North Dakota Senate Sustains Governor’s Veto on State Health Insurance Bill

State Sen. Kyle Davison, R-Fargo.  (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(By: Mary Steurer. North Dakota Monitor) – The state Senate sustained Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s veto of a bill that opponents feared would allow the state to shift health insurance premium costs onto employees.

The vote to override the veto failed 31-15. The Senate needed 32 votes.

Senate Bill 2160, sponsored by Rep. Kyle Davison, R-Fargo, would have changed the state employee health care plan to comply with the federal Affordable Care Act. This change would be irreversible.

In Armstrong’s veto message to the Senate, he called the state health insurance plan one of the “strongest and most useful recruitment and retention tools.” He said the bill “disposes of that tool and replaces it with a more expensive alternative.”