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Rural North Dakota issues a priority for new group of lawmakers • North Dakota Monitor [1]
['Michael Achterling', 'Ann Estvold', 'North Dakota Newspaper Association', 'Michael Standaert', 'North Dakota News Cooperative', 'Jeff Beach', 'More From Author', '- March', '.Wp-Block-Co-Authors-Plus-Coauthors.Is-Layout-Flow', 'Class']
Date: 2025-03-03
Sen. Janne Myrdal likes to point out that everything North Dakota exports, from energy to food, starts from a gravel road.
That’s why she and other rural lawmakers banded together this session to share information on how they can better serve their communities.
The rural caucus, about 50 lawmakers from both chambers, amounting up to about a third of the total legislators, try to meet at least once a week to go over bills, their amendments and how they would affect rural constituents.
“Because we are split up into committees between the two chambers, you don’t have time to go and listen to other hearings. You trust your colleagues in those committees,” said Myrdal, R-Edinburg, co-chair of the unofficial caucus. “This rural caucus gives us an opportunity to share what’s actually going on and what we’re fighting for.”
Co-chair Rep. Jared Hagert, R-Emerado, said there was strong interest during the organizational session in December about forming the caucus to highlight rural priorities.
“We may differ on the prioritization of them all, but it’s important to get those issues out,” he said.
Hagert said the caucus doesn’t have any pledges to vote a certain way, but he hopes members would stick together to benefit rural areas.
Myrdal said the pace of legislation making its way through the committees and the floor can be dizzying, so having a group that can highlight specific bills affecting their constituencies is invaluable. A total of 1,083 bills and resolutions have been introduced this session, the highest number since 2009, according to Legislative Council.
Although many think of rural North Dakota as agricultural land, Myrdal points out the rural communities depend on a lot of institutions and services.
“Grocery stores, hospitals, ambulance services, schools, you name it. It’s everything,” Myrdal said. “A citizen, one of us 40% that live in rural North Dakota, has the exact same needs as somebody that lives in downtown Fargo.”
One bill highlighted during a recent caucus meeting was Senate Bill 2363, sponsored by Sen. Robert Erbele, R-Lehr. Erbele’s bill would have decreased the amount of property taxes that could be levied by local school districts on agricultural land.
The bill failed on a 23-23 vote last week on the Senate floor.
Sen. Paul Thomas, R-Velva, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and rural caucus, said residential, commercial and agricultural land are split pretty evenly on how much they contribute to local property taxes. But with major property tax reform bills targeting primary residences to provide savings to homeowners, agricultural producers are feeling left out of the conversation, he said.
“It wouldn’t matter if we were talking about just the commercial sector, or just the ag sector, it just needs to continue a balanced approach,” Thomas said.
If the property tax reform measures are signed into law, he said the next time a small community or school wants to do a large project, a greater share of the burden will fall on ag producers.
Thomas added he’s hopeful agricultural land will see property tax savings as bills are modified during the second half of the session.
He said one of the greatest benefits for rural communities that passed during the first half of the session was an increase to the Flexible Transportation Fund, which, if signed into law, will include additional funding dedicated solely to road and bridge maintenance and replacement across rural areas of the state.
“I think one of the encouraging things of that is a steady stream of funding that we don’t have to come back here and argue about every session about how much it should be, or shouldn’t be,” Thomas said.
He said he believes the rural caucus lawmakers have created a louder, more unified voice to highlight rural issues during the first half of the session.
Lobbying groups also find the rural caucus as another avenue to inform lawmakers about bills their mainly rural-focused organizations are concerned about.
“Sometimes they’ve been overlooked to focus on the needs of population centers, and there are so many people in this state that don’t live in one of those population centers that they need a strong voice,” said Pete Hanebutt, director of public policy for the North Dakota Farm Bureau.
Matt Perdue, government relations director for the North Dakota Farmers Union, said there is a lot of strength in people coming together and working through issues that can benefit all of them.
“We often talk about the business of agriculture, but the future of agriculture relies on farmers and ranchers having strong communities to live in, access to good local services and a good quality of life,” Perdue said. “I really see the rural caucus as being a key place where we can address those issues.”
People are starting to take notice of the group, Myrdal said during a rural caucus meeting after announcing that Gov. Kelly Armstrong expressed interest in attending a future meeting.
“We have a voice this time,” she said. “And it’s not like we’re saying, ‘Hey, just listen to us,’ but no, we’re part of the conversation. We’re at the table.”
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