North Dakota
With session winding down, North Dakota lawmakers at roadblock on property tax bill
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Legislature did not gavel in Wednesday, April 30, instead spending the day hashing out the final bills of the session in conference committees, including the long-awaited property tax relief and reform legislation that lawmakers say is stuck.
In February, Gov. Kelly Armstrong said he was simply happy that even with changes made to House Bill 1176 he did not fully agree with, the bill was still moving forward. It was not “stuck in the mud.” Now, it appears the bill has finally been mired.
Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, said the committee was “95%” in agreement on the bill during Wednesday morning’s conference committee meeting and brought up what he said was the last piece the Senate and House have to come to an agreement on: the “skin in the game” amendment.
“Let’s face it, there is one issue that is hanging out there,” Nathe said during the meeting. “We’ve talked about it very little and it’s kind of the elephant in the room and that’s the ‘skin in the game.’”
The “skin in the game” amendment was introduced by Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, in the Senate Appropriations Committee. The amendment would make it so no resident’s property tax obligation could reach zero. Instead, they would be required to pay at least 25% of their primary residence tax obligation.
Hogue has said that reducing the amount of property taxes a homeowner pays to zero would make it so they no longer have a stake in voting on proposed local property tax increases.
Opponents to the amendment say that local bond levies that would raise local property taxes would not be factored into the tax obligation used to calculate their primary residence tax credit. Meaning, they would still be on the hook for local bond levies and other property tax increases adopted by voters.
Nathe said in committee that he thinks it is “blatantly unfair” that 30,000 North Dakotans do not pay property tax but the “skin in the game” amendment would close the path to zero property tax obligation for other North Dakotans. About 20,000 of those are farmsteads that qualify for the farm residence property tax exemption, according to Nathe.
Sen. Mark Weber, R-Casselton, said that in the case of the farm residence property tax exemption, farmers are absolutely paying property tax. They are not paying it on their farmstead, but they are paying “significantly more” on their farmland, he said.
Nathe called this argument “apples to oranges” because the farmland produces revenue for them, making it more similar to a business asset. He equated it to him paying property taxes on his home and separately on his business and the land it sits on.
“We have to resolve this before we can move forward,” Rep. Glenn Bosch, R-Bismarck, told the Tribune Wednesday. “And unfortunately, this ‘skin in the game’ conversation carries over to other budgets right now.”
According to Bosch, the state Department of Transportation budget and the state treasurer’s budget are waiting on the bill to be resolved before they can move forward.
There have been 12 conference committee meetings trying to hash out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the measure, but the last four have been less than 10 minutes long and one lasted only four minutes.
The current version of the bill being discussed in committee would use Legacy Fund dollars to increase the primary residence tax credit to a maximum of $1,650 and cap the amount political subdivisions can raise levies at 3% a year.
With the committee stuck, there was discussion of other property tax relief and reform bills that have yet to be acted on, frustrating some members of the HB 1176 conference committee.
“I don’t think those are really options. Those other bills,” Bosch said in an interview with the Tribune. “I mean, we’ve got this bill in front of us. I think we’re a long way toward getting what we want to get accomplished with this bill, and those other bills just become distractions. We have to take action on those … We need to clear the deck so we can get done with the one we’ve got in front of us.”
Bekkedahl said that saving bills like this as an alternative to the primary vehicle for a piece of legislation is normal, but he called the practice “frustrating.”
“It’s a chamber-to-chamber issue,” Bekkedahl said. “It’s always been that way. It always will be that way. Those bills go away at some point if they’re no longer needed. But right now, without resolution to the primary bills, those bills are going to be standing there for some reason or another.”
Neither side has a clear idea of how the stalemate will come to a close but lawmakers say that movement on other bills might change the bargaining position of one chamber or the other, and the added pressure that comes as the end of the session approaches may force concessions.
“I want to make it very clear the Senate is not willing to concede at this time on the ‘skin in the game,’” Weber said during Wednesday morning’s conference committee. “I will make that very clear. We are not prepared to concede and I think everybody sitting here knows that.”
“Alright, well, if that’s the case, then we’re just going to adjourn until you are ready to make some movement,” said Rep. Craig Headland, R-Montpelier, chair of the conference committee on HB 1176.
It is unclear when the committee will meet again.
FARGO — Drivers can expect to see a slight uptick in gas prices as a result of the Iran conflict.
As of Monday, March 2, the average for North Dakota is $2.65 a gallon. While that is a $0.13 increase from a month ago, it is significantly lower than prices a year ago.
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GRAND FORKS – The Study ND, formerly Humanities North Dakota, has received $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts for a statewide theater and humanities initiative in recognition of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
This commemorative investment is meant to bring historical events and figures – such as the framers of the U.S. Constitution – to life through virtual and live performances that celebrate the nation’s history.
The grant, along with funding from private sources, has made it possible for The Study ND to host “America 250” activities after the organization sustained a considerable cut in funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities last year, according to Brenna Gerhardt, The Study ND executive director.
“We absorbed a 50% budget cut, resulting in a loss of $467,645 in funding,” Gerhardt said. “As a result, we had to significantly scale back our American 250 initiatives focused on American history and civics education.”
Funds received from the National Endowment for the Arts will be used to present public readings, theatrical portrayals and guided discussions to encourage audience members to reflect on the nation’s founding in 1776 and on its democratic ideals, while engaging in contemporary conversations about civic life.
All of the programming in the series organized by The Study ND, titled “American Heroes,” will be livestreamed statewide.
In the grant application submitted to the National Endowment for the Arts, “we framed the project around a simple idea: democracy requires more than information, it requires citizens who can think historically, listen well, and argue in good faith,” Gerhardt said.
“This series uses living history performances to bring consequential figures into the room, then turns the room into a civic space through moderated dialogue and related public events. We define ‘heroism’ as civic courage under pressure, the willingness to contend with hard truths, and the capacity to enlarge a community’s moral imagination,” she said.
“The project does not ask audiences to agree on a single interpretation of a figure. It invites them to grapple with complexity together, and to connect the past to the responsibilities of the present.”
When Gerhardt and her colleagues received the application for grant proposals from the National Endowment for the Arts, “we were already planning a line-up of America 250 events and it fit perfectly with what we were already planning, so then we just wrote the grant,” she said.
Private funds, including matching funds from the Bismarck-based Tom and Frances Leach Foundation, have also been provided for this project.
Details about all the events will probably be posted on the website
www.TheStudyND.org
in March, Gerhardt said.
The America 250 events, which are planned to take place at Bismarck State College, are 5-6 p.m. July 8, “Reading of the Declaration of Independence, with John Adams,” and 6-7:30 p.m. July 9, “Alexander Hamilton Speaks,” both performed by William Chrystal.
The Living History programs are planned for 7-8:15 p.m. Sept. 17, “Thomas Paine,” performed by Doug Mishler, and Oct. 6, 7-8:15 p.m, “Frederick Douglass,” performed by Nathan Richardson. Both will be moderated by Susan Frontczak.
The performers Chrystal and Richardson live in Virginia, Frontczak in Colorado,and Mishler in Nevada.
Another program, “Hemingway and Gellhorn,” is set for Sept. 16-18 at Bismarck State College, Gerhardt said. “It is part of our broader Chautauqua/living history programming connected to America 250 … (and) will feature performances and discussion centered on Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn, using their lives and writing as a way to explore major questions about American identity, war reporting, public memory, and the stories we tell about freedom, conflict and responsibility.
“What I am excited about with this event is that it gives us a way to approach America 250 beyond founding-era material. In other words, it helps us show the American story is not just about 1776, but also about the generations that followed and how Americans wrestled with democracy, power, truth and moral courage.”
This program “expands the initiative beyond commemoration into reflection, dialogue and interpretation, which is where the humanities are especially valuable,” she said. “It helps us reach audiences who may be drawn in through literature, journalism and performance, not only traditional history events.”
The Hemingway and Gellhorn program fits in with America 250 in that “it broadens the frame and adds depth to the larger effort.”
Gerhardt is hoping that these activities will give participants “a better understanding of all the debates and issues going on when our country was founded, and how those debates are continuing today,” she said, “and just to be more thoughtful and informed citizens.”
College students and members of the general public will also be invited to participate in a workshop aimed at teaching participants how to build a living history performance from primary sources and historical research.
Last year, The Study ND lost a substantial amount of funding – nearly $468,000, about half of its annual budget – from the National Endowment for the Humanities for its fiscal 2025 year.
The loss of that much funding was discouraging, Gerhardt said. “Very much so, because we had a lot of activities planned for America 250 and we had to cancel a lot of them, or – like in this case – seek other funding, which we were lucky to get.”
The Study ND currently has four full-time employees, she said. “We eliminated a part-time marketing position after the cuts.”
A nonprofit organization, The Study ND provides civics, arts and cultural education programming. The organization’s programs – which include online classes, book talks, lectures and more – reached about 24,000 people in 2024, Gerhardt told the North Dakota Monitor in April 2025.
During the summer, the organization hosts a civics education program for high school and middle school social studies teachers, she said.
On this day in 1943, two North Dakota army officers, Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz and First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson, were killed in separate medium bomber training crashes in Florida and Georgia.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Army Plane Crashes Kill Two N. D. Men
Two North Dakota officers in the army air forces were killed Sunday in bomber crashes during training flights, Associated Press dispatches revealed Monday.
Second Lieut. Arthur B. Kuntz of Harvey (Wells county) was killed with 10 others from the Avon Park, Fla., army bomber base when two medium bombers collided during a routine formation flight. Both planes crashed and there were no survivors.
First Lieut. Bernard A. Anderson of Warwick (Benson county) was one of six killed when a medium bomber from MacDill field, Tampa, Fla., crashed near Savannah, Ga. Lieutenant Anderson was co-pilot of the plane.
None of the other victims of either accident was from the Dakotas or Minnesota.
Lieutenant Kuntz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Roy Kuntz of Harvey, was graduated from the army air force navigation school at Hondo, Texas, as a second lieutenant last October, and received his wings as a navigator.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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