Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

N.D. House Update- Feb. 4, 2019

There have been 545 bills and 31 resolutions introduced in the House of Representatives this session compared to 434 bills and 11 resolutions last session. That is the most bills since the 2009 session. The number of bills in the Senate is up slightly over last session. We have a lot of work to get done in a short amount of time during the 66th Session.

There have been quite a few very interesting bills being heard on the House Floor in recent days. HB1282 was introduced to give people with a criminal past a second chance in seeking employment. It will ban certain employers from asking whether they had been involved in criminal activities in the initial job application. All questions could be asked in the actual interview. The bill only applies to state, county, city and park boards but does not apply to school districts. It also doesn't apply to a public employer that has a statutory duty to conduct a criminal history background check. The House voted 81-11 in favor of the bill.

Representatives also overturned a committee recommendation to allow owners of certain sports cars to have only one license plate. Proponents explained that those cars do not have a place for a front plate and owners were forced to drill holes in the bumper or another area to allow for the plates. The House passed the bill 67-25 and it will also go on the Senate.

Committees continue to work on the bills and get them to the house floor. The House Human Services Committee completed work on two anti-abortion bills and sent them to the full house for their consideration. HB 1546 prohibits a human dismemberment abortion. A similar bill from another state has been challenged in the courts and is currently in the 8th Circuit Court of appeals. The legislation passed by the committee will stop the bill from becoming law in our state until the courts have ruled on the issue.

The other abortion bill HB 1336 is the informed consent law. It would put a requirement in place that a woman who is undergoing a chemical abortion must be informed of the fact that the procedure can be reversed with a different medicine if only the first of the two doses of medicine, which causes the abortion, has been given.

The committee also heard several bills related to medical marijuana. Some bills expand the illnesses that the product can be used to treat in the state, another takes away the requirement that says a physician must certify that their condition will be helped by medical marijuana. Others make changes dealing with edible products as well as other issues that are in current laws. The committee has taken no formal action, but is expected to try to combine several bills to reduce the workload later in the session.

The Government Operations Division of House Appropriations continues to work on the various budgets assigned to them.

In testimony before that section this week they heard from the North Dakota’s Judicial Branch that is seeking an additional South-Central District Judgeship in their appropriation request in HB 1002. With the growth of the Bismarck-Mandan area and the fact that many cases are heard in Bismarck by it being the capital city, they believe the workload has justified this position. The other major request is for $960,000 for a remodel of the law library. With much of the documents now being in digital format, space that formerly held volumes of hard bound books can be remodeled to house staff which is currently located in rented space at the cost of $250,000 per biennium.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol is removing five non-sworn employees in its budget, HB 1011. The Patrol is seeking one-time funding for replacing trooper body armor, Taser cartridges, AED pads. Their major project request is to obtain funding of $1.2 million to complete the indoor training center and shooting range. The Government Operations Committee will be touring the facility next week.

The Governor has identified the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund (SIIF) as the funding source for many of his project requests. Here is a partial listing of proposals before the Government Operations Committee; $66 million for radio network and cybersecurity IT projects, $22 million for airport grants, $20 million for the housing incentive fund, $39 million for driver’s license and traffic system IT projects and $5 million for oil a database IT project. With many large projects being funded by SIIF in other agency budgets, there is concern this fund will be drained to a dangerously low level.

Next week, the Appropriations Committee will begin hearing policy bills that contain significant direct appropriations.

We continue to hear a number of gun related bills in the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. On Thursday we heard HB 1451, which would make for a mandatory waiting period for purchasing a gun, ban bump stocks, and to do an interim study on whether the state should raise the age to purchase a weapon. The committee gave the bill a do-not-pass recommendation.

On a different topic, that was new to some of us, HB 1209 will allow the use of highly trained dogs to help find wounded big game animals. Proponents said that the animals are used in several states and reduce the number of wounded animals that are not found by hunters. The committee gave the bill a do-pass recommendation.

HB 1439 would help the state develop a CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery business in North Dakota. The lignite industry said that capturing the CO2 could have the potential to double the size of the coal industry in North Dakota. Oil industry experts said that the state's conventional oil fields hold on the order of 1 billion barrels of oil that can't be produced without CO2. Experts said the plan could eventually mean billions of dollars in new revenue for mineral right owners, production companies and the state of North Dakota. The committee gave the bill a do-pass recommendation.

We are enjoying visits from several young people from our district recently. There were students from Midkota here one day and several nursing students from around our area visited as part of a Nurses Day at the legislature. It is always fun for us to visit with people from home as they visit the Capitol.

District 23 residents who still wish to contact us with legislative ideas or comments on what is being discussed or proposed can email us at: [email protected] and [email protected]. Mail can be sent to us in Bismarck; c/o North Dakota House of Representatives, State Capital, 600 East Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505.

During the session constituents that wish to leave a message for us may call 1-888-635-3447.