Happy Monday!
Dear Fellow Republicans,
We wanted to provide you with a roundup of everything you might have missed from North Dakota’s great Republican leaders this past week. Please share with family and friends!
Perrie Schafer, NDGOP Chairman
Photo of the Week
| Governor Burgum: Signing HB 1371 takes the handcuffs off our farmers and ranchers and allows capital to flow into our state, growing animal agriculture, adding value to crops, creating opportunities and helping rural communities thrive in North Dakota once again. |
RNC
This past week, I had the honor to address the RNC Spring Meeting in Oklahoma City. Please check out my remarks below about our progress in North Dakota! – Perrie
My name is Perrie Schafer, I’m the North Dakota Chairman. Everything my colleagues have said this afternoon, I 100% agree. I was asked to talk a little bit about talking with our stakeholders and how we communicate to people.
What we do in North Dakota, we’ve learned from grow some of our weak spots with respect to what we should be doing better as state party chairs, and as leaders of the Republican party. We’re a red state; that doesn’t mean that we’re not without issues. We’re not without our differences, we’re not without fighting. So what we try to do is communicate.
As chairman of North Dakota’s Republican Party, we do Microsoft Teams and Zoom meetings every month. The third Tuesday of each month, I have all of our constituent chairs, if they’re not in the local Bismarck area…And there’s no agenda. I don’t write an agenda. I allow them to have the floor and to speak to us, as the party, what problems are they seeing? What things could be different? What things could be better? What solutions do you have? And certainly willing to listen to the complaints, but we want to, as I also run my companies, I say, “What solutions do you have?”
So it’s working out very well. This is the second year we’ve done it, and the amount of people that are willing to join these calls has definitely grown.
We also have regional meetings where I actually go in person, and we hold them annually…My executive director and myself will drive out to the four different, regional regions, I guess, within the state of North Dakota; the four corners of the state that are elected by their respective chairs of those regions. So these regional chairs represent their corner of the state of North Dakota.
And we have them bring all of their legislators in, we have them bring their large donors in, we have them bring of course their executive members and what have you. And we have a lunch, and we talk about, “Where’s the party going? Where is the party coming from? What direction do we want to take the party, going forward?” So we have a physical input from the field, from the every day person that’s able to communicate so we can take notes and we can help work through some of those sort of things as we move forward.
I’ll flip back to my agenda there, but I wanted to show you the Roughrider Roundup. This is a magazine that we’ve been doing now for about two years, where we actually incorporate the legislative branch, the executive branch, and the federal delegation, as well as my office and we look at what’s going on…We look hard at what’s going on within the state.
Right now within the legislative session, we meet regularly, weekly, with the legislative leaders in the house and the senate. Every Friday at 10:30, we have an hour and a half meeting set up and we talk about the legislation that’s coming through.
We actually meet with the governor’s office every Friday at 9:00, where we sit down, visiting then with the governor, and talk about what we believe as the state of North Dakota, we should be vetoing or he should not be vetoing. He doesn’t always listen, but those are some of the things that we do. And we also, and I’ll flip back to the information magazine, but this magazine what we do is we touch about 11,000-12,000 people in our state.
ND 68th Legislative Session
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North Dakota
Governor Burgum signs into law historic tax relief package
KXNews
“A huge win for North Dakota taxpayers. House Bill 1158 allows workers across all tax brackets to keep more of their hard earn money while also easing the property tax burden. That allows homeowners especially making homeowners for our senior citizens remain affordable,” said Governor Doug Burgum…And even though this wasn’t the original proposed flax tax, Governor Burgum says it’s a great start. “North Dakota will have the lowest income tax in the nation among states that have individual income tax,” said Governor Burgum. Governor Burgum also says the tax relief will help retain and recruit workers for the ongoing workforce shortage.
Governor Burgum signs major pension reform bill into law
Valley News Live
Governor Burgum said, “This bill allows us to ensure our ongoing obligations to current and former team members enrolled in the state pension plan while finally addressing the $1.9 billion in pension debt looming over taxpayers. House Bill 1040 will help in recruiting new team members and give them greater flexibility and portability in their retirement accounts, while also maintaining and protecting pension benefits for existing team members and retirees. Taking the off-ramp from defined benefits now will save North Dakota taxpayers billions more down the road.”
Burgum signs $66M child care package
KFGO
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum signed a bill Friday aimed at helping what he called a “child care crisis” in the state. The bill would invest millions to support child care services, and try to help increase workforce participation.
Burgum signs bill modernizing ND’s corporate farming law
Minot Daily News
Gov. Doug Burgum on Friday was joined by dozens of legislators, representatives of statewide farm commodity groups and state Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring for the signing of House Bill 1371, which modernizes North Dakota’s corporate farming law to encourage growth in the animal agriculture sector.
Bulk of funding approved for $161.2M women-centric corrections facility in North Dakota
Inforum
Work will get underway this summer on a new women-centric correctional and rehabilitation facility in North Dakota after state lawmakers approved the bulk of the funding needed to design and build it. The proposed $161.2 million, 260-bed facility is slated to be built near the Heart River Correctional Center in Mandan. It’s estimated to take three years to complete…Gov. Doug Burgum has said the state is at risk for legal action, considering what’s offered at the new penitentiary for men in Bismarck and what’s available for women in New England.
A.G.’s office gets 21 new employees
KFYR-TV
The Attorney General’s office will have a whole lot more people to work with over the next two years. They will be adding 21 new full-time employees…The budget also includes more than a million dollars for a human trafficking victims grant program and $400,000 in grants for law enforcement trauma support. AG Drew Wrigley says with these extra lawyers, he’ll be able to save money from the litigation pool that’s included in his budget. Next session, he’ll be required to prove that he saved money.
Nominations sought for Wheat Commission
KBMW News
“We encourage interested groups and individuals to submit nominations for consideration,” Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring said. “The Nominating Committee will select three names to submit to the governor, who will appoint an individual to the Wheat Commission in the member-at-large position.”
Burgum signs bill banning ‘mandatory, non-credit training’ on ‘specified concepts’ at ND universities
The Jamestown Sun
Gov. Doug Burgum has signed a bill addressing the instruction of “specified concepts” at universities in North Dakota. Senate Bill 2247 was signed into law on Monday, April 24, and will take effect on Aug. 1. The bill, introduced by Sen. Bob Paulson, R-Minot, prohibits “mandatory non-credit training” of specified concepts on university campuses. The bill defines specified concepts as those that assert the U.S. is inherently racist or sexist, the rule of law does not exist, that all Americans are not created equal and endowed with inalienable rights and that meritocracies are oppressive by nature, among others. Senate Bill 2247 also prohibits universities from discriminating against individuals for refusing to endorse specified concepts. Additionally, institutions may not ask the “ideological or political viewpoint of a student, job applicant, job candidate or candidate for promotion or tenure.”
N.D. Gov. Signs Abortion Ban With Limited Exceptions
One America News Network
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has signed legislation on Monday that prohibits most abortions before the sixth week of pregnancy, with few exceptions. The law requires that “[a]n abortion facility may not perform an abortion on a woman without first offering the woman an opportunity to receive and view at the abortion facility or another facility an active ultrasound of her unborn child.” Except in situations of rape or incest before six weeks of gestation, or for medical circumstances that can occur after six weeks, such as an ectopic or molar pregnancy, the new legislation makes abortion a class C felony.
Washington, D.C.
Sen. Hoeven Pushes For Dakota Access Pipeline Review To Be Completed
KVRR
A new environmental impact review of the Dakota Access Pipeline was ordered by a judge in 2020 and it’s still not done. The pipeline moves around 40 percent of the oil produced in the Bakken region in North Dakota to an oil terminal in Illinois. It set off a major protest south of Bismarck-Mandan over environmental concerns in 2016. Sen. John Hoeven is once again pressing the Army Corps of Engineers to complete the review as soon as possible so oil keeps flowing…Hoeven says the pipeline is important not only to the energy industry in North Dakota, but to U.S. energy security.
Hoeven votes to overturn EPA’s costly regulation on heavy-duty vehicles
The Williston Herald
Senator John Hoeven voted Thursday for legislation to overturn a Biden administration regulation on heavy-duty vehicle emissions that would place costly new requirements on the trucking industry. Hoeven helped introduce the legislation, a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution, with Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) to stop the costly rule from going into effect. The CRA was approved by the Senate by a vote of 50-49.
Who owns America: Why Chinese land purchases near US bases have national security experts concerned
The Washington Examiner
Concerns over the Chinese land buy came as Sens. Rubio, Kevin Cramer (R-ND), and John Hoeven (R-ND) sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen early last year asking CFIUS to “conduct a review of Chinese food manufacturer Fufeng Group’s recent purchase.” The senators said the proximity of the land to the base “led to concern that Fufeng operations could provide cover for [People’s Republic of China] surveillance.”
Hoeven urges VA to simplify process for veterans
The Williston Herald
At a hearing of the Senate Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Committee this week, Senator John Hoeven (R-N.D.) urged U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Denis McDonough to help secure permanent regulatory relief enabling more health care facilities, including long-term care (LTC) providers, to serve veterans.
House Republicans race toward debt ceiling vote after 11th-hour rewrite
KWWL
“This is what gets us in the game,” said Rep. Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota. “This is the first conversation. The next conversation is what comes next and we know that and this is part of negotiation. We know we don’t control all three. We don’t control the White House and the Senate but this gets us where we need to start.”
Magic City Discovery Center closes the circle
Minot Daily News
U.S. Sen. John Hoeven was on hand, and even pulled his grandsons away from the exhibits to use them as “props” as he made his remarks. “The Magic City Discovery Center stands as an investment in the future of the Minot region, helping to enrich the lives of families and supporting the development and success of their children,” said Hoeven, “When the project first started in 2014, we quickly recognized the positive impact it would have.”
Sen. Hoeven Pushes Biden Administration For Increased Oil And Gas Production
KVRR
Hoeven says U.S. oil refining capacity has dropped to nearly 18 million barrels per day from 19 million in 2019. He also says restrictions on federal leasing and permitting for energy development continue to hold back oil production. “As we enter the summer drive season it’s very important that we increase the supply of gasoline for Americans that are traveling across the country,” said Hoeven.
