Burgum signs first bill of 2023 legislative session, providing $68M line of credit for career academies to help address workforce needs

Governor Doug Burgum signed his first bill of the 2023 legislative session on Thursday, providing a $68 million line of credit to help finance the construction of 13 planned career academies across the state where students can pursue high-demand careers in the trades, health care, technology and other sectors to help meet workforce needs. In his State of the State address on Jan. 3, Burgum called for this to be one of the first bills to reach his desk this session, and he expressed his gratitude for the decisive action by the 68th Legislative Assembly that ensures career academy construction can begin this spring.

During a special session of the Legislature in November 2021, lawmakers approved $88 million for career academies, including $20 million in state funds that have already been distributed and $68 million from the U.S. Treasury’s Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund. The State Board for Career and Technical Education awarded the $68 million to 13 career academy projects, which require a local dollar-for-dollar match, and several communities have already raised their matching funds. However, Treasury has yet to release the federal dollars, due to debate over funding criteria.

House Bill 1199 provides for a line of credit through the Bank of North Dakota (BND) to fulfill the state’s funding obligation for the career academies. If it’s later determined that the federal funding can’t be used for the career academies, a deficiency appropriation will be sought from the Legislature and the $68 million in federal funding will be redirected for other eligible uses.

Burgum signed HB 1199 at 5:01 p.m. CT on Thursday. The bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Mike Lefor and Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, has an emergency clause making it effective immediately. Both chambers unanimously approved the bill.

“Establishing career academies across North Dakota is a critical piece of our comprehensive efforts to address the state’s workforce shortage,” Burgum said. “We are fortunate to have the resources available to honor the commitment made in 2021 and provide authority to borrow from the Bank of North Dakota to get these projects going and avoid delaying construction. We’re grateful to leaders Hogue and Lefor and every member of the Legislature for backing this important bill that will create new opportunities for our high school and college students and support economic growth.”

The bill also provides up to $2 million for the North Dakota Department of Career and Technical Education to pay accrued interest back to BND on the line of credit through June 30, 2025.

The bill also provides an additional $20 million to BND to meet demand for its PACE program through June 30, after BND already exhausted the $40 million appropriated for 2021-23 with six months remaining in the biennium. The PACE Fund helps communities expand their economic base by assisting primary sector businesses that make an investment or create jobs in their community.

Burgum urges National Park Service to maintain herd of wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Gov. Doug Burgum submitted a letter Monday urging the National Park Service (NPS) to maintain a herd of wild horses at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP), noting their significance to tourism, the local economy and the history of the park and its namesake.

Burgum was joined by tourism officials, state legislators and other stakeholders during a press conference at the Capitol to discuss the NPS’s preferred plan for managing the wild horses, which involves gradually reducing the herd of approximately 200 horses to zero.

“For decades upon decades, these horses have coexisted peacefully with the national park and, in the process, have become a hugely popular attraction and an indelible symbol of the untamed character of the Badlands,” Burgum stated in his letter, adding that the wild horses “are a major tourist attraction treasured by hundreds of thousands of visitors and social media followers from near and far. Removing these horses from the park, or reducing the herd size to a level that fails to support genetic diversity and longevity, would strike a blow not only to park visitation but also to the economic vitality of Medora, nearby communities including Dickinson, and our entire state.”

Burgum urged the NPS, which is part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to find a way to manage the wild horses in a manner and herd size that supports genetic diversity and protects the environmental integrity and capacity of the park for current and future generations of visitors.

In a phone call on Thursday, Burgum urged NPS Director Charles Sams to allow wild horses to remain at TRNP. Also on the call were U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, who coordinated the meeting, Attorney General Drew Wrigley, North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, House Minority Leader Josh Boschee, Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, TRNP Superintendent Angie Richman and TRNP Deputy Superintendent Maureen McGee-Ballinger.

The NPS’s public comment period closed on Tuesday, Jan. 31. The agency says it will update its proposed management alternatives based on the public input and then provide additional opportunity for public engagement and comment on its environmental assessment this coming summer. Sams said he would take the input from Thursday's call into consideration.

North Dakota legislators also are considering a resolution urging the NPS to preserve the wild horses and longhorns in the park and the U.S. Congress to assist with the preservation.

Burgum and ND Council on the Arts present 2023 ND Governor’s Awards for the Arts

At a special reception and award ceremony at the ND Heritage Center, North Dakota Council on the Arts (NDCA), along with the Office of the Governor, presented the biennial 2023 North Dakota Governor’s Awards for the Arts to six organizations and individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the arts in the state.

The categories and award recipients were as follows: Arts in Education, Donald E. Larew (Fargo); Cultural Heritage, Bill Lowman (Sentinel Butte); Arts Organization, Empire Arts Center (Grand Forks); Individual Achievement, Pieper Fleck Bloomquist (Grand Forks); Arts Business, Makoché Recording Studios (Bismarck); and Champion for the Arts, former state Senator Joan Heckaman (Dickinson).

Award recipients were chosen for their efforts to expand arts opportunities to new audiences, create an appreciation for North Dakota's cultural heritage, make the arts more central to education and an integral part of community life, as well as the length of service within the state.

To find out more about the Governor’s Awards for the Arts program, including both present and past recipients, visit Arts.ND.gov/ND-Governors-Awards-Arts.

Burgum appoints Kuldip Mohanty to serve as North Dakota’s next chief information officer

CIO of global insurance brokerage HUB International Limited will begin new role leading ND Information Technology on Feb. 23

Gov. Burgum announced the appointment of Kuldip Mohanty to lead the North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) department as the state’s next chief information officer, effective Feb. 23.

Mohanty has nearly 30 years of private sector experience in IT. Since 2020, he has served as CIO of HUB International Limited in Chicago, spearheading technology modernization and transformation for the world’s fifth-largest global insurance brokerage. As CIO, he led the firm’s IT integration and enterprise business solutions strategy to support rapid growth through acquisitions while reducing operating costs and advancing IT systems. Mohanty previously served as Senior Vice President IT and North America CIO for ManpowerGroup, a leading global workforce solutions company, from 2018-2019. Prior to that he served as vice president of enterprise IT strategy and services for CNO Financial Group from 2014-2018.

“Kuldip brings a wealth of experience in modernizing services and transforming IT that will help the State of North Dakota become more efficient and responsive, serving citizens 24/7 with smart, easy-to-use systems,” Burgum said. “With his leadership of the outstanding team at NDIT, we look forward to building upon North Dakota’s reputation as a national leader in cybersecurity as we reduce redundancies, improve services and enhance the security of citizens’ data.”

Mohanty earned a master’s degree in computer applications at Jorhat Engineering College in India in 1995 and a master of business administration degree from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University in Chicago in 2004. He serves on the board of the Executive Service Corps in Chicago and was engaged in organizing corporate responsibility campaigns to improve education and health care in rural India with the Abhaya Foundation.

“It is a great honor and privilege to serve the people of North Dakota. I’m thankful to Gov. Burgum for the opportunity to lead the amazing team at North Dakota Information Technology,” Mohanty said. “I look forward to building on the momentum and successes of NDIT and collaborating with all stakeholders to build a citizen-centric, frictionless customer experience.”

Burgum expressed his gratitude for Greg Hoffman for his leadership as he has served as interim CIO since December. Hoffman will return to his role as deputy CIO.

More than 250,000 North Dakotans depend on NDIT’s technology services daily including computer equipment and software, communications, cybersecurity, networks, applications, GIS, servers, storage and data, and other services. The CIO provides vision, leadership and direction for NDIT, which has a $275 million operating budget, over $500 million in projects and 479 full-time team members under five teams: Customer Success, Data, Technology, Security, and Operations. The CIO is a member of the governor’s cabinet.

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