Jump to full article: Fargo (ND) InForum, 2009-05-06
Author: Janell Cole
Intro: A pending crisis cast a pall over the Legislature as it limped to a close Monday night: Would the session adjourn without appropriating money for a tobacco program voters had mandated? And would that send the issue to court?
In the end, a meeting between Senate Majority Leader Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, and Measure 3 Chairwoman Heidi Heitkamp ended the weekslong stalemate and the threat of a court fight.
“The broker here was Bob,” Heitkamp said Tuesday. “I don’t know how you could say it any other way.”
Stenehjem asked Heitkamp and other Measure 3 supporters to a meeting in his office Monday evening. They agreed on bill language stating the tobacco control program wouldn’t be able to tap into the state Water Resources Trust Fund for its money – a possibility skeptical lawmakers said lurked in the measure.
In return, legislators would appropriate money for the tobacco program just as voters directed in November.
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