John Bjornson, right, director of Legislative Council, speaks during a meeting of the Legislative Management Committee next to Emily Thompson, center, director of the Legal Division of Legislative Council, and Allen Knudson, left, legislative budget analyst and auditor for Legislative Council, on June 26, 2025. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
The North Dakota Legislature is adding staff to help lawmakers better analyze policy and evaluate whether programs are effective.
Legislative Council is adding 25 staff members in 2025-27, starting with recruiting four policy analysts to help with research, policy proposals and other analysis. The goal is to expand the nonpartisan research arm of the Legislature and form a policy and program evaluation division, said John Bjornson, director of Legislative Council.
“We’re excited about the idea of having this new resource on our staff where we can engage in what would be a greater legislative oversight function that we’ve never been able to provide before,” Bjornson said.
More than 50 people applied for the initial openings, he said. The new hires could be on board as soon as September.
Legislative Council hired two policy analysts ahead of the 2025 legislative session to assist with property tax legislation and other bills. The additions would allow each legislative committee to have its own analyst.
“It’s been helpful to start it out small with these two, but now we’re ready to make the jump,” Bjornson said.
The agency also will add 10 program evaluators and a director to oversee the new division. The new hires will examine state initiatives, such as the state investments in child care through the Department of Health and Human Services, to ensure they are effective, he said.
The program evaluators are expected to play a role with the new Legislative Task Force on Government Efficiency. During the group’s first meeting on Wednesday, members discussed the challenges of examining state programs.
“With this new Legislative Council staff that we have, it will help us actually know what we passed, is it working?” said Rep. Nathan Toman, R-Mandan, chair of the task force.
Because the Legislature only meets every two years, Toman said many of the policies and programs adopted by lawmakers sometimes feel like “knee-jerk” reactions.
“We build the program, we throw the money at it and we don’t know anything about it,” Toman said.
Legislative Council is expected to grow from 45 members to 70 during this budget cycle, which would still make it among the smallest five legislative support agencies when compared to other states, Bjornson said. Other new North Dakota legislative staff will include information technology, another attorney and editors to review documents, Bjornson said.
Montana’s Legislature, which also meets every two years, had a permanent legislative staff of 143 people in 2021, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. South Dakota had the fewest with 28 permanent staff, according to NCSL.
North Dakota Legislative Council will gain additional office space on the 15th floor of the Capitol to accommodate the new staff members.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong vetoed a portion of Senate Bill 2001, which would have reserved the floor for Legislative Council. One of Armstrong’s objections was putting the office space in state law. He also raised concerns about lawmakers not getting input from his administration or Career and Technical Education, the department that occupies the floor now.
Bjornson said the floor had been identified by Capitol facility staff as being underused. The Department of Career and Technical Education is moving out of the Capitol and has a lease that starts Aug. 1 with Bismarck Public Schools.
In the meantime, the new legislative staff members will work out of vacant committee rooms on the ground floor of the Capitol.
Coincidentally, Bjornson added he will be moderating a session on legislative oversight next week at the National Conference of State Legislatures in Boston.
“It’s something that has been going on for a long time in state government and we just haven’t had the ability to do it,” he said.
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