Prairie Public supporters urge North Dakota Senate to restore state funding

Yahoo

08-03-2025

John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public Broadcasting, speaks March 7, 2025, during a legislative committee hearing about state and federal funding for the organization. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
Prairie Public supporters are urging Senate lawmakers to defeat a bill that removes taxpayer support for North Dakota's mainstay public broadcasting organization.
But even if House Bill 1255 is defeated, Prairie Public would still need to convince lawmakers to add state funding back into a budget bill.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Jorin Johnson, R-Fargo, passed the House on a 48-41 vote in February after two House committees recommended the bill be voted down. The bill would prohibit state officials from using state or federal tax dollars to support the organization.
A Senate State and Local Government Committee hearing Friday was the first time members of the Senate had the opportunity to weigh in on the matter.
House votes to defund North Dakota public broadcasting, sends bill to Senate
Johnson told state senators that Prairie Public won't need to close its doors because of the loss of $1.2 million in state funding. He added it could even be a good thing for the organization because he believes donors would rally behind the organization to keep it funded, just without state tax dollars.
'The original mission of PBS is no longer accurate with the explosion of digital media, streaming services and content creators,' Johnson said. 'There's an abundance of free, or low-cost content, available online making public broadcasting redundant.'
Gov. Kelly Armstrong's preliminary budget included a recommendation of nearly $2.9 million for Prairie Public during the 2025-27 biennium, including about $1.7 million in one-time funding to assist with transmitter maintenance and replacement.
The funding is typically in the budget for the Office of Management and Budget. House lawmakers removed those dollars from the budget bill after they approved House Bill 1255.
Johnson said Prairie Public has $36.2 million in assets, about $16.8 million in reserves and is one of the largest charitable gambling beneficiaries in the state.
'I think they are doing OK,' he said. 'No one can convince me that Prairie Public won't survive without state dollars.'
Johnson added, if Prairie Public starts to 'flounder,' representatives could come back during the 2027 legislative session and petition to have funding reinstated.
John Harris, president and CEO of Prairie Public Broadcasting, told lawmakers he agreed with Johnson that the funding loss wouldn't force the nonprofit to close, but it would affect local programming.
'The national programming will continue, but what (news director) Dave Thompson does, what we do for the local community with our educational team going out and providing professional development, those are the things that will go away,' Harris said. 'We would become a pass-through for the national feeds is what would happen as we start losing money and our resources.'
Johnson also criticized Prairie Public for taking steps to purchase a bar in West Fargo as a charitable gambling site, arguing they shouldn't need state money if they were looking into that purchase.
Harris said they didn't follow through with the bar purchase, but they were looking into security for their charitable gambling site so a bar owner couldn't just sign another charity to conduct gambling and cut them out.
'It (gaming) is up and down in any given year,' he said. 'We've lost three sites in the last year-and-a-half-or-so because one changed hands and a couple closed.'
Harris said the company operates 39 radio and television towers in the state that range from 200 feet to 1,000 feet in height and those towers reach about 98% of all North Dakotans for free. He added that some towers hold emergency warning sirens and weather equipment that benefit residents with their operations and data.
Recently, Harris said Prairie Public installed a new tower in Minot that cost $3.5 million.
Sen. Judy Lee, R-West Fargo, a Prairie Public donor, said she can't imagine ignoring the good Prairie Public Television has done over decades.
'I think it's really important that we have that available to everybody and I would not want to jeopardize that,' Lee said.
More than 170 people submitted written testimony to the committee with the vast majority in opposition to cutting taxpayer support.
Paul and Ann Nyren drove from Garrison to testify during the hearing. They shared how their daughter learned sign language from Prairie Public children's programming and was able to communicate with a couple they met at a mall food court.
'She signed something to them and I didn't know she even had that skill,' Paul Nyren said. 'They signed back and she was so excited that she was able to use this knowledge that she had learned through children's programming.'
He said children being excited to learn through programming is an important thing to protect, which is one of the reasons his family supports Prairie Public.
The committee did not take immediate action.
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