(North Dakota Monitor) – North Dakota’s special legislative session last month cost about $220,000, according to the Legislature’s staff agency.
Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the special session for the GOP-led Legislature to restrict kratom products. Lawmakers met Sept. 2-4, with a policy committee meeting on Sept. 1 to take public testimony in advance of the special session.
Expenses include:
- $137,368 for lawmakers’ daily pay
- $33,881 for their lodging
- $30,712 for their mileage
- $14,716 for temporary session employee salaries
The Sept. 1 meeting cost $678, separate from the special session.
Legislative Budget Analyst and Auditor Allen Knudson provided the costs to the North Dakota Monitor. A few lawmakers have not yet submitted their travel expenses, estimated to be about $1,800, he said.
The two-year budget for the Legislature will cover the costs, which will reduce the funding available for paying the upcoming 2027 session costs, Knudson said. Officials may have to request what is called a deficiency appropriation if the budget won’t be enough to entirely cover the next regular session, he said.
The Legislature passed two bills in the special session. One banned synthetic kratom products and allowed but restricted natural kratom. The other bill provided funding to a stalled state military museum project that paused construction in July due to a fundraising shortfall.
The Legislature killed three bills to permanently ban all forms of kratom, to temporarily ban nondisclosure agreements on industrial projects and data centers and to make a tweak to a property tax issue.
September’s special session was the second one this year. The Legislature met for three days in January to approve about $199 million in federal Rural Health Transformation Program funds. The January session cost about $211,500.
North Dakota’s Legislature regularly meets every odd-numbered year for about four months. The next session begins in January 2027.
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