And yet, in the end, the final day, like the session itself, saw a surprising amount of work done, some of which is likely to have repercussions well into the future. As always, there is disagreement on just how much was accomplished by the Legislature. Disagreement, too, on whether it should have taken 77 days to do what was done. After that, the constitution gave legislators just 60 days every two years to do their work. In 1976, state voters extended that to 80 days and, since then, legislators have typically worked hard to keep sessions well short of that deadline.
Some observers believe the state's citizens got little return for that investment in time.
State demographer Richard Rathge is one. Rathge, who has become a familiar figure around North Dakota as he spells out the ominous population trends that foretell a bleak future for the state, told newspaper publishers a week ago that he hadn't seen much out of this session that promises to reverse those demographic trends. State Democrats, likewise, contend that there is little from this session that would justify optimism for a brighter tomorrow. While those two viewpoints might seem mutually exclusive, the argument could be made that both are right, from their different perspectives. On the one hand, he argues, the state needs to develop new industry and forge boldly into the information age, which is not tied to place and climate and resources as were previous economic engines.