Weekly Legislative Update #4
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
Remember when I said this week would be the busiest of the session? Well, I was right, but thanks to your support and prayers, we made it through. We testified on a total of 18 bills Mon-Wed of this past week, which was even higher than my initial estimate of 15, and meant that sometimes we were running to our next hearing. In spite of this schedule, we made it everywhere we needed to be and testified on your behalf when and where it needed to happen!
This past week was filled with a lot of time working on a couple of high-profile life bills. We also had a chance to have our trafficking education bill heard in the Senate Education Committee. We had a gentleman testify who has worked with trafficked women and girls for years. His stories were tragic and underscored the need for student education about this horrific crime.
The balance of this week’s bills focused on pornography, gambling, and a number of educational choice bills. In the process, a couple of us managed to get sick and I lost my voice. While Ruth wasn’t terribly sad that she didn’t have to listen to me talk politics all the time, I thankfully had enough voice left to testify on the bills assigned to me.
Next Week
Thankfully, next week should be a bit slower, with probably 9 bills requiring our testimony. These range from subjects such as explicit materials/pornography to requiring intelligent design and the history of the holocaust being taught in schools. Additionally, bills that we’ve already testified on will be coming up for floor votes, so please watch for our alerts. There are sometimes just a few hours between when we find out about a floor vote and it actually happens, so please respond as soon as you can. We know you all have busy lives, but reaching out to legislators as a citizen is something only you can do to defend your values. It only takes a few minutes, definitely makes a difference, and we deeply appreciate it.
Current Status
Each bill’s most recent status and future actions are shown in the following table. We only show “alive” bills in this table (i.e., those that have not been defeated in a chamber, not combined with another bill, etc.), since those are the ones on which you can still take some action. NOTE THAT THE STATUS OF EACH BILL CAN CHANGE MULTIPLE TIMES, IN EVEN A SINGLE DAY.
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 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 “Actions”. This will indicate where the bill is in the process.
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.
Here is a map of the Capitol, so you can find the indicated rooms. Please let us know if you have any questions.