The Legislative Government Efficiency Task Force convened its inaugural meeting to review its statutory duties, internal rules and early priorities, including quarterly agency reviews, program evaluation and submitting a final interim report to Legislative Management.

The Task Force was created by legislation and is charged with meeting at least once each quarter, reviewing and analyzing Executive Branch and Supreme Court budgets and reports, receiving agency testimony, identifying duplicative programs and regulations, and recommending program and statutory changes to improve efficiency and outcomes for the next Legislative Assembly.

Levi Kanishitzky, fiscal staff at Legislative Council, summarized the committee's procedural framework and gave members an overview of the rules that will govern the Task Force’s work. "Just as a quick housekeeping item, at the first meeting of every legislative management committee meeting, the staff will go over what we call the supplementary rules of operation procedure of North Dakota legislative management," Kanishitzky said, and noted two rules in particular: members must get prior approval from the chair to attend remotely and any member attending remotely must keep their video on, and members present must vote for or against on every recorded roll call vote.

Kanishitzky also explained how bill drafts introduced to Legislative Management are to be reviewed: "If a bill draft is prepared by an individual that is outside of Legislative Council ... that bill draft or an amendment to that bill draft needs to be reviewed at least two meetings ... But if the bill draft is requested by this task force and someone from our office drafts it, that could all be done in one meeting." The Task Force staff will produce a final interim report for Legislative Management at the end of the interim.

Members used the opening session to set expectations for the Task Force’s approach. Senator Hogan urged the group to pursue rebuilding public trust and to make performance information more accessible: "If we can demonstrate where we're effective in what we're doing, I think ... we can restore the trust of the citizens of North Dakota in government." Representative Weiss and other members added that the Task Force should balance short-term cost savings with improving service delivery and outcomes, "getting more bang for our buck," and should hold agencies accountable for transparent outcome measures.

Committee members suggested candidate early topics for review, including the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), the North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) portfolio, education and local government structures, and agency organizational arrangements. Members discussed using the Task Force’s authority to request program evaluations from the State Auditor or independent auditors when appropriate, and recommended an iterative, evidence-driven agenda based on available data and targeted follow-ups.

The Task Force also received a staff memorandum describing its statutory formation and related assignments, including that Senate Bill 2308 assigned a separate Board Review Task Force and that the new Task Force will receive that group's report when it is delivered to Legislative Management. Staff said members may request additional agency materials between meetings and that Legislative Council will be the staff point of contact during the interim.

The meeting closed with members asking staff to prepare a short list of potential first-decade priorities and to circulate the Legislative Management operating rules and required report deadlines in advance of the next meeting.