May 3 Town Hall will address legislative session, UND LEADS strategic plan

Dear Members of the UND Campus Community,

I hope you are having a great spring semester as we wind down another successful academic year at UND. For those who will participate in this spring’s commencement ceremonies, whether it be for our Schools of Law and Medicine or our general commencement events on May 13, congratulations to you on your amazing achievements and to our staff and faculty who’ve provided support along the way.

With so much change taking place this time of year on and off campus, I’d like to invite you to a Town Hall gathering via Zoom, at noon on Wednesday, May 3, where we plan to provide updates on a number of timely topics.

This opportunity is largely intended for staff and faculty but all are welcome. Among the topic we’ll be prepared to address are questions about the North Dakota legislative session and how particular pieces of legislation may affect UND. We will also discuss the continued implementation of the UND LEADS strategic plan across campus, as well as anything else on your mind.

Speaking of the legislature, it’s shaping up to be another good session for UND and the North Dakota University System (NDUS). I want to take this time to thank those University leaders who’ve provided crucial testimony to legislators on behalf of UND over the past four months, including out-going Student Body President Faith Wahl and University Senate Chair Robert Newman. I also would like to commend the lawmakers in Bismarck for their dedicated service to the state and careful consideration of all matters, especially those important to UND.

Since early January, the University has been tracking a number of bills through the legislative process. We’ve provided testimony in opposition to some and supported others. Some pieces of legislation are still being hammered out in conference committees, as of this writing. We’ll continue to monitor activities in Bismarck right up until “sine die” and the adjournment of the 68^th Legislative Assembly.

Below is a list of some of the major bills and topics we’ve been following this session, any of which we can discuss in more detail during the Town Hall. Click on the links to get the latest updates:

• HB 1003 – North Dakota University System Budget (In conference)
  • Support for needs-based budget
  • 6% and 4% salary increase in year 1 and 2 of the biennium, respectively
  • Considerations for inflationary impacts
  • Science, Engineering & National Security Corridor/STEM
  • Twamley Hall/Merrifield renovation projects
  • Higher Education Challenge Grants
  • Healthcare workforce initiative-SMHS
  • Northern Tier high-performance computing research network
• HB 1040 – Public employees’ pension plan (With the Governor)
• HB 1205 – Libraries and obscenity (Approved)
• HB 1446 – Tenured faculty review process (Vetoed by Governor)
• SB 2161 (EERC) – Re-designation of the State Energy Research Center
• SB 2247 – Specified concepts at institutions of higher education (Approved)
• SB 2360 – Libraries, private vendors and obscenity (With the Governor)
• HB 1473 – Gender and restrooms (Signed into law)
• HB 1489 – Transgender athletics participation (Signed into law)
• HB 1522 – Preferred pronouns and accommodations for transgender students (In conference)
• HCR 3010 – Recording of vital statistics based on biological sex by public agencies (Approved)

You can also go to und.edu/legislative to get even more information on the 2023-25 biennium legislative priorities for UND and the NDUS. Click on the “Legislative Bill Tracking & Testimony” button at the bottom of the page to get access to written and video testimonies from UND.

I look forward to discussing all these things and much more over Zoom during our Town Hall gathering on May 3.