Weekly Legislative Update #13
We want to provide you with our most recent update on what happened at the Capitol this past week, each bill’s current status, and what to expect next week. As mentioned before, if you ever have questions about a particular bill, feel free to email us at mark@ndfamilyalliance.org or call 701-355-6425.
Last Week
This past week was all about bills having floor votes. In particular, the following bills had floor votes in the Senate or House.
1247 – Protecting Student Victims of Sexual Assault (Passed Senate unanimously on 4/7)
1479 – Establishing ND Constitution Day (Passed Senate 45-1 on 4/8)
2241 - Charter Schools (Passed House 64-29 on 4/8)
1003 – Additional Funding to AG Office for Human Trafficking Grants (Passed Senate 41-5 on 4/8)
3028 – Human Trafficking Victim Re-entry Study (Passed Senate with a voice vote on 4/9)
1410 - Study on Crimes Against Children (Passed Senate unanimously on 4/9)
2230 – Clarifying Information on Election Measures (Passed House 87-5 on 4/10)
1181 – “Gender” Means Biological Sex in Century Code (Passed Senate 41-6 on 4/10)
1144 - Transgender Student Accommodations Penalty (Passed Senate 40-7 on 4/10)
1527 - Mandatory Holocaust Education in schools (Failed Senate 22-24 on 4/11)
Note that we testified in favor of and worked on all these bills on your behalf. In other words, these that passed are nine more bills to help ensure our ND laws are based upon biblical principles. You might also note that most passed their chamber votes by sizable margins, which is very helpful. All of these bills need more work to be done on them before ultimately making it into the Century Code, but we are very happy with these wins!
Aside from floor votes, two bills that we've been working on were signed by Governor Armstrong: HB 1205, which approves Safe Haven Baby Boxes, as well as HB 1561, which prevents minors' access to pornographic websites. Also, a number of our bills are in conference committees where differences between the versions passed by the chambers are being ironed out, but none emerged from this committee work in the past week.
Next Week
Formal testimony is over for our 62 bills, but we nevertheless are still engaging on them. We sit in on committee meetings as they discuss the bills, and at times are asked for our opinions and input on the bill being discussed. We also work behind the scenes trying to advance bills and ensure legislators will commit to voting with your values on important legislation.
We do not know which bills are coming up for floor votes next week and/or which will be sent to Governor Armstrong for his signature – these are constant unknowns at this point in the session. However, you can count on us emailing Call-to-Action (CTA) Alerts next week on key bills we need to make into law. We ask that you take a few minutes out of your day and respond to our Call-to-Action emails as soon as possible. YOU can make the difference on whether or not legislation based on biblical values makes it into law!
Current Status
The most recent status for each bill that is still alive after crossover is shown in the following table. The table is current as of the end of this week, but things can change quickly. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. If you have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org), and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses.
2.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
2380 - Restricting minors' access to pornography websites - House floor vote passed unanimously (3/31)
2244 - Parental rights in education and medical decisions - House floor vote failed 41-49 (3/31)
1511 - Continuing education for OBGYNs on abortion law - Senate floor vote passed 41-5 (4/1)
1561 - Restricting minors' access to pornography websites - Senate floor vote passed unanimously (4/1)
1386 - Prohibiting sexually explicit computer-generated images of a minor - Senate floor vote passed unanimously (4/1)
None of the remaining bills on which we have engaged were signed by Governor Armstrong this week. While that means it was a relatively slower week, we have no doubt that a wave of floor votes will be upon us shortly. We greatly appreciate your prayers as we strive to get these bills across the finish line!
Next Week
We intend to testify on two bills next week: a resolution that recommends we study human trafficking in ND (HCR 3028), and a bill to consider studying state laws relating to criminal conduct against children, such as child sexual offences, neglect, and human trafficking (HB 1410). While both these pieces of legislation are helpful, insofar as they seek to further the goal of protecting children, and eliminate human trafficking in particular, we believe that the state already has ample information that human trafficking is a serious issue (Human Trafficking in ND) and that we instead need bills that actually help stop human trafficking.
As we explained last week, we do not know which bills are coming up for floor votes soon (we only find out a day or two in advance, at most) and/or which will be sent to Governor Armstrong for his signature. This is the point in the process where we need your help most.
We have shepherded these 62 bills for the past three months, and now we need you to be ready to make your voices heard like never before! We will be emailing a number of Call-to-Action (CTA) Alerts in the next few weeks on key bills we need to make into law. This could be for an upcoming floor vote or possibly even related to Governor Armstrong signing them. We ask that you take 5 minutes out of your day and respond to our Call-to-Action emails as soon as possible. YOU can make the difference in whether or not legislation based on biblical values makes it into law. Last session, all of you sent over 45,000 individual emails to legislators through our CTA system; trust us, it makes a difference!
Current Status
Each bill’s most recent status and future actions are shown in the following table. Pay attention to the "Current Status" column in the coming weeks, as we will be updating this at the very top with bills that have made it entirely through the legislative process. The table is current as of the end of this week, but things can change quickly. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. If you have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org), and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held, the table shows the date, time, and location of the hearing. If you want to testify, you need to write your comments about the bill into a PDF or txt file. This can be a paragraph or longer, but keep to the point. Once that is written, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Hearings”, identify the hearing, and click the link on the right where it says, “Submit Testimony”. Just follow the instructions after that. Note that there will be a deadline to submit testimony for bills, often early in the morning on the hearing day (this will show once you click on the “Submit Testimony” link). If you have questions about any of this, prepare your testimony document and then call us at 701-355-6425, and we can walk you through it.
2.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses.
3.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
