Kristin Roers

I believe that I have experiences that can help give a different perspective, helping to come up with creative solutions. Our state is in need of new solutions to help solve the problems we are facing with record growth in some areas, declining populations in other parts of the state, and shifting workforce demands.

I was first exposed to politics as a senior in high school, when I was able to serve as a Page during the legislative session for 2 weeks. That was a great hands on learning experience that peaked my interest in the legislative process.

I remained involved on and off over the years as I developed my professional career. As I moved to North Dakota, I became immediately involved in local districts. I served as the Cass County Republican Event Chair for a few years before deciding to run.

I was also honored to be elected as the VP of Government Relations for the North Dakota Nurses Association and served as their (volunteer) lobbyist for 2 sessions before moving into the Senate.

1. Workforce - decrease regulatory burden allowing people into the workforce, making it easier for employers to hire qualified candidates

2. Childcare - decrease red tape for childcare providers, while maintaining safe places for our kids. Finding ways to decrease the cost of starting and operating a daycare business, so that money can be shifted towards employee pay without raising the overall cost of daycare

3. Infrastructure Costs - in my district, we have rapid growth, but the costs of the infrastructure are starting to price residents out of the market due to special assessments and property taxes. Finding ways to create grants and cost matching programs to offset these costs will help in demand areas to grow without the pain to current residents.

My priorities are the same as above - workforce, childcare and infrastructure. These are all necessary to find a way to continue to meet the growth demands in the Fargo metro area.

There is no one perfect answer - but looking at ways to make sure that government isn't getting in the way is a good start. As stated above, childcare is a huge issue for workforce. If families are deciding to either forgo entering the workforce, or limiting their family size, there will be long term consequences to our economy. We need to find a way to decrease the cost to start or run a daycare business, so that we can increase the number of daycares without increasing the cost to families.

Incentives and cost sharing grants are the tools that I have seen have the most interest and effect in my time in the legislature. I would continue to support these.