Special legislative session begins today

Today marks a relatively rare occurrence: a Special Session of the North Dakota Legislature. 

One of only four states in the nation which still meets every other year, North Dakota has historically been able to complete its work in each biennial session without a need to reconvene before the next one begins. Although most states started that way, most have gone to annual sessions. An honest evaluation of the result may bring to mind the old adage that “work expands to meet the time allotted for it”.

Such special sessions have been rare, over time, but remain a tool for our state’s government. They have allowed lawmakers to return to the Capitol to do necessary work which couldn’t wait until the next regular session, which may be as long as a year-and-a-half away, in some cases.

Historically, governors were the only ones who could call the Legislature back into session after it had adjourned, “sine die” (a still-used Latin term meaning “without day”, signaling the final adjournment of a legislative session with no set date to reconvene during the current session). That changed, decades ago, when the Legislature (reasoning that, as a separate branch of government, it should have every right to call itself back into session without involving another branch of government) passed a bill to that effect. Attempting to protect Executive power, the Governor, at the time, vetoed the bill but the Legislature overrode the veto and its right to self determination during an interim became law.

Since then, such special sessions, regardless of who called them, have continued to be infrequent. When there is clear, pressing business which all agree must be done, a governor will typically call the Legislature back into session, as is the case this year and was in the 2022 Special Session called for redistricting after the decennial census. On occasions when the Legislature believes something must be dealt with but the Executive branch is not so eager to have the Legislature confront it promptly, the Legislature retains the right to call itself back into session.

In such cases, the Legislature is constrained by the constitutional biennial limit on the number of legislative days it can meet in a biennium (80), while special sessions called by the governor are not affected by the limit.

As a result, for several years, it has been the goal and practice of the Legislature to attempt to “save” some days at the conclusion of each session, stopping short of consuming all 80 days, in case a need for a special session arises. Typically, the minimum number of “saved” days has been three, as the common belief was that this is what it takes to convene a special session, do the business at hand and adjourn, due to legislative rules. In recent years, however, legislators and staff have discovered ways to be more efficient and the current belief is that a special session can be completed faster. 

A bill recommended for next year’s regular session will also provide and plan for a potential “veto session” after each regular session adjourns. This will allow the legislative branch of government the option to deal with any gubernatorial vetos which may occur after its adjournment. A practice common in other states, it’s something we’ve long advocated to retain the constitutional authority and separation of powers of the branches of state government.

This year’s Special Session has been called to deal with a great deal of money from the federal government appropriated to states to improve rural health care. As a rural state, of course, North Dakota is one of the prime targets for such efforts.

Again, American Experiment North Dakota will be your eyes and ears at the Capitol as these dollars are appropriated and the way they’ll be spent is finalized. Stay tuned!