FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 3, 2025

BISMARCK – The 69th Legislative Session adjourned early in the morning on Saturday, May 3.

Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan (D-Fargo) remarked, “Democracy is messy, but it is the best form of government there is. It only works when we have structures and rules that allow us to move from complex ideas or philosophies to a system that balances individual freedoms with the essentials to make a community and state that can function. To be a healthy community, we need to protect the most vulnerable, including children, those with serious disabilities and illnesses, and those facing the end of their lives.”

House Minority Leader Zac Ista (D-Grand Forks said), “There are significant storm clouds on the horizon. The rule of law is at risk. The national economy is facing perilous times. Future cuts to the detriment of our state seem all but certain. Across North Dakota, our neighbors are asking what’s next. I urge each of us to use our influence and voices to stand up for our fellow citizens.”
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Democrats successfully advocated for significant property tax relief for homeowners and improved access to affordable healthcare for patients across the state. On many issues–like private school voucher proposals that would use state tax dollars to fund private school tuition and a resolution that sought to overturn marriage equality–Democrats were the deciding votes needed to stop those bad bills from becoming bad laws.

Despite being part of a governing coalition that helped pass good policies and defeat bad ones, Democrats also championed important ideas that ended up being missed opportunities this session. Those missed opportunities included insufficient investments in public schools and affordable housing and failing to expand no-cost school meals to all students. It also included important policy proposals that would have protected access to IVF and contraceptives in state law and provided better protections for the state’s renters.

Democratic-NPL Wins

HB 1260 (Hager, Marcellais) – improvements to mule deer bow hunting license availability

SB 2360 (Hogan) – interim study of geothermal energy

SCR 4006 (Boschee) – resolution urging Congress to protect the wild horse herd at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

HB 1252 (Dobervich, Brown, Davis, Finley-DeVille, Mitskog, Marcellais) – allows Tribal Nations to use tribal care coordination funds for capital construction projects

HB 1535 (Davis, Finley-DeVille, Schneider, Brown, Braunberger) – creation of “feather alert” system for missing indigenous persons

HB 1545 (Finley-DeVille, Brown, Davis, Dobervich, Marcellais, Mathern) – renames First Nations Day to Indigenous Peoples Day in North Dakota

HB 1563 (Davis, Brown, Finley-DeVille, Foss, Ista, Marcellais) – interim study of tribal land taxation

HB 1564 (Davis, Brown, Finley-DeVille, Hogan) – technical corrections to the 2023 state law codification of the Indian Child Welfare Act

HB 1581 – (Finley-DeVille, Brown, Davis, Ista, Mathern) – tribal tourism grants

HB 1603 (Brown, Davis, Finley-DeVille, Ista, Boschee, Braunberger, Mathern) – $500,000 in state funding to assist state institutions in complying with the Native American Grave Protection and Repatriation Act

HB 1518 (Hager) – removes requirement to use turn signal when exiting traffic circle (the bill was defeated only because the same policy was adopted in SB 2371)

SB 2229 (Boschee) – improves the process for transfer or real property in an established HOA or condo development

SCR 4018 (Boschee) – encourages a new memorial on the Capitol grounds to honor EMS who lost their lives in the line of duty

SB 2326 (Boschee, Schneider) – improvements to SARO/DVPO procedures (the bill was defeated because the policy was included in HB 1336)

SB 2171 (Mathern) – improvements to the emergency mental health petition process

HB 1219 (Mitskog) – allow perpetual care cemeteries to use more of their reserve funds for maintenance and operational expenses

HB 1403 (Schneider, Davis, Hager, Marcellais) – designates POW/MIA Day as a state holiday

HB 1410 (Schneider, Dobervich, Hager, Hanson, Conmy, Davis) – interim study of state laws relating to criminal conduct against children

HB 1504 (Schneider, Boschee, Marcellais) – enables veterans organizations to donate federal to postwar trust fund for homeless veterans services

HB 1564 (Davis, Brown, Finley-DeVille, Hogan) – improvements to state Indian Child Welfare Act

HCR 3005 (Schneider, Hager, Hogan, Marcellais) – encourages the names of the crew members of the U.S.S. Frank E. Evans to be included on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall

SB 2198 (Boschee, Schneider) – removes waiting period for newly hired public employees needing to use 20 days of paid military leave

SB 2238 (Braunberger, Foss, Schneider) – allows for sealing of eviction records after 7 years if the subject has had no additional adverse eviction actions and provides additional protections to survivors of domestic violence who were subject to an eviction proceeding related to that violence

SB 2262 (Braunberger) – improves the ability of the K-12 Coordination Council to enter into contracts

SB 2305 (Hogan, Dobervich) – $7.3M for a family paid caregiver service pilot program

HB 1108 (Hager, Mathern) – allows use of SUD voucher across state lines

HB 1217 (Dobervich, Conmy, Ista, Schneider, Braunberger) – removes felony criminal liability for transmission of HIV and treats transmission of HIV like every other communicable disease

HB 1567 (Schneider, Brown, Davis, Finley-DeVille, Mitskog, Hager, Hogan) – interim study of Medicaid coverage/availability for dental care

HCR 3029 (Dobervich, Ista, Davis, Braunberger, Boschee) – interim study of healthcare/treatment solutions for neurological disorders that may address issues of recidivism, frequent hospitalization, and homelessness in that population

SB 2200 (Hogan, Dobervich) – funding for 988 crisis hotline

SB 2377 (Boschee) – preferred provider arrangements for dental care services

SB 2282 (Hogan, Mitskog) – creates an employer child care tax credit to offset income tax liability for employers who make child care expense contributions to their employees.

HB 1438 (Hanson, Foss, Boschee) – state grant for Fargo Theater (funding included in Commerce budget–SB 2018)

HB 1577 (Mitskog) – interim study of wastewater infrastructure grant funding

SB 2254 (Boschee) – $2M in grants for fixed route city paratransit and an interim study of the fixed route city transportation services funding

SB 2332 (Boschee, Mitskog) – grant funding for emergency services and public safety

SCR 4024 (Mathern) – resolution urging construction of legislative office building

HB 1238 (Ista, Hager, Boschee) – lowers teacher eligibility for lifetime license from 30 years to 25 years

HB 1331 (Mitskog) – $1.75M for NDSCS

HB 1529 (Schneider, Conmy, Dobervich, Hager, Boschee, Hogan) – makes persons who have completed service as a Peace Corps volunteer eligible for in-state tuition

HB 1530 (Schneider, Conmy, Davis, Hager, Hogan, Mathern) – interim study of special education teacher shortage

SCR 4019 (Boschee) – interim study of reading and math proficiency rates among disabled students

HB 1099 (Conmy) – requires ballots to list the first and last names of presidential candidates

HB 1410 (Schneider, Dobervich, Hager, Hanson, Conmy, Davis) – interim study of state laws relating to criminal conduct against children

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 28, 2025

BISMARCK – Today, Sen. Tim Mathern (D-Fargo) proposed legislation to require elected officials and employees of higher education institutions to report knowledge of crimes against children. He and House Minority Leader Zac Ista (D-Grand Forks) announced this legislation at a press conference at the Capitol this morning. They also renewed their call to empower and fully fund the the North Dakota Ethics Commission. The House rejected the Senate’s proposal to add a full-time staffer. They also added an arbitrary cut-off for the length of investigations in violation of the state constitution’s prohibition against hampering the work of the Ethics Commission.

Mathern remarked, “Ray Holmberg committed the most heinous crimes against children. He bragged about it. Holmberg was the longest-serving state Senator in the country when he was in office. He walked the halls of this Capitol as one of the most powerful men in North Dakota. He said it himself—that he would be in power as long as he wanted to, unless he was caught. He emailed his friend Bruce Gjovig, ‘no one is ever (too) young’ in 2011. Holmberg served for another full decade after he said that. That’s outrageous.”

Mathern continued, “This would be a step toward justice as we continue to process Holmberg’s vile crimes and uncover more information on what has become the most egregious scandal in our state’s history.”

Ista said, “But we have learned that Holmberg actually did share his true self with close associates years earlier. This was not from rumors and gossip or even news reports–and it was not just off-color jokes or crude talk amongst friends–it was words directly from Holmberg himself in which he revealed himself to be a monster who preys on boys and vulnerable young men. To receive that information and do nothing to stop it is a complete moral failure.”

Ista continued, “Even now, it is hard to fathom that a hidden predator was in our midst for so many years, roaming these very halls. It is inconceivable that anyone who had reason to know the real Ray Holmberg failed to stop him. Now we face a choice: be paralyzed by disbelief or take action. We owe it to the people of North Dakota to act now so this never happens again in our state.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 14, 2025

BISMARCK – Today the ND House voted to cap Ethics Commission investigations to 180 days and removed a proposed new staff position who would have educated our lawmakers on how to follow our ethics laws.

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “How can House Republicans claim to care about corruption, fraud, and abuse when they just voted to kneecap the watchdogs? This vote is a rejection of the will of the people of North Dakota: You voted to enshrine the Ethics Commission in our constitution. And you voted to enshrine it because you saw a Republican supermajority incapable of behaving ethically, from Jason Dockter, to Luke Simons, to Nico Rios, to Ray Holmberg. If our lawmakers don’t have the integrity to prove that they are following our laws, they shouldn’t be making them.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 25, 2025

FARGO ND – On Tuesday evening, Representative Julie Fedorchak hosted a “telephone town hall.” Fedorchak said that Trump may come to North Dakota remarking, “He pledged he would think about doing that.”

North Dakota DNC Committeeman Jamie Selzler said, “I appreciate that Representative Fedorchak took my call to kick off her tele-town hall tonight. I respect that she was willing to take tough questions and didn’t handpick callers. That said, I asked her about unelected Elon Musk diving into Medicaid and Social Security in order to cut and kill these critical programs. I asked her to speak up to defend entitlements against attack, and she refused to do so. We are months away from Social Security checks being missed, and from rural clinics closing. Medicaid is about to be slashed by Elon Musk and Donald Trump, which will hurt tens of thousands of North Dakotans who rely on it for healthcare and assisted living support. Julie Fedorchak remains silent on this, and as a Member of Congress is abdicating her responsibility to provide oversight of the administration and to defend the people she’s supposed to represent.”

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Communications Director Laura Dronen remarked, “Fedorchak said that Social Security is not being cut. That’s just a lie. DOGE is planning to cut phone support for Social Security. We are already seeing longer wait times. The Minot Social Security Office is on a list of offices that are set to close. Trump’s Commerce Secretary said no one would ‘call and complain’ if they miss a Social Security check—they won’t even be able to call after Elon guts the phone support.

When asked about Trump’s Executive Order to dismantle the Education Department, she seemed completely fine with it even though that will be detrimental to rural schools and disabled students. She refused to call on anyone to resign—let alone be held accountable—after one of the most glaring breaches of national security we’ve witnessed when a journalist was accidentally included in a group chat about plans to bomb Yemen. Her answers were so vapid and pathetic that it spurred a constituent to say, ‘We don’t need you to be kissing this administration’s butt.’”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 20, 2025

FARGO ND – The U.S. Attorney’s office filed a sentencing memorandum that outlines Former Republican State Senator Ray Holmberg’s pattern of sexual exploitation and abuse of children.

Two details that raise distressing and pressing questions for the public: “Others involved in politics also began propositioning the young man, he told investigators,” and “Investigators also found that Holmberg routinely bragged to friends he trusted about his sexual exploitation of boys.”

North Dakota Democratic-NPL Chair Adam Goldwyn said, “It’s clear that Ray Holmberg not only thought he was invincible because of the power he had, but he used that power to manipulate and exploit vulnerable young men in North Dakota. Holmberg abused some of the most vulnerable children when he traveled abroad, and he used his position of power—and our taxpayer dollars—to do it. We still don’t know who else enabled Holmberg’s depraved crimes. For the sake of the survivors of his abuse and coercion, may justice be served.”

Goldwyn continued, “As we see legislators attack librarians, teachers, and LGBTQ North Dakotans, it continues to be Republican lawmakers who abuse their positions of power to prey on others. Just yesterday we learned that a MN Republican Senator who ran on “family values” was arrested on felony charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. It’s Donald Trump who was found liable for sexual assault. He celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a man who was found liable for rape. He brought a man back to the US who has been charged with rape and human trafficking. We won’t ignore this pattern of abuse, and the American people shouldn’t either.”

CONTACT:
Laura Dronen
Communications Director
[email protected]