North Dakota narrowly escapes joining blue state boondoggle

A day after the North Dakota House of Representatives voted to provide “free” (read “at taxpayer expense”) breakfasts and lunches to all of the state’s students, including the wealthiest, the state’s Senate narrowly defeated the measure on Friday.

As we reported earlier, the House had voted just a day earlier to enact the bill which would have joined only eight other states, according to an ABC News report, which do so.

Proponents of the measure had indicated that its sole purpose was to attempt to head off an effort by the left to enshrine a similar measure in the North Dakota Constitution through an initiated measure which is currently circulating. Yet, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Mike Nathe, reportedly responded to its defeat on Friday by vowing to sign the petition to get the Constitutional measure on the ballot, to help get it passed.

It’s just the most recent evidence of a phenomenon which requires careful scrutiny by North Dakota’s overwhelmingly conservative voters — that, despite large Republican majorities, the Legislature they’ve elected is not as conservative as some may assume.

It’s also evidence that the longstanding observation that the House was the more conservative of the Legislature’s two chambers has flipped and that, if there were any remaining doubt, the Senate now clearly holds that distinction.

The Uphill Climb

Despite the week’s Legislative action, attempts to stop the ballot measure will likely face an uphill climb. Historically, when voters have the opportunity to approve a proposal which gives them something “free”, it typically passes. Temptation to dip into the public trough, with no apparent, immediate consequence, is difficult to overcome. 

While only a handful of the nation’s most liberal states demand what the initiated measure proposes, North Dakota may be on the brink of joining them. Yet, defeating such a measure is not impossible, if the public is educated on its real provisions and true cost.

No Such Thing as a Free Lunch

As we previously wrote, the old adage holds true in this case (no pun intended).

Breakfasts and lunches would be provided for every North Dakota student in schools (public and private), under the measure — even to the state’s wealthiest families.

North Dakota law already provides free school lunches to students in need. In fact, families earning as much as $84,000 receive them! Clearly, even now, no student in North Dakota schools goes hungry.

Prompted by perceived “shaming” (having to fill out paperwork indicating income), the Legislature even did away with that requirement last session so anyone merely showing up for lunch and not paying for it already receives it, at no cost, with no “shame”, in North Dakota schools.

So, why do some contend that such a measure is needed?

Some believe that the teacher’s union (“North Dakota United” is one of the measure’s sponsors) favors the idea because, if it is placed in the Constitution, its cost (currently estimated at $65 million per year — $130 million per biennium, which will only increase) will be off the table at budget time. That would mean that there may be more taxpayer dollars in the trough for demands for things like teacher pay increases.

Make no mistake, if passed, and placed where most reasonable observers agree it does not belong — in the North Dakota Constitution — it will be yet another fiscal millstone around the necks of North Dakota taxpayers, an even heavier burden every year. 

North Dakota narrowly escaped the boondoggle becoming part of state law (the House voted 55-38 to pass it, while the Senate defeated it by a 24-22 vote).

Donors, like the teachers union, will spend a lot of money to make it part of the Constitution. Only one obstacle stands in their way — reasonable, educated voters.