A legislative planning committee on Monday advanced pay increases of 3% as a starting point for North Dakota lawmakers in each year of the upcoming two-year budget cycle.

The Legislative Procedure and Arrangements Committee unanimously approved the numbers, which are for initial budgeting purposes and are not a final decision. That will come in the 2027 Legislature. The committee mostly comprises Republican and Democratic-NPL House and Senate floor leaders. 

Senate Minority Leader Kathy Hogan, D-Fargo, who will retire before the next legislative session begins in January, proposed the “3 and 3” as “very reasonable,” citing the rate of inflation.

Committee chair Sen. Jerry Klein, R-Fessenden, said, “That number would be adjusted as per whatever the Legislature finally adopts.”

The cost of the 3% increases would be $414,718 for the next budget cycle, including monthly, daily session, interim meeting and leaders’ additional monthly pay, according to a legislative memo.

North Dakota’s state government operates on a two-year budget cycle beginning July 1 of every odd-numbered year. The 2025 Legislature adopted pay raises of 3% and 3% in the two years of the 2025-27 budget cycle. Raises for state employees and lawmakers are traditionally the same rate.

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The House and Senate appropriations committees usually jointly adopt the rates for what percentage pay increases to make for state employees and lawmakers after hearing financial projections. State revenues and inflation are key factors for budget writers in that decision, said Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot.

“You’ve got to put a number in a blank, so we put in 3,” he said of Monday’s decision.

General fund revenues – tax collections that fund the state government’s main operating account – are about 1% below the forecast set by the Legislature one year into the 2025-27 budget cycle, according to legislative and executive branch reports released last month. That means the general fund did not collect about $37 million that lawmakers had projected amid more than $3 billion collected overall so far. 

Sales taxes are the biggest revenue driver of the general fund, which also includes oil tax revenue, individual and corporate income taxes and other revenue types.

Last year, the Republican-led Legislature approved a $6.26 billion two-year general fund. 

In December, Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong will present his state government budget blueprint to the Legislature, which will include his administration’s recommendation for pay increases, governor’s spokesman Mike Nowatzki said. 

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Earlier this year, Armstrong asked state agencies to trim their budget requests by as much as 10%. His budget guidelines also included a hiring freeze. A round of buyouts earlier this year led 101 state employees in 14 agencies to part ways with the state.

The 2025 Legislature set the following compensation and reimbursement rates for lawmakers: 

  • $628 for monthly pay
  • $226 for daily session and daily interim meeting pay
  • $110 per day plus tax, up to $2,475 per month for session lodging of lawmakers who live outside of Bismarck-Mandan
  • $110 per day plus tax for interim lodging
  • 76 cents per mile for travel reimbursement, not including out-of-state or private airplane travel
  • Up to $45 per day for in-state interim meals expenses
  • $200 per month for a broadband and mobile data stipend

Additionally, legislative leaders and the Legislative Management chair earn $450 per month. Legislative Management is a powerful committee of lawmakers that guides the Legislature between biennial sessions.

Leaders and committee chairs earn $10 to $20 per day. 

Lawmakers’ compensation package is fair, Hogue said.

“I know there are some that would like more, but to them I would say it’s public service,” he said in an interview. 

From 1889 until 1983, North Dakota lawmakers were paid $5 per calendar day during sessions, as well as varying expense reimbursements over the years, according to another legislative memo.

Reach North Dakota Monitor reporter Jack Dura at jdura@northdakotamonitor.com.

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