North Dakota
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
“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.”
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.”
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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