Mike Lefor: ALEC's Bob Williams Memorial Award for Policy Leadership 2023

Bob Williams Memorial Award for Policy Leadership is awarded to legislators who take a leadership role in advancing sound fiscal policies based on the Jeffersonian principles of free markets, limited government, federalism, and individual freedom. North Dakota House Majority Leader Mike Lefor is just such a legislator. His leadership with the passage of this year’s House Bill 1040 serves as a model for successful, sound pension reform for the rest of the country. Thanks to his leadership, North Dakota’s existing defined benefit plan will be closed, and new state employees will be enrolled in a defined contribution plan – like the flexible and portable 401(k) plans offered in the private sector – starting in 2025. This extraordinary reform also protects current state workers and taxpayers by injecting $200 million into the closed defined-benefit plan to help pay down existing unfunded liabilities