North Dakota voters defeat ballot measure to largely axe property tax

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure to outlaw most local property taxes, which critics said would have led to dramatic cuts in state services.

The general election ballot also included four other proposals, including one calling for the legalization of recreational marijuana and another that sought to make it more difficult to amend the state constitution.

The measure to end local property taxes based on assessed value would have forced the state to provide an estimated $3.15 billion in replacement revenue to local governments during each two-year budget, according to a legislative panel. The state now forecasts about $5 billion in general tax revenues in the current two-year budget.

Supporters of the proposed cut said rising property taxes were increasingly frustrating to voters and that the taxation system was hard to understand. Opponents said the measure would force legislators to make huge cuts to state services.

Marijuana was also on the ballot, as North Dakota voters were deciding whether to legalize recreational possession and use of the drug. The outcome of the proposal was still too early to call Wednesday morning. North Dakota is one of a handful of states, including Florida and South Dakota, where recreational marijuana measures were going before voters. Two dozen states have legalized recreational marijuana, the most recent being Ohio in 2023.

North Dakota voters rejected past measures in 2018 and 2022. The state’s Senate defeated two House-passed bills for legalization and taxation in 2021.

The measure would legalize recreational marijuana for people 21 and older to use at their homes and, if permitted, on others’ private property. The measure also outlines numerous production and processing regulations, prohibited uses — such as in public or in vehicles — and would allow home cultivation of plants.

It includes maximum purchase and possession amounts of 1 ounce of dried leaves or flowers, 4 grams of a cannabinoid concentrate, 1,500 milligrams of total THC in the form of a cannabis product and 300 milligrams of an edible product. Up to seven marijuana manufacturing operations would be allowed along with 18 dispensaries.

Supporters say the measure would allow law enforcement to focus limited resources on more important issues, such as fentanyl. Opponents say marijuana has harmful physiological and societal effects.

Voters also rejected adding requirements for citizen-initiated constitutional measures. Such initiatives have been a smoldering issue in the Legislature for years over the perception that the state constitution is too easy to amend.

The measure referred by the Legislature would have limited constitutional initiatives to a single subject, mandated that only eligible voters may circulate and sign initiative petitions, raised the number of required signatures for submitting petitions, and required that such measures pass both the primary and general elections.

Republican state Sen. Janne Myrdal, who introduced the measure, said the state constitution is “standing naked on Main Street in North Dakota, and anyone … from California or New York can throw a dart and play the game for $1 million to change the law in North Dakota.”

Myrdal, an anti-abortion leader in the Legislature, had denied that the measure was an effort to head off an abortion rights initiative. States around the country — including North Dakota’s neighbors Montana and South Dakota — have seen the introduction of such measures after the fall of Roe v. Wade.

North Dakota lawmakers have groused in recent years about the origins and funding of ballot initiatives that added crime victim rights, ethics mandates and term limits to the state constitution. Opponents said the new proposed restrictions step on citizen democracy.

Two other measures also were on the ballot. Voters approved a constitutional amendment from the Legislature to change outdated terms related to disabilities in the state constitution. A measure proposing administrative changes for the state’s $11 billion in oil tax savings was too early to call.

Jack Dura, The Associated Press