Consultants outline term-limits study; public survey of 600 North Dakotans planned

Julian Gardy, principal of Gardy Consulting, told the Legislative Procedure Arrangements Committee that his team is using a mixed-methods design — literature review, targeted interviews, a legislator survey and planned public polling and focus groups — to study the impacts of the 2022 constitutional amendment on legislative operations.

"For the record, I'm Julian Gardy with Gardy Consulting," Gardy said as he described the study’s scope and timeline. He said the analysis will focus on four areas requested in the legislative council’s RFP: whether term limits increase training needs for new members, require larger nonpartisan staff, necessitate more frequent sessions, or impair the legislature’s ability to lead on policy.

Gardy reported that the consultant team’s legislator survey, distributed in December, drew 86 responses from 141 possible legislators — a 61% participation rate. "Of the 141 possible legislators, 86 completed the survey with a 61% participation rate," he said. Gardy said the team will publish the full legislator results after it completes the paired public survey and analyses.

The consultants summarized common themes from prior research and interviews: loss of institutional knowledge; shifts of technical expertise to nonpartisan staff and, in some cases, to executive agencies or lobbyists; increased turnover and duplicate bill introductions; more frequent leadership turnover; and challenges recruiting and supporting candidates for citizen-legislature seats.

Gardy outlined how the team plans to frame recommendations by lift required: possible constitutional changes (for example, reconsidering session length or adjustments to the term-limits language), statutory options (staffing and session-frequency changes), operational or procedural reforms (bill-introduction limits, enhanced training, hearing procedures) and cultural or informal practices (caucus timing and leadership onboarding).

Emily Romko of the National Conference of State Legislatures added national context and state examples, noting 16 states currently operate under legislative term limits and several states have changed or repealed limits in varying ways. Romko described practical responses other states have adopted — training academies, liaison programs, mentor groups, interim committees and, in some cases, limits on bill drafts per member — and offered to follow up with comparative staffing and fiscal data at the committee’s request.

Committee members asked the consultants to include in the public instrument questions that probe which offices the public believes the 2022 amendment covers, whether respondents understand the amendment’s scope, and what problems they think term limits are intended to solve. Gardy confirmed those items are included on the draft public survey.

Next steps: Gardy said the public survey will be in the field in mid‑January and the team expects to complete stakeholder focus groups and deliver final recommendations to the committee by April.