Senate committee hears bill to move North Dakota Children's Cabinet into governor’s office

Senator Michelle Axman, sponsor of Senate Bill 2176, introduced the bill to the Senate Human Services Committee seeking to move administration of the North Dakota Children’s Cabinet from the Department of Health and Human Services to the Office of the Governor and to provide an appropriation to support the cabinet’s work.

The bill’s backers told the committee the move is intended to provide a stable administrative home and stronger cross‑agency focus on children and family outcomes. For example, Lieutenant Governor Michelle Strinden, who has chaired the cabinet, told the committee: “Moving the cabinet's administration within the governor's office will place additional focus on the cabinet and accelerate progress for children and families.”

Supporters said the transfer would preserve the cabinet’s statutory membership while allowing the governor's office to coordinate designated working groups on topics such as juvenile justice, child welfare, the mental‑health continuum and early childhood programs. Megan McCann, acting executive vice president for policy at the Forum for Youth Investment, and Dana Kunsman, the Forum’s senior director for cross‑system work, summarized national practice and said governors’ offices can help sustain strategic planning and measurement across administrations.

Senator Kathy Hogan and Kim Jacobson, vice chair of the Children’s Cabinet and director of a human service zone, urged stronger local representation in the cabinet’s public‑member slots. Hogan said turnover among legislative members and a lack of clearly defined community appointees has made continuity difficult; she offered an amendment to give the cabinet more flexibility in legislative appointments and to clarify that at least one public appointee should be a parent or family representative. Kim Jacobson recommended adding a human service zone director as a standing appointment and said designated working groups would allow the cabinet to coordinate complex issues such as child protective services.

The bill includes, in its current budget language, a funding request described to committee members as $100,000 in total: $65,000 for administration and facilitation consultants and $35,000 in ongoing appropriations for support services, a package supporters said is already included in executive budget proposals. Axman and Strinden said funding would support facilitation, meeting costs and development of measures of success tied to the cabinet’s strategic plan.

No committee vote was recorded during the hearing. Committee members asked clarifying questions about membership, the role of regional groups, and how the cabinet’s work would relate to existing local initiatives and grants. Members and witnesses agreed the proposal merited further drafting to clarify membership types and to ensure the bill’s language preserves the cabinet’s statewide and local coordination roles.

The committee closed the hearing on Senate Bill 2176 without taking floor action; supporters and staff indicated they expect to work with the department and committee on amendments clarifying membership and implementation details.

Less urgent items discussed included follow‑up work to define the membership categories (schools, human service zone director, provider, parent) and to coordinate existing regional efforts so local groups could feed work groups and the cabinet’s statewide agenda.