Weekly Legislative Update #9
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 week was certainly interesting. We had 14 assorted bills for which we submitted testimony on your behalf (a few more than we initially thought). These included three bills focused on various aspects of human trafficking, such as education (SB 2330), more money for the Human Trafficking Victims Fund (HB 1003), and the permanent establishment of a Human Trafficking Commission (HB 1308). There were a couple of bills dealing with parent-child relationships: children in need of protection (HB 1556), and parents' right to be involved in their child’s education (SB 2244). It’s sad that we even need this latter bill. Some of the rest of this week’s bills included ones such as school district compliance with state laws (SB 2104), students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools (HB 1222), and safe haven boxes for abandoned infants (HB 1205).
Despite these important bills, nearly all the media attention was on one resolution. House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 3013 would ask SCOTUS to reconsider its ruling in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that required all states to grant same-sex marriages. The media was all over this, as you might imagine, given that it was an LGBTQ+ issue. The resolution was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a “No Recommendation” decision and was ultimately defeated in the Senate by a 16-31 vote, which was done as a verification vote. A verification vote is somewhere between a voice vote, which is normally done for a resolution, and a roll call vote where all legislator votes are shown on the tally board. As a verification vote, it was impossible to see how each senator voted. Senator Boschee asked for a roll call vote, but it did not have enough support from other Senators.
HCR 3013 was certainly a contentious topic, although one has to ask why it was so much more contentious than many of the bills (not resolutions) passed last session. This topic truly brought out the worst in people, and it didn’t have to be that way. It was a “die on the hill” issue for many people on both sides, and we get that, but the thousands of emails sent to legislators with obscenities and threats were beyond the pale. It was not democracy in action; it was intimidation. I thought we were better than this, North Dakotans.
Next Week
Next week promises to be a bit slower than this week, but there will still be quite a few bills on which to testify. We will engage on bills related to Education Savings Accounts (HB 1540 and SB 2400), controlling various aspects of pornography (SCR 4017, SB 2307, HB 1351, HB 1561), continuing education instruction on ND abortion laws for OBGYNs (HB 1551), and a few others on a variety of subjects. In all, we plan to testify on ten bills, which are listed in more detail, below.
Current Status
Each bill’s upcoming actions are shown in the following table. 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 at in the process. If you want to testify on a bill or 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.
