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MINOT (CSi)\u00a0 Gov. Doug Burgum Tuesday delivered his 2018 State of the State Address at Minot State University, reflecting on the state\u2019s challenges and collective accomplishments during his first year in office and outlining strategies to empower people, improve lives and inspire success.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State of the State is one of unlimited promise and potential, provided that we embrace change, we diversify our economy and we harness the unstoppable forces of technology,\u201d Burgum said during the address in MSU\u2019s Ann Nicole Nelson Hall.<\/p>\n
The governor highlighted signs that North Dakota is on the upswing after a prolonged downturn in oil and agricultural commodity prices that required the Legislature and governor to reduce the state\u2019s general fund by an unprecedented $1.7 billion. Gross domestic product and taxable sales and purchases are up, and state tax revenues are running slightly ahead of forecast for the 2017-19 biennium.<\/p>\n
However, a significant revenue gap is likely entering the 2019 legislative session. While the state\u2019s balance sheet is strong, reserves will not be as robust as they were heading into the 2017 session, Burgum noted, so much work lies ahead to match expenses to revenues.<\/p>\n
The governor celebrated that the Legacy Fund, a voter-approved trust fund for oil and gas tax revenues, topped $5 billion in value last year. While interest from the fund was used to help balance the budget last session and may be needed again, Burgum said he\u2019s not in favor of tapping the fund\u2019s principal and would like North Dakotans to think creatively about how the state could use the earnings for something transformative with long-term impact, as opposed to using it just to fund basic services and operations of government.<\/p>\n
Oil production is on track to reach record levels this year, with the state producing close to 1.2 million barrels per day in November, and the coal and wind industries also remain strong, underscoring the state\u2019s all-of-the-above energy approach, Burgum said.<\/p>\n
Burgum emphasized the \u201cwhole-of-government\u201d and listening approaches taken to address multiple crises in 2017, including the multi-agency efforts to bring the Dakota Access Pipeline to a peaceful resolution and help livestock producers and residents through a historic drought and wildfire season. More than half the state remains in moderate drought and 92 percent is abnormally dry, so drought challenges could extend into this year, the governor said. A collaboration-versus-litigation approach taken with Minnesota through creation Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Task Force also has breathed new life into the stalled project.<\/p>\n
Burgum announced plans to tour all 11 of North Dakota\u2019s public colleges and universities in 2018 \u2013 starting today with a tour of Minot State University \u2013 as the Task Force for Higher Education Governance he established continues to assess if changes are necessary to the nearly 80-year-old governance structure to ensure higher education meets the state\u2019s educational and workforce needs for the 21st<\/sup> century.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to listen to the needs of students, faculty, staff and the community, and we want to make sure we get an understanding of where we and how we can create a governance system that allows our higher education to be nimble and dynamic at a time of dramatic change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Burgum also announced the dates of the second Governor\u2019s Summit on Innovative Education, which will be held June 6-7 at Northern Cass School near Hunter.<\/p>\n The governor shared progress updates on his administration\u2019s five strategic initiatives: Reinventing Government, Behavioral Health and Addiction, Transforming Education, Tribal Partnerships and the Main Street Initiative. Cross-cutting initiatives across Cabinet agencies include the Vision Zero statewide traffic safety initiative announced last week spanning the North Dakota Department of Transportation, Department of Health and state Highway Patrol.<\/p>\n Efforts to strengthen partnerships between the state and Native American tribes have been advanced with visits by the governor to all four tribal nations headquartered in North Dakota. Based on those visits, action plans are now being developed with each tribal nation to address issues such as transportation, law enforcement, economic development and addiction. A two-day \u201cStrengthening Government to Government Relations\u201d summit is scheduled for Jan. 30-31 at the Ramada Inn in Bismarck.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all want the same thing. Bright futures for the children, opportunity, safety. Let\u2019s go figure out how to get it done,\u201d Burgum said.<\/p>\n Burgum highlighted results stemming from the 13 Activate Main Street meetings held in communities across the state. Communities large and small are creating unified plans aligned with the Main Street Initiative, which aims to empower local leaders and communities to attract a 21st<\/sup> century workforce. A resource toolbox is now more easily accessible through MainStreetND.com, and national and local experts on community development will speak at the first Main Street Summit Feb. 12-13 in Bismarck.<\/p>\n The governor recognized military members for their service, including airmen from the Minot and Grand Forks Air Force bases, as gave special recognition to Lynn Aas, a World War II Army veteran who served during the Battle of the Bulge and last year was awarded France\u2019s highest military honor, the Legion of Honor medal.<\/p>\n Among several challenges Burgum issued throughout the speech was to share gratitude, quoting President Theodore Roosevelt, who said, \u201cFar and away the best prize that life has to offer is working hard at work worth doing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe have won the prize. We have an opportunity to empower people, improve lives and inspire success every single day,\u201d Burgum said. \u201cLet\u2019s go make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" MINOT (CSi)\u00a0 Gov. Doug Burgum Tuesday delivered his 2018 State of the State Address at Minot State University, reflecting on the state\u2019s challenges and collective accomplishments during his first year in office and outlining strategies to empower people, improve lives and inspire success. \u201cThe State of the State is one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129011,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=137125"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137136,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137125\/revisions\/137136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=137125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=137125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=137125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}