North Dakota could tackle free school lunches, tax relief and more during special session – InForum

BISMARCK — North Dakota legislators could take up dozens of bills during the special session meant to

address a rejected budget bill,

including income tax relief, free school lunches, banning China from owning land and legalizing farm-to-customer raw milk product sales.

The North Dakota Legislature will meet Monday, Oct. 23, for a special session in hopes of passing 14 bills that address the now-voided Senate Bill 2015. Legislative Management, which decides what bills the full Legislature will review, voted unanimously on Friday to send all proposed legislation regarding SB 2015 to the special session.

Legislative Management also was slated on Friday to review 26 lawmaker-submitted bills separate from addressing SB 2015. Those bills propose an array of topics, from protecting wild horses in

Theodore Roosevelt National Park

to allocating millions of dollars to initiatives like child care grants and free school lunches for K-12 students.

It’s possible more could be reviewed next week. Bills that will make it to the House and Senate chambers must be limited and emergent, House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, said.

That means they can’t wait until the regular session in 2025, he said.

“We did say that the bar was going to be high,” he added.

Legislative Management did not approve the additional bills by publishing time.

Senate Bill 2015 allocated $322 million to multiple government agencies and functions, with nearly half of the funds going to the Office of Management and Budget, for the 2023-25 biennium.

The state

Supreme Court

said the bill touched not just on appropriations but government operations. That violated a law that a bill can only address a single subject.

The Public Employees Retirement System Board sued the Legislature, saying SB 2015 allowed lawmakers to place themselves on the PERS board.

The Supreme Court did not rule on that issue.

To address the single-subject clause, lawmakers have broken up SB 2015 into 14 bills for the special session.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum called the special session, meaning lawmakers don’t have to use any of the five days they saved after finishing the regular session. The laws passed during the special session, which Burgum wants wrapped up by Friday, Oct. 27, will become effective as soon as the governor signs them.

Burgum also asked Legislative Management, which determines what bills the full Legislature will review, to consider his proposals on tax relief, energy and infrastructure.

Legislators have to submit bills on behalf of the governor. Drafts on Legislative Management’s Friday agenda did not say which bills Burgum backed.

Under an income tax proposal, residents making $60,000 or less wouldn’t have to pay state income tax, while married couples filing jointly wouldn’t have a state income tax if they make $100,000 or less. Families would get the same break if they make $80,000 annually.

Another bill would increase the amount of credits for property taxes from $500 to $750 for the biennium beginning July 2023 and ending in June 2025.

Burgum will share his special session priorities on Monday during a State of the State Address, his spokesman Mike Nowatzki said.

Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

Sen. Jeffrey Magrum, R-Hazelton, introduced a bill that would prevent foreign adversaries from owning property in North Dakota. Landowners also have to disclose whether that person who owns land in the state is “compromised by another individual that is domiciled outside the United States” or “has a controlling interest or ownership interest in the person making the required foreign disclosure.”

“Our governor recently commented that we are in a Cold War with China,” Magrum said.

A corn milling plant proposed for Grand Forks attracted public outcry for being proposed by a China-based agribusiness,

FuFeng Group,

in 2021. Federal leaders said the plant posed national security concerns for its proposed proximity to Grand Forks Air Force Base.

FuFeng eventually abandoned the project.

David Samson/The Forum

Rep. Ben Koppelman, R-West Fargo, has proposed allowing those convicted of infractions and misdemeanors, with some exceptions, to keep their guns during probation. Since April 1, roughly 5,400 people with infraction and misdemeanor convictions have lost their gun rights in North Dakota.

There would be exceptions for assault, simple assault, domestic violence, harassment and menacing.

Rep. Pat Heinert, R-Bismarck, drafted a bill that would allow law enforcement to handle theft and vandalism cases that happen in schools if the damage is more than $500. The language previously was removed from law, meaning

school resource officers

and other law enforcement couldn’t investigate those crimes in school, he said.

“It will be three school semesters and two summer sessions before the schools can get help from law enforcement on serious crimes,” he said.

Rep. Dawson Holle, R-Mandan, also proposed allowing farmers to sell

raw milk

products directly to customers. The Legislature passed a bill in the regular session allowing farms to sell raw milk directly to customers, but not products made from raw milk.

The North Dakota Department of Agriculture told a family to stop selling cream to customers since it was a raw milk product, Holle said.

“Being a proponent of agriculture in North Dakota, that hurts my heart,” he said.

Sen. Bob Paulson, R-Minot, asked Legislative Management to forward to the Legislature a resolution that would condemn Hamas, which attacked Israel this month, as a terrorist group. If passed, the Legislature would express support for Israel and encourage law enforcement to be vigilant in protecting Jews in North Dakota, he said.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, proposed a bill that would offer student loan relief to some residents, but he withdrew that bill Friday afternoon.