North Dakota
North Dakota lawmakers pass Commerce budget without aid for presidential library
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Legislature sent the Department of Commerce’s budget to Gov. Kelly Armstrong on Friday without the $50 million in funding for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library that was previously added to the bill.
Senate Bill 2018
saw over three hours of debate on the House floor last week
before passing
and ending up in a conference committee.
The version of the bill that
came out of conference committee
had about $70 million less in Strategic Investment and Improvement Funding (SIIF) than the version passed by the House. SIIF is a state reserve fund filled by oil and gas production and extraction tax revenue that is frequently used by lawmakers to backfill the state budget.
The presidential library accounted for $25 million of that amount, but Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, said other areas were cut as well. Funding for the
“Find the Good Life” state tourism marketing campaign
was eliminated, while support for tourism development grants, a drone replacement program, the North Dakota Development Fund, the beyond-line-of-sight Vantis drone program, and science centers in Fargo and Grand Forks was reduced.
Lawmakers said they decided to push discussion of further funding for the presidential library to next session, when they would have more time to discuss it in a policy committee and the library will have been open for five months. The fact that the additional funding for the library was added in the House Appropriations Committee rather than a policy committee was one of the largest points of criticism when the bill came up on the House floor last week.
Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
officials said they have raised $260 million to date and aim to raise $450 million in private donations.
Library spokesperson Matt Briney said the library is on track to close the funding gap before its grand opening in July 2026. The library
hit the halfway point of construction
in August 2024.
The previously proposed funding for the presidential library totaled $50 million — $25 million from SIIF and $25 million from earnings from the Bank of North Dakota. The funding would not have gone toward construction but instead into an operational endowment to cover staffing and annual expenses in perpetuity.
Sen. Michael Dwyer, R-Bismarck, carried the bill on the Senate floor and said the $9 million in funding for a drone replacement program, which would replace all drones used by state agencies that come from China with drones made by the U.S. or an ally country, was the concession the Senate made to reduce spending elsewhere in the budget. It previously went into conference committee at $16 million.
Some lawmakers in the House condemned the addition of funding for a drone replacement program because they said it was reintroduced from
a bill that was voted down earlier this session.
Nathe said it is common to put sections of failed legislation into other bills.
The total budget for the department was set at roughly $158 million, with approximately $42 million of that from the General Fund and $70 million allocated as one-time funding.
North Dakota
North Dakota composer launches statewide virtual choir project
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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