As the legislature enters its final stretch, plans include evening floor sessions and Saturday conference committees with the goal of adjourning by May 2, if not earlier.

Conference committees meet in rapid succession, often revisiting issues that had seen weeks of debate in each chamber. Among the most contentious topics are property tax relief where the Senate contests it must have homeowner “skin in the game,” but the chambers are seemingly closer to settling on a dollar amount of tax relief.

Meanwhile, the Commerce budget bill emerged as a flashpoint as it came to the House floor. Freedom caucus Republicans divided the amendments into four sections over a language authorizing a casino in Grand Forks—which ultimately failed, money for the North Dakota Development Fund, and $50 million for the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, sourced from the original $70 million line of credit. The House further divided the full bill the next evening into six additional divisions (four of which were gaveled out of order), again debating the role of the commerce department and multiple programs within their charge. The full bill passed and is on to conference.

Adding to the week’s intensity, Governor Armstrong issued two vetoes on Wednesday—the  first on HB 1540, which would have created Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) solely for private school students, arguing it was too narrow and instead, expressing support for SB 2400, a broader ESA bill covering public, private, and homeschooled students—but that failed the next day on the House floor. Armstrong also vetoed SB 2307, which sought to expand restrictions on sexually explicit content to school libraries, calling it a misguided overreach that could lead to censorship and place undue burdens on educators and local governments.

With one week to go, tensions remain high, negotiations are fluid, and the mood is equal parts determined and exhausted. The Capitol feels less like a chamber of deliberation and more like a Rooseveltian endurance test. We know one thing’s for sure: Teddy Roosevelt believed in the strenuous life, but he clearly never sat through conference committee on a Saturday!