VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) A bipartisan group of over 40 people of attended the 2nd Legislative Score Card session in Valley City on February 27th during the crossover break of the North Dakota Legislature.
Crossover occurs mid-session when all the bills passed by the House go to the Senate for voting and all the Senate bills go to the House for consideration.
Madeline Luke, the organizer, posted all 538 ND House of Representatives Bills, the votes of our Representatives and if the bills passed or fail. A partial posting of Senate bills was also available for review.
Approximately 386 House bills survived and 156 out of 239 Senate bills will go on to the House. Bills must be passed by both chambers before the Governor signs or vetoes them. Luke noted that a lot of money was coming in from the Federal
government as well as oil revenues, but the proposed spending was also impressive.
Larry Robinson, former member of the Senate Appropriation Committee, commented that the next half of the session was critical in getting the budget negotiated. He informed the attendees of a daily budget status report that tallies spending against anticipated revenue. The report presently shows 1.2 billion budget short fall from the general fund and 450 million overspending from the Strategic Improvement and Investment fund.
All the bills, testimony and hearings can be viewed on the legislative website and Luke would provide a paper copy of a bill if needed. She emphasized, “The goal of these sessions is to give out information, not change anybody’s mind. Until the
final floor vote is taken, citizens can email or phone our legislators with their input.”
The audience asked why District 24 legislators were absent. Luke replied that there had been no response to an invitation to come to the session, timed to accommodate the 4 day crossover break.
The Legislative Oversight committee is comprised of Madeline Luke, Rick and Cindy Ross, Phil Mueller, Mary Lee and Larry Robinson, the committee has no party funding from any party.
Luke said the Score Card sessions goal is to inform constituents of what our and other legislators are doing while making laws that govern many aspects of our lives, and taxing and spending our money during the 2023 North Dakota Legislative Session.
District 24 Legislative Meet and Greet Schedule is listed below.
Saturday, March 25th at the Enderlin Inn Conference room from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
Saturday, April 1st in the Valley City High School Cafeteria from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM.
District 24 State Senator Mike Wobbema along with Representative’s Cole Christiansen and Dwight Kiefert will field questions from the audience concerning bills of interest during the 2023 legislative session during the Meet and Greet session.