Port: North Dakota’s legislative process has never been more open and accessible
MINOT, N.D. — To work in journalism is to accentuate the negative.
There’s a saying in this line of work explaining why that is: “Safe airplane landings aren’t news.” The planes are supposed to land safely, you see. It’s our job to report the crashes. When they happened. Why they happened. Who they hurt.
So it goes, too, with covering the workings of government. We cover the negative. We probably don’t spend enough time talking about the positives.
By way of remedying that, at least for today, allow me to heap praise on the work our state Legislature has done on their website . It is vastly improved over previous iterations and brings a level of transparency and accessibility to the legislative process that previous generations of North Dakotans could only dream of.
It may seem odd to praise the site so late in the session, but many of you in the audience, even those who follow the Legislature closely, may be unaware of just how powerful this website has become. So allow me to give you a tour of sorts, because the utility of this site goes for beyond the few months our lawmakers are in session.
