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North Dakota bill looks to dissolve gambling oversight commission

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North Dakota bill looks to dissolve gambling oversight commission


BISMARCK — North Dakota may eliminate its Gaming Commission and place all authority to regulate gambling with the state Attorney General’s Office if a proposed bill moves forward.

The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday gave a do-pass recommendation on

Senate Bill 2224

by a vote of 4-3. The bill seeks to streamline the gambling regulation process by eliminating the state Gaming Commission. Several legislators questioned what benefit the Commission provides, but the gambling industry warned the bill would remove key checks on the attorney general’s power.

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The Gaming Commission is an independent entity whose members are appointed by the governor. The Commission acts as an added buffer between the Attorney General’s Office and the Administrative Rules Committee comprised of legislators.

“Gov. Armstrong mentioned all the boards and commissions and things that we have in our state, and how we need to look at which ones are pivotal for the functioning of our government and which ones are not,” Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, the primary sponsor of the bill, said in committee.

Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, asks a question during a hearing on Senate Bill 2224, which focuses on the abolition of the state Gaming Commission, at the North Dakota State Capitol on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2025.

Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune

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“This came to me from some concerned entities that felt like this particular commission in its duties — which they faithfully execute, obviously — is really a step that we can eliminate in the gaming industry.”

Charitable gambling generated roughly $220 million in revenue in North Dakota as of 2022, and $35 million in tax revenue for the state.

The current flow of gambling regulation in North Dakota starts with the state Attorney General’s Office, which crafts administrative rules regulating the gambling industry. Any proposed rule changes must be looked at by the Gaming Commission, which approves or denies and sends the rules back to the Attorney General’s Office. The Attorney General’s Office then sends the proposed rules to the Administrative Rules Committee where they are finalized and adopted.

North Dakota Director of Charitable Gaming Deb McDaniel said the removal of the Commission would not impact the amount of work the state Attorney General’s Office is responsible for.

“I’ve always worked with the Gaming Commission, and their role is to promulgate the administrative rules … by law,” McDaniel said. “I would just be able to promulgate them without them (the Commission.)”

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McDaniel said that while the Commission itself does not hinder the work of her office, it can create situations that do. The Commission must have all five commissioners to meet and approve rules from the Attorney General’s Office. The last time they were able to do so was Jan. 1, 2023.

Since then, there has been at least one vacancy on the Commission — there are currently two — that Gov. Doug Burgum did not fill before leaving office and Gov. Kelly Armstrong has yet to fill.

Until the vacancies are filled, McDaniel is stuck in limbo, unable to make administrative rule changes to regulate the gambling industry.

The gambling industry expressed concern about the elimination of the Commission, saying it provides a beneficial check on the attorney general’s power to govern the industry.

“Our founders knew that it would be a bad idea to give too much power to one single body,” Scott Meske, a lobbyist for the North Dakota Gaming Alliance, said. “That’s kind of what Senate Bill 2224 does; giving 100% of the oversight and regulation to one office. We think the attorney general has done a fine job in overall regulating this industry as it’s grown and changed and morphed over the past few years. But taking away this level of checks and balances is — just sets a very precarious precedent.”

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McDaniel said even without the Commission the rules would still need to be finalized by the Administrative Rules Committee, and statute guarantees opportunities for the public — and industry — to provide comment on proposed rule changes.

The bill is expected on the Senate floor Wednesday.





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North Dakota

Bills supporting religion in North Dakota public schools could test First Amendment

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Bills supporting religion in North Dakota public schools could test First Amendment


A group of public school-related bills in the North Dakota statehouse could test the limits of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause — the part of the U.S. Constitution that says the government may not establish a national religion.



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North Dakota Legislature narrows property tax reform bills as key deadline approaches

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North Dakota Legislature narrows property tax reform bills as key deadline approaches


BISMARCK — North Dakota lawmakers have narrowed the field of property tax bills ahead of the session’s midpoint, with just seven of roughly 20 proposals still standing.

By early March, all Senate bills must pass to the House and all House bills must pass to the Senate.

The House and Senate have only passed one property tax bill so far this session, Senate Bill 2201, which simply seeks to make those who have their primary residences in trusts eligible for the primary residence tax credit passed during the 2023 legislative session.

This week alone, the Legislature shot down eight bills dealing with property taxes. Of those eight, five were killed during a late House session on Tuesday.

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The late session followed a nearly hourlong discussion during the chamber’s normal session on amendments to House Bill 1176, which encompasses the governor’s property tax reform and relief plan, introduced by Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck.

The bill had been substantially amended in committee since its initial introduction. Notably, an amendment had been added that would allow voters to exclude their county or city from the levy increase caps proposed by the bill for a period of up to 10 years. The funding amounts to be appropriated from the General and Legacy funds were flipped so more funding would come from the Legacy Fund and less from the General Fund to pay for the bill’s proposed increase to the primary residence tax credit. Additionally, $50 million had been added to increase income tax relief for North Dakotans, according to Rep. Jared Hagert, R-Emerado.

All amendments to the bill were approved by the House chamber except for the $50 million for income tax relief. The bill was re-referred to the House Appropriations Committee but is expected to return to the floor this week to be voted on.

Gov. Kelly Armstrong said he was happy the bill is moving forward and did not have many qualms with the amendments. He said he understood that legislators were attempting to provide flexibility to smaller political subdivisions with the amendment to allow voters to exclude political subdivisions from levy caps, but thought there was an option to provide that flexibility which would be “a little more restrictive.”

“The fact that this conversation is top of mind and moving forward, it’s not stuck in the mud, that’s really important for how this process works to get to a result at the end,” Armstrong told the Tribune.

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“A lot of people are putting a lot of hard work in,” he said. “I don’t have to agree with every single aspect of the legislation to know that everybody’s working hard to get a solid piece of legislation together.”

Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier, looks on while organizing his notes during a House floor session at the Capitol on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.

Tanner Ecker / The Bismarck Tribune

The culling of property tax bills created a heated discussion on the floor during Tuesday’s late session. Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, expressed frustration with the House Finance and Taxation Committee over its decisions on property tax bills this session. He said that it follows a trend over the past several sessions where the committee chooses one bill and piles all the ideas they like from other bills onto it.

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“They’re piled into a single bill a lot of times. I think this session it might turn out to be two bills, but then they’ve been particularly harsh on everything else,” Koppelman said in an interview with the Tribune on Wednesday. “Since all these bills had different ideas, I think the body as a whole should really have a fair shake at deciding which is our preferred source … So that’s what I was being critical of.”

Koppelman was the primary sponsor of House bills 1390, 1353 and 1343, which together acted as competitors to House Bill 1176. He said he felt there were “much better options that died last night than what we have in House Bill 1176” but he was hopeful — if skeptical — that pieces from the deceased bills would make their way into whatever property tax reform bill is eventually signed by the governor.

Nathe said he disagreed with Koppelman and others’ assessment of the Finance and Tax Committee and felt the committee had done its job going through the many property tax bills to determine what works and what does not.

This sentiment was echoed by House Majority Leader Rep. Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, who said the committee had done a “tremendous amount of work” on the property tax reform bills.

“I just believe the Finance and Tax Committee did a very good job of vetting all these different bills because they come from different angles,” Lefor said. “Quite frankly, I appreciate the work of all the representatives — and senators – that brought bills forward.”

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Sen. Mark Weber, R-Casselton, who chairs the Senate Finance and Taxation Committee said he had not seen any bills that were direct competitors to 1176 come through his committee, but he had seen at least one bill, Senate Bill 2363, which would work in tandem with 1176 to provide some property tax relief for agricultural landowners.

Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier, who chairs the House Finance and Taxation Committee, said there was one other bill left, House Bill 1575, that was a direct competitor to House Bill 1176. He said he felt 1575 would provide relief in an “easier and simpler” way than House Bill 1176, and would provide tax relief across multiple property designations including residential, commercial, and agricultural land.

Nathe said he felt House Bill 1176 had the most momentum of any property tax bill at this point in the session, especially with the backing of the governor.

Lefor and Armstrong both said they were happy with the progress made on property tax reform so far during the session and felt confident at this point that the Legislature would come away with a strong property tax relief and reform package by the end of it.

“I would say we’re really positive about the likelihood of getting a good piece of relief and reform at the end of the session,” Armstrong said. “Well, hopefully not the end, end. But … I don’t think pre-crossover is going to happen, nor should it. The longer you have momentum moving forward, the more you have stakeholders engage in real solutions to what they see as perceived problems.”

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HIGHLIGHTS: North/South Spruins grab 9th straight win

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HIGHLIGHTS: North/South Spruins grab 9th straight win


FARGO, N.D. (Valley News Live) – The top girls hockey team in North Dakota kept their winning streak alive on Tuesday, shutting out West Fargo United to the tune of a 7-0 win.

That’s the 9th win in a row for the Spruins who improve to 16-1-1-2 overall.



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