By: Jeff Beach (North Dakota Monitor)
The North Dakota House of Representatives on Wednesday rekindled a resolution that puts a change in the state term limits law to a statewide vote.
Senate Resolution 4008 had 46 yes votes to 43 opposed Tuesday, but to pass it needed 48 votes — a majority of House members.
Rep. Mike Brandenburg, R-Edgeley, one of five House members who was absent Tuesday, requested another vote Wednesday. The resolution passed 53-39.
House members Wednesday rehashed many of the same points of debate on the resolution, which seeks to alter some changes to the state constitution approved in a 2022 statewide vote.
North Dakotans in 2022 passed a measure that put term limits for state legislators into the constitution. Lawmakers are now limited to serving up to eight years in the House and up to eight years in the Senate.
The resolution creates a ballot measure that, if approved by voters in 2026, would allow lawmakers to serve four complete terms, a total of 16 years, in either chamber of the Legislature. It also clarifies a partial term of a lawmaker would not count against the term limit.
The resolution, sponsored by Sen. Michael Dwyer, R-Bismarck, passed the Senate in March on a 24-23 vote.
Before Wednesday’s vote, Rep. Steve Vetter, R-Grand Forks, warned that the proposal doesn’t make a significant enough change for lawmakers who think more experience is beneficial in the Legislature.
Rep. Christina Wolff, R-Minot, said there is still a question of whether the resolution is even constitutional, given a provision included in the 2022 measure that says only a citizen-initiated measure could undo the term limits.
Wolff, who is in her first term, also questioned the value of legislative experience.
“I realize that there’s a lot of really good information that people like me, new people here, could use, but that institutional knowledge has also tripled the budget in the last 10 years,” she said.
