President’s Post

Calling All Heroes!

Use your super-sized voice and influence to affect what happens at the state Capitol

By Nick Archuleta NDU President

As you might imagine, we are super busy tracking and attempting to influence legislative proposals as they wend their way through North Dakota’s 67th Legislative Assembly. Our elected senators and representatives began the session with 847 bills and 61 resolutions to consider. By crossover (the time when House bills move to the Senate and vice versa), that number had been reduced to 643 legislative proposals awaiting action. As you can see, there is still much to do before both houses adjourn sine die.

The fate of many of these bills is uncertain. What is certain, however, is that how they are decided will impact the lives of North Dakota United members and all North Dakotans. In fact, every decision that affects the work lives of our members is a decision that is made in Washington, D.C., or Bismarck, ND. Whether the issue is University System and K-12 funding, or PERS funding and state employee salary increases, the decisions will set the tone for the next two years. That is why ND United is involved in politics. We need to be in the room when ideas are being discussed, and we must be there to alert the decisionmakers to the consequences of their actions.

So, even though your ND United Lobby Team and I spend countless hours at the Capitol, on Zoom meetings, and on phone calls with policy makers, agency leaders, and other stakeholder groups, we cannot achieve our goals without help from NDU’s Everyday Heroes, also known as YOU! So far this session, almost 1000 of your colleagues have reached out to their legislators, various committee members, legislative leaders, and others to advocate for the passage of bills that enhance their workplaces and for the defeat of bills that hinder their work in providing education and other vital public services to the good people of North Dakota.

As the second half of the legislative session unwinds, you can expect us to call on you to don your cape and take even more heroic actions on behalf of yourselves, your colleagues, and the people of North Dakota. There are still many bills in the hopper that chip away at academic freedom, collective bargaining, secure retirement benefits and safe workspaces. We will need all hands on deck if we are to be successful! Thank you all for your awesome, heroic work.