Lawmakers will return to Bismarck on January 21 to potentially approve a plan for the spending of $100 million per year over five years, from the federal Rural Health Transformation Program.
An interim Legislative committee has been looking at the plan, and gave it the green light. The state submitted its funding application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services – and if approved, would set the stage for the special session.
CMS is expected to announce its award decisions by the end of the year.
Three Days
If and when lawmakers return to Bismarck, they will need three days to pass the plan – and because Governor Armstrong called the special session, the Legislature has no constraints on how long it will meet. Legislators will have the ability to introduce other bills, but leadership is hoping to keep it to the one issue.
State of the State
Governor Armstrong is planning to give a State of the State address to the Legislature at the start of the special session.
That’s spelled out in the state Constitution, Article V: “The governor shall present information on the condition of the state, together with any recommended legislation, to every regular and special session of the legislative assembly.”
Memories from a past State of the State
Some previous governors have scheduled “state of the state” speeches in the years the Legislature wasn’t meeting. I remember the last time that happened – the speech was in Dickinson, and I went to provide live coverage. It was cold that day, and as I pulled off at the Dickinson interchange, I started hearing a “thunk, thunk, thunk” from my car’s engine. I parked at the venue on the Dickinson State University Campus, and we did the live broadcast. After the event, I went back out to my car, and heard that “thunk” again. So I took my vehicle to a local dealer, and after a couple of hours, I was told I needed a new engine. No problem – I had a warranty from the dealer for it. But it wasn’t drivable. So, one of our engineers came to Dickinson and gave me a ride.