We invited Sen. Kristin Roers to this episode of Plain Talk to discuss the debate over term limits reforms making their way through the Legislature in Bismarck, but before we turned to that topic, I asked Roers about recent comments made by state Rep. Brandon Prichard about her former colleage Rep. Josh Christy.

Christy passed away during the current legislative session. He served in Fargo-area District 27 alongside Roers. When the District 27 Republicans approved the appointment of Rep. T.J. Brown to replace Christy, Prichard, through his group Citizens Alliance of North Dakota, took credit for the move, claiming falsely that Brown had won a "special election" and celebrating his replacing Christy, who was a moderate.

"I just found it disgusting," Roers said, accusing Prichard of "trying to take credit" for something "he had absoultely nothing to do with."

Roers said that she has spoken with Rep. Brown, who indicated that Prichard and his group had nothing to do with his appointment.

As for term limits, there are several proposals before the Legislature. House Concurrent Resolutoin 3034, Senate Concurrent Resolution 2028, and Senate Concurrent Resoluton 4008 would each amend the state constitution to change the voter-initiated term limits to 12 years, or three terms, instead of 8 years, or two terms.

Roers, though, says she introduced an amendment to SCR4008, specifically, which would go a bit further. Her amendment would allow lawmakers to serve for a total of four terms, or 16 years, regardless of which chamber they're in. She argued that this was closer to what voters approved, which allows a person to serve for as many as eight years in each chamber. The Roers amendment simply allows those 16 years already allowed to be served entirely in a single chamber.

She also included some language making it so that lawmakers, such as Brown, who are appointed to partial terms, or who are elected to a two-year term after redistricting, can still serve four full terms.

Also on this episode, Dr. Aimee Copas, executive director of the North Dakota Council of Education Leaders, talks about the property tax debate, the school choice debate, and recently-released test results showing that North Dakota students are testing at some of the highest levels in the world.

Recent NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) testing had North Dakota students with scores that "put us on part with some of the best scores globally."

She also warned that North Dakota lawmakers aren't preparing for dramatic budget cuts that could result from President Donald Trump's dramatic and chaotic push to slash federal spending. "You're not seeing that conversation at all right now," she said.

This episode is presented by Bakken Backers. Bakken Backers is a coalition of businesses, leaders, workers, and citizens who support energy production from the Bakken formation and its many benefits for North Dakota. Learn more at BackTheBakken.org.

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