Sec. of State Michael Howe (March 9, 2026/Michael Achterling North Dakota Monitor
BISMARCK, N.D. (NORTH DAKOTA MONITOR) – Of the more than 170 state boards and commissions overseen by the North Dakota Governor’s Office, dozens could be dissolved or merged together in an effort to streamline state government.
The North Dakota Boards and Commissions Task Force has been meeting with the state’s boards and commissions since October as a result of the passage of Senate Bill 2308 during the 2025 legislative session.
The bill empowers the task force to look for “inefficiencies” and overlapping responsibilities of each board and will result in a report with recommendations to Legislative Management by Oct. 1 about which boards should continue, dissolve or merge with other boards.
Gov. Kelly Armstrong mentioned the need to reduce or combine the state’s boards and commissions to deliver better services during his first State of the State address in 2025.
“Every single one comes with a price tag, even the volunteer boards,” Armstrong said.
The Boards and Commissions Task Force is separate from the Legislative Task Force on Government Efficiency, sometimes referred to as the North Dakota DOGE committee, which is tasked with finding duplicative programs and cost savings within state agencies.
The boards task force has met with 130 different boards so far with another 43 set to meet with the group in April and May. The task force is preparing to recommend dissolving nearly two-dozen entities and merging about 20 others into existing boards. The final tally and list of boards won’t be available until its report is completed this fall.
Even after the task force makes its recommendations, many of the changes would require action by state lawmakers during the 2027 legislative session. Others could have their fates decided by Armstrong through executive action, if the board or commission isn’t required by state law, said Secretary of State Michael Howe, chair of the Boards and Commissions Task Force.
“I think us asking these questions before the legislative session will help the Legislature sort things out,” Howe said at the conclusion of the task force’s meeting on Monday.
He added some of the boards have dozens of members but it is not clear why. That led to discussion about reducing those memberships to reduce the board’s overall cost to state taxpayers.
Jamie McLean, chair of the North Dakota Gaming Commission, told the task force that charitable gambling is a $2.5 billion industry in the state and contributes about $20 million in annual tax revenue.
McLean said the group’s primary responsibility is making administrative rule changes to the state’s gaming laws. It is working on those changes as a result of multiple bills passed during the 2025 legislative session.
“That is an extremely long and grueling process that I don’t think is understood as well as it could be,” McLean said of the six-month process to update charitable gambling rules. “You are changing to adapt to what’s going on in the industry at the time, and it’s needed probably every two years.”
He said the rule updates should be separate from the Gaming Division within the Attorney General’s Office. That separation allows another layer of checks and balances without allowing one entity to regulate the entire industry.
Rep. Mike Motschenbacher, R-Bismarck, is the executive director of the North Dakota Gaming Alliance, an advocacy organization for the charitable gambling industry. Motschenbacher and McLean said they want the role of the commission expanded to include approving licenses and the ability to issue fees and penalties to relieve pressure on the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office.
The task force told advocates for the Gaming Commission to work with lawmakers and the Governor’s Office to draft a bill that would complement the work being done through the Attorney General’s Office.
Sen. Kristin Roers, R-Fargo, a member of the task force, said the group is taking an independent view of each of the boards and commissions they are looking into.
“It’s really hard when you are in that profession to feel like we’re not valuing your existence, but we want to really look at it from that independent, unbiased view to make sure that we are not protecting turf,” Roers said.
The task force wants to protect the public and maintain safety features of the boards, but at the same time, ensuring the government is cost-effective, she said. Many boards and commissions offer meeting stipends and mileage and meal reimbursement for attending meetings, she said. Some state boards and commissions are volunteer-based without reimbursement.
“Some of that could add up to real dollars saved,” Roers said.
She said some of the boards are necessary to maintain federal grants and issue licenses, which can make them indispensable. Roers is also licensed by one of those boards as a nurse.
“How can we think outside the box? How can we do things differently? And how would that impact the end consumer and the people in the profession?” she asked.
The next meeting of the North Dakota Boards and Commissions Task Force will be April 14.
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