SBAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SBAND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
SBAND ACTIVE DURING THE LEGISLATIVE SESSION
TONY J . WEILER SBAND Executive Director
While I write this column , North Dakota is in the midst of its biennial legislative session ( which will have ended by the time this issue comes out ). That always makes it difficult to write about legislation unless it has already been signed by the governor . Because we have been busy tracking and working on legislation , I wanted to give you some insight into how we run our legislative program at SBAND .
We are guided by SBAND ’ s Legislative Policy , which clearly states , as an integrated bar , it would be a practical impossibility to gain the unanimity of opinion on most issues from our diverse membership . Further , we are guided by Keller v . California , which mandates members ’ fees may only be used to regulate the profession and for the improvement of the practice of law . With that in mind , the board of governors takes very seriously a position on any issue . And in line with Keller and subsequent precedent , it does not take any position on any issues that would be considered “ political ” in nature .
In my experience , legislators welcome the expertise of lawyers who work in the area of law that is being contemplated by a bill , and often SBAND helps find a lawyer to testify on an issue while not doing so on our behalf . Legislators and legislative committees often seek out the views of knowledgeable representatives of SBAND in these areas and pay close attention to their recommendations .
I read through almost every bill filed during the legislative session ( more than 950 this session ) and put those aside that appear relevant to either lawyers , the courts , or that may impact the public in a way that lawyers would be involved . Those bills are then assigned to one of the 15 members of our Legislative Committee who are lawyers in practice , lawyer lobbyists , those who work in state government , and general counsel . Each then reads the assigned bill and provides a report to the committee . We then discuss it and suggest we either support , oppose , track , or provide technical assistance on the bill . We also may not do anything with a particular bill . The recommendations are then made to the board of governors which takes SBAND ’ s official position . All of that is provided to our members in a weekly legislative report that is emailed to each of you and also posted to our website .
When it comes to broader issues of social policy , the association ’ s role and influence is necessarily different . These are issues that generally have strong political overtones . In these areas , the association may be viewed more as a special interest group than as a body of experts . The association will take great pains to recognize this important distinction , and will generally avoid taking positions on issues of this nature .
During this 68th Legislative Session , we supported the Supreme Court ’ s budget , which is essentially the entire court system budget . The budget included a request for a 35 % increase in judicial salary ( 20 % in the first year of the biennium and 15 % in the second year ) along with a request for 24 new employees . As of this writing , the legislature set the judges ’ raises at 6 % and 4 %, the same as all state employees . The Court ’ s budget also includes three new judgeships , and 21 new staff instead of 24 . Included in the new employees are staff attorneys for district court judges , deputy clerks , and finally , an equity pool of money for staff attorneys who work for the Court . We also supported several bills suggested by the Commission on Uniform Laws and the budget of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents , in recognition of the important work that organization does . We also supported an increase in the number of participants in our rural justice program from four to eight . That was successful as the first four spots were filled .
While we didn ’ t take a position on the Higher Education budget , it does include challenge grant funding of $ 250,000 for the University of North Dakota ( UND ) School of Law . The challenge grant means if the UND School of Law can raise $ 500,000 , it gets the challenge grant funding for a total of $ 750,000 . With respect to law school , there was also a resolution encouraging the Court , along with several other stakeholders , to study alternative pathways to admission . We will keep you posted on the status of that as SBAND will be involved .
Finally , the legislature passed and the governor signed a law on spousal support . Members of the family law section worked with the interim Judiciary Committee over the last two years to craft a law that will provide much more certainty when it comes to spousal support in North Dakota .
If there is anything we can do better , please let me know .
SPRING 2023 5