BISMARCK (North Dakota Monitor) – The North Dakota Senate defeated a bill that would ban state or federal funding for public broadcasting. Some senators who voted against the bill are still calling for defunding Prairie Public Broadcasting.
North Dakota typically funds Prairie Public Broadcasting through the Office of Management and Budget bill. Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s proposed budget included nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public.
When House Bill 1255 mandating the public broadcasting funding ban passed the House of Representatives, Appropriations Committee members took Prairie Public funding out of the OMB bill.
Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, said Monday that the appropriations bill is where the funding decision should be made and warned of unintended consequences of passing the House bill.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jorin Johnson, R-Fargo, failed on a 24-6 vote.
Roers said the House bill would have prevented federal funding for public broadcasting from passing through a state agency. She said the bill also could have prevented state agencies from renting space on towers owned by Prairie Public for things such as emergency sirens and weather instruments.
“If you want to defund public radio and television in North Dakota, do that through the appropriations process,” Roers said.
Roers said there are upsides to continuing to fund Prairie Public, such as supporting broadcasts of state high school sports, educational television and local documentaries that are free over the air. She said Prairie Public’s broadcast towers also benefit the state.
Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, and Sen. Janne Myrdal, R-Edinburg, were among those who voted against the funding ban but advocated for cutting funding in House Bill 1015, which funds the Office of Management and Budget.
John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public, testified last week in a Senate Appropriations hearing asking that the funding be restored.
Harris said Prairie Public would be spending $4 million to $7 million in the next 18 months to upgrade facilities and buy transmitters.
The nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public during the 2025-27 biennium in Armstrong’s preliminary budget included $1.7 million in one-time funding to assist with transmitter maintenance and replacement.
Prairie Public leaders have testified that the organization can survive without state funding, but that it will mean less local programming. Other sources of funding include charitable gambling, endowment funds and investment funds.
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