral arguments in the case
this spring.
“Those term limits may only be altered by a measure proposed by the people rather than the Legislative Assembly. And yet a few years later, the Legislative Assembly is doing what they are prohibited from doing,” attorney Zachary Wallen argued on Bjerke and Larsen’s behalf.
Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune
The Legislature’s attorneys argued the clause prohibiting legislative proposals to alter the constitutional term limits language “infringes on our republican form of government” by “limiting the people’s ability to vote on amendments proposed by their elected officials.”
Justice Jon Jensen seemed skeptical of that argument during the April 2 hearing, questioning whether a second vote was appropriate.
“The public did speak on this. The public spoke on it when it passed the original constitutional amendment and they said, ‘Legislature, you don’t even get to propose a change.’ They have already spoken on it,” Jensen said. “You want a second shot, or a second bite at the apple, not a first one, a second.”
In Thursday’s ruling, all five justices sided with Bjerke and Larsen.
“We … conclude the Legislative Assembly’s adoption of S.C.R. 4008 violated N.D. Const. art. XV … and declare S.C.R. 4008 and Constitutional Measure 1 void … We enjoin the Secretary of State from placing Constitutional Measure 1 on the November 2026 general election ballot,” the ruling said.
Bjerke thanked the legal team that worked on behalf of their lawsuit, and said he was grateful the court reached the conclusion it did.
“I’m thrilled that what the people voted on and approved has been validated,” Bjerke said.
He added that the Legislature had “multiple opportunities” to address term limits prior to 2022’s initiated measure and chose not to, and gave a nod to the country’s coming milestone and the process by which voters expressed their support for term limits.
“We’ve lasted 250 years,” Bjerke said. “I have two words for those elected leaders who think they aren’t: everyone’s replaceable.”
North Dakota
Fargo woman convicted in North Dakota fraud case now faces charges in Minnesota: A deeper dive
FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – A North Dakota woman who was sentenced to 180 days in jail in Cass County for defrauding healthcare providers and Medicaid programs is now facing additional fraud charges in Minnesota.
Christine Marie Pryor, 55, pleaded guilty in November 2024 to theft by deception involving more than $50,000. She was sentenced to first serve 180 days with a 3-year sentence suspended. She received credit for 44 days already served.
Pryor was ordered to pay $82,584.78 in restitution to Southeast Human Services in Fargo, where she worked between 2018 and 2019.
How the scheme unfolded
According to court documents, Pryor worked at multiple healthcare facilities in North Dakota and Minnesota between 2018 and 2023, using the identities and credentials of three licensed professionals without their knowledge. She submitted fraudulent Capella University diplomas and transcripts to gain employment.
Investigators say Pryor admitted she searched state licensing websites for therapists who shared her first name, then used those therapists’ last names and license numbers when applying for jobs.
At Southeast Human Services, where she worked as a Licensed Addiction Counselor, Pryor earned $55,584.82 while providing therapy services to approximately 150 patients. She also opened her own counseling center, NIAM Brain Injury Center, in Fargo between 2020 and 2021, and worked at The Lotus Center in Moorhead, Minnesota, from 2021 to 2023.
Court documents say the three licensed professionals whose identities were used told investigators they had no knowledge of Pryor’s actions and did not give her permission to use their information.
Two additional charges against Pryor in North Dakota, unauthorized use of personal identifying information, were dismissed on motion of the state.
Additional charges in Minnesota
Pryor is also facing charges in Minnesota. Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on Tuesday charges against Pryor in Clay County District Court for six theft offenses and six identity theft offenses related to defrauding Minnesota’s Medicaid program of more than $150,000.
According to the Minnesota complaint, Pryor claimed to provide psychotherapy and alcohol and drug counseling services to Medicaid recipients despite having no license or credentials to do so. Prosecutors allege she used the credentials and identities of three licensed professionals while claiming to provide Medicaid-funded services to 169 clients.
The Minnesota charges were filed as part of National Health Care Fraud Takedown Day, a joint effort involving the Department of Justice and more than 40 state Medicaid Fraud Control Units.
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