Bismarck, N.D. – Some lawmakers are expressing their concerned about what kind of impact term limits will have on the North Dakota legislature.
During the 2022 election, voters approved a ballot measure that caps state Senate and House lawmaker service to no more than 8 years.
“I’m very worried about term limits because of the [loss] of institutional knowledge,” state Representative Steve Swiontek (R-Fargo) told The Flag’s Scott Hennen in Bismarck.
Down the road, Swiontek, who will be term-limited out of office himself, believes “the turnover has been there anyway”, but lawmakers will end up relying more on others such as government entities to get the job done.
“When I listen to people [fellow lawmakers] on the floor or in committees and they tell us about that institutional knowledge or the experience they’ve had you kind of sit back and say ‘I never thought of that'”, said Swiontek
Because of the possible higher rate of change, Swiontek also predict the legislative chambers will have “a majority leader that could be here for one session.”
Lawmakers attempted to revisit the issue of reversing the issue of putting the matter back to the voters, but the effort failed during the current legislative session.
