BISMARCK, ND (North Dakota Monitor) – The stalled Military Gallery is primed to restart construction after legislation providing a financial lifeline cleared the House Friday.
House lawmakers voted 71-22 to approve a new $20 million loan and remove restrictions from $15 million in already allocated state funds. The bill is headed to the governor for his signature.
Many lawmakers say legislation is needed in the 2027 session to ensure that taxpayers are not exposed to the mismanagement of a public-private partnership again. Construction of the $78 million Military Gallery on the Capitol grounds has been paused since July 3 because of lagging private fundraising.
Rep. Austen Schauer, R-West Fargo, said nobody wants to see a major project that they all support sit idle.
“But we must ask a fundamental question, Mr. Speaker. How did we get here? And more importantly, how do we make sure we don’t get here again?” Schauer said on the House floor.
Rep. Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, said he is proud North Dakota can build a museum honoring veterans. But after touring the unfinished building this week, Tveit said it has become a “Taj Mahal” and event center, above and beyond what was originally envisioned. He said construction began prematurely before enough funding was secured.
“Unless we hold those people responsible, this will reoccur,” Tveit said.
Schauer, a former fundraiser, said nobody should ever guarantee donors will provide tens of millions of dollars before securing those dollars. Some of the blame falls on the Legislature for not creating the proper framework for the public-private partnership, he added.
“We need clear benchmarks, realistic fundraising assumptions, financial safeguards, accountability, and contingency plans before construction begins,” Schauer said. “Good intentions are not financial plans.”
Sen. Sean Cleary, R-Bismarck, has proposed a bill to require similar projects to certify at least 75% of funding has been secured before starting construction. Legislative leaders did not allow it to be introduced in the special session, but Cleary plans to submit a revised version in January.
“I still think it’s a necessary safeguard so we don’t get put in situations like this going forward,” Cleary said in an interview. “I also think that’s important as term limits kick in. We’re going to have more turnover in the legislative branch, and so some of these lessons that we learn, I think it’s good to codify those into law.”
Cleary is considering revisions based on testimony this week. One topic he is looking into is whether state agencies should be able to legally sign construction contracts using money they don’t have access to yet.
“It’s very common for projects to break ground before they have all the funding, but for public projects, I think we need to have a little bit higher standard just so taxpayers aren’t on the hook,” Cleary said.
The new $20 million line of credit from the Bank of North Dakota is expected to be repaid by private donations. It’s due in March 2029, but future Legislatures could extend the deadline. Lawmakers had previously committed $39.2 million in state funding.
The State Historical Society of North Dakota, North Dakota National Guard and their foundations are jointly working on the project. Private fundraising has raised nearly $4.2 million in pledges and collected about $800,000, according to testimony this week.
Previously, lawmakers required the project to raise nearly $12.8 million in pledges before accessing $15 million in state funding. The legislation removes that benchmark.
The 2025 legislation did not include any benchmarks for accessing a previous $20 million line of credit from the Bank of North Dakota, which has been spent. Lawmakers in 2027 will need to budget to pay that back, not including interest. The interest accrued so far is $581,000.
Republican Gov. Kelly Armstrong said he plans to sign the military gallery bill, which he expected to receive later Friday. Armstrong said he is glad the Legislature took action because doing nothing is not an option.
He acknowledged his administration shares part of the blame for the project and said “there should be some tough hearings and some tough questions asked.”
“I can’t imagine a scenario happening like this again as long as I’m governor,” Armstrong said.
Armstrong was sworn into office in January 2025 and was immediately occupied with a legislative session that ended in May.
Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden was a member of the Joint Military Museum Advisory Committee that had oversight of the Military Gallery’s development.
Armstrong noted that the committee’s decision to move forward with construction in May 2025 was made in Strinden’s second meeting as a member of the board, and the first time she had been present for a fundraising discussion.
“We were also the newest people involved in the project,” Armstrong said.
The governor said Friday he supported the decision to begin construction on the project at the time it was made.
“At the time there were affirmations made about pledges and there are real consequences to not starting construction,” Armstrong said, referring to costs becoming higher. “None of these decisions, as we sit here today, turned out to be particularly great. But there were real reasons why they were made.”
This story was updated with comments from Gov. Armstrong.
