INFORUM · April Baumgarten · September 2, 2026
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
BISMARCK -- Attempts to add bills related to a data center moratorium and funding for a state childcare assistance program to a special session of the North Dakota Legislature failed.
Democratic lawmakers in the state House and Senate tried on Wednesday, Sept. 2, to add the moratorium bill and legislation that would allocate $9 million to help North Dakota parents cover a portion of childcare costs. The House overwhelmingly voted down motions to add the two pieces of legislation to the Legislature's five-bill docket.
The North Dakota Legislature started what is slated to be a three-day special session at the Capitol in an effort to address kratom. The herbal substance has been used for pain management in its natural form, but manufacturers make synthetic kratom that causes opioid-like side effects, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong called the special session in early August, along with issuing a 30-day ban on all kratom that ends Friday.
Two methods exist to add bills to a special session. Legislative Management, which consists of lawmakers from both chambers, voted last month to add five bills to the special session docket.
That included two bills to ban synthetic kratom and regulate natural kratom, issue a $35 million loan for a halted military museum on Capitol grounds, prohibit nondisclosure agreements for data centers and industrial projects, and fix the state's property tax credit procedure.
Legislative Management did not forward bills for the childcare program and moratorium, which would have lasted until mid-2027. That left Democrats the second option of introducing the bills on the House or Senate floors.
In the House, Rep. Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, offered up the childcare bill. That failed 21-71. Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, tried to advance the moratorium, but that failed 25-68.
Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, blocked attempts to vote on the moratorium and childcare bills in his chamber, noting the Senate needs a unanimous vote to allow consideration of bills being added to the special session. The move denied an established legislative process, Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, said.
"We are now tied up in a procedural question to basically deny the citizens of North Dakota knowledge of what you and I think about what should be in this session," he said.
Mathern initially proposed the moratorium as artificial intelligence infrastructure companies eye North Dakota for data center projects.
Sens. Kathy Hogan and Ryan Braunberger, both Democrats from Fargo, tried to move forward the childcare and moratorium bills, respectively.