The year 2025 is almost in the books. On this episode of Plain Talk, we took a look back at the last year, looking at some of the highlights (and lowlights, unfortunately) that made news.

The legislature passed massive property tax reform. It's a "sea change" for what's long been a thorny issue, I argued, but can it be maintained? Lawmakers will have to continue funding the $1,600 credits for primary residences while simultaneously holding the line on attempts to water down the 3% cap on local spending.

Also, shamelessness was a theme in state (as well as national) politics. Elected officials from former Minot mayor Tom Ross to Williston lawmaker Rep. Nico Rios made headlines with ugly behavior. The former faced consequences (he resigned) but the latter is still in office. Can he survive the 2026 election cycle?

Speaking of which, how will the divide in the North Dakota Republican Party play out next year? Will the party hold a state convention? If they do, who will come?

There will be several ballot measures next year, too. The legislature placed one constitutional amendment on the June primary ballot -- a single-subject requirement for constitutional amendments on the ballot -- as well as two more for the November ballot. One would make some modest but meaningful changes to the state's term limits, and the other would require that constituitonal amendments on the ballot get 60% of the vote to pass.

How will those amendments fare? Co-host Chad Oban and I covered it all.

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Matt Perdue is the newly-elected president of the North Dakota Farmer's Union. While he was campaigning among Farmer's Union members for that office earlier this year, he said he spent a lot of time talking about health care. And not because he was asking about it.

"I've spent the last few months traveling the state, visiting with folks in small towns across North Dakota, and I think it's really important to make the point that I have not asked them to talk about healthcare, he said on this episode of Plain Talk. "They have asked me to talk about healthcare. It's a top-of-mind issue for farmers and ranchers and small business owners and independent contractors across our state."

As Congress continues to debate whether to extend subsidies for health insurance policies sold on the federal exchanges -- where 25% to 30% of North Dakota farmers get their insurance, per Perdue -- he says his constituents are tired of the issue being used for political posturing while they face significant financial strain.

"Let's set the Rs and D's, the conservative and liberals aside and say, 'Hey, we have the most expensive health care system in the world. How can we work together to actually make it work for real families and not make it a political football over and over again?'"

Perdue also said the so-called "farmer bailout" -- a federal relief package touted by President Donald Trump's administration to help the agriculture industry deal with low crop prices and rising input costs -- "necessary" and a "good thing to do." But only in the short term.

"I hate that we're relying on emergency ad hoc payments again," he said.

Perdue argued that the agricultural industry currently relies on emergency bailouts for a wide variety of stressors, including trade disputes, natural disasters, and market fluctuations caused by COVID-19, because the existing safety net is not built to withstand these pressures. Farmers need a "stable, consistent system of relief" so they can make "real long-term business decisions."

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North Dakota has made large strides towards using investments of public funds not just as a way to generate revenue for the for the state but also, by making those investments in North Dakota companies, to benefit the state's economy. But these investments are happening in a lot of different ways, and when some investments made through some programs go bad, and make negative headlines, they can sour the public's view of this sort of public investing.

One complicating factor in this is that the state has dozens and dozens of economic development programs, overseen by a patchwork of boards and government entities, and that can make things like transparency and accountability difficult.

"We've just got too many too many programs," Rep. Glenn Bosch, a Republican from Bismarck, said on this episode of Plain Talk. Bosch, along with Rep. Jonathan Warrey, a Republican from Casselton who also joined us, serves on a committee overseeing Legacy Fund investments. They want to make sure the public understands the success the state is having with its in-state investment programs.

But to better communicate that message, it may require consolidating some of what the state is doing.

In South Dakota "they really just have two or three different places that economic development funds flow out of," Bosch said. "It's either type A, type B, or type C. When people come to the state and want to understand what economic development looks like in South Dakota, that's what they offer. When they come here, they're given all these different options, and they're trying to figure it out."

"We just need to consolidate," he continued. "Have a plan and have a framework that people can understand when they want to talk about economic development."

But despite some of the confusion, Warrey and Bosch said North Dakota's investments are going well. North Dakota has the "second largest in-state investment program in the country, really second only to California," Bosch said, noting that relative to the state's gross domestic product, it is the largest.

That program, specifically, uses a portion of the Legacy Fund, and includes investments in private equity, through the North Dakota Growth Fund, real assets, through the North Dakota Real Assets fund, low-interest loans to companies through the Match Program, and in infrastructure projects through the Infrastructure Revolving Loan Fund.

In the three years since the in-state investment program began, "there has been 24 investments made with committed capital of $122 million," Warrey added.

Also on this episode, we discuss a shift in Fargo away from property tax incentives, whether a universal school lunch ballot measure will pass, and whether Gov. Tim Walz ought to resign amid the fraud scandal which has rocked his state.

If you want to participate in Plain Talk, just give us a call or text at 701-587-3141. It's super easy — leave your message, tell us your name and where you're from, and we might feature it on an upcoming episode. To subscribe to Plain Talk, search for the show wherever you get your podcasts or use one of the links below.

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