What to expect in special session

By Jeff Beach | Deputy editor

By Jack Dura

North Dakota lawmakers are headed to Bismarck for the second time this year, this time to restrict kratom, fix a funding mess of a museum project and deliberate other topics. 

Republican majority leaders hope to wrap up the special session in three days, an ambitious time frame up against the Labor Day weekend.

Lawmakers have added other topics to the agenda, ones they say can’t wait until January, when the Legislature is next scheduled to regularly meet.

The special session begins Wednesday, but the public can give comments as early as Tuesday.

By Michael Achterling

A Fargo state lawmaker recovering from a stroke will participate remotely in the special legislative session next week, with his ability to serve in the 2027 regular session still to be determined.

Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, was hospitalized in April 2025 in the closing weeks of the regular legislative session. 

His in-patient physical therapy continues at a rehabilitation center in the Fargo area, Kasper said in an interview Monday.

By Ashley Murray

A developing trade war with Canada could bite Republicans ahead of the upcoming midterm elections as voters worry about rising prices and industries in states with competitive races could suffer.

Maine’s lobster industry dodged what officials had warned could be economic havoc Thursday morning when Canada reversed its decision to tax lobster imports at 25%. But states could see effects if Canada follows through on retaliatory tariffs on alcohol, automobiles, dairy, home appliances, steel and other goods.

Those products are among the 629 categories Canada’s Department of Finance announced Tuesday in response to President Donald Trump’s most recent tariffs on Canadian goods

In this two-part episode of A Closer Look with the Monitor, we preview North Dakota’s special legislative session and how citizens can make their voices heard.

North Dakota Monitor editor Amy Dalrymple joins host Craig Blumenshine to highlight what legislation will be considered next week and how the public can participate.

Monitor contributor Ceilidh Kern brings an update to the state’s plan to prohibit people from using food assistance to buy soda, candy and other unhealthy foods. The policy was set to take effect Sept. 1, but is postponed until Nov. 1. 

A Closer Look with the Monitor is a partnership with Prairie Public's Main Street.

By Jack Dura

Data center owners in North Dakota have reaped tens of millions of dollars in state sales tax breaks in the last two years, figures that have ballooned as public scrutiny has intensified on data center projects.

The Legislature’s interim Tax Reform and Relief Advisory Committee on Wednesday heard a series of reports about data center tax exemptions and incentives, including what North Dakota and other states offer. State Tax Commissioner Brian Kroshus outlined exponential growth in sales and use tax exemptions for data center owners on information technology equipment, such as computer hardware, servers, routers, cooling systems and other infrastructure. 

Those sales tax breaks, which are not for construction, ranged from $5.4 million in 2021 to $7.8 million in 2023, then leapt to $15.3 million in 2024 and more than $65 million last year. 

By Jeff Beach

The North Dakota Industrial Commission on Tuesday approved $205 million in loans for a project that aims to capture carbon emissions from a coal-fired power plant. 

Minnkota Power Cooperative recently partnered with Reliant Carbon Capture & Storage to operate the carbon capture and CO2 delivery system. 

The money will be used at Minnkota’s Milton R. Young Station near Center in Oliver County, which sits on top of an area geologically suited for permanent underground storage.

By Erin Hemme Froslie

A pilot program designed to attract and retain workers in North Dakota by assisting with childcare costs will stop in September, ending financial support for hundreds of families.

The ND Working Parents Child Care Relief Program began in 2023 using federal COVID-19 relief funds. The goal of the program, which is administered by the state Department of Health and Human Services, was to make it easier for parents to join or rejoin the workforce after the pandemic.

“It helped us stay afloat through all of the changes we’ve had to and wanted to make in the past few years,” working mother Jennifer Klath said of the program.

By Ceilidh Kern

A ban on purchasing candy, soda and other sweetened drinks with federal food assistance was postponed for North Dakotans days before it was set to take effect.

The restrictions on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program were expected to take effect Sept. 1, followed by a three-month grace period to give retailers more time to update their systems. 

But the North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services announced Thursday morning that the start date for the waiver is postponed to Nov. 1.

By Monitor Staff

North Dakota is making more money available to livestock producers hit by drought conditions after an initial pool of funds quickly dried up. 

The State Water Commission on Wednesday approved an additional $2 million for the Drought Disaster Livestock Water Supply Project Assistance Program.  

By Jeff Beach

A North Dakota landowner is among those protesting oil and gas rule changes proposed by the federal government. 

The changes affect people such as Donald Nelson of Keene in northwest North Dakota. Nelson is a farmer and rancher who owns surface land but the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management owns the mineral rights. That ownership situation is known as a split estate. 

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Donald Trump’s administration have advocated for oil and gas development on public lands and where the federal government holds mineral rights as part of its goal for American energy dominance.

By Jack Dura

The top U.S. education official on Thursday visited a small rural school in the rolling hills west of Mandan, part of her national education tour.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon visited the Sweet Briar School, joined by U.S. Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., and Assistant Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Kirsten Baesler, who was North Dakota’s K-12 superintendent from 2013-2025.

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