NORTH DAKOTA SENATE STATE CAPITOL 600 EAST BOULEVARD BISMARCK, ND 58505-0360 April 6, 2011 Jon Backes, President North Dakota Board of Higher Education State Capitol, 10" Floor jismarck, ND 58505 Dear President Backes: On behalf of the Democratic-NPL Senate and House Caucuses, we respectfully request that the April 22, 2011 meeting of members of the State Board of Higher Education, NCAA, and legislative leadership be open to the press and the public, as is in accordance with North Dakota's open records law and tradition. Furthermore, we request that representatives of the Spirit Lake and Standing Rock Sioux Tribes be invited, The reason for the first request is because North Dakota strives to be an open, transparent government. The Dem-NPL caucuses have furthered this cause this session by introducing legislation creating an ethics committee, reporting outside trips taken by legislators, and additional reporting for corporate campaign contributions. We consider open and accessible meetings to be a tenet of good government and feel strongly that the meeting be open, In addition, we think it is important to include representatives from tribal government should they wish to attend the meeting. Both tribes were mentioned in the settlement between the ‘NCAA and the State of North Dakota, and they should be invited to the meeting between those two parties. ‘We appreciate your efforts in managing this meeting and thank you for considering our concems. Sincerely Ryan Taylor Jerry Kelsh Senate Minority Leader House Minority Leader