Weekly Update - Jan 6
Dear Friends,
The 2023 Legislative Session started in full swing this past Tuesday, and we are once again honored to be at the Capitol representing you and your values.
Tuesday was an exciting day, with a number of presentations by various groups to the entire legislative body, including the Governor’s State of the State Address. All the presentations were informative and very positive about where North Dakota is headed. However, more than these presentations, Tuesday was about relationships.
Like most of life, including the work environment, it’s all about relationships. The start of the new session was the first time since the 2021 session that I had a chance to catch up with many legislators. This included both Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, those with perceived influence and those who “fly under the radar”. It also included many first-time “freshman” legislators, who I’m happy to report overwhelmingly support your and my values. However, regardless of where legislators stand on issues, they all have something important to add to the legislative process, and we’re more than happy to work with any of them, whenever we can agree on supporting pro-life or pro-family values.
I was also able to introduce our new Policy Analyst, Jacob Thomsen, to the legislators and others in state government. It gave us a chance to let them know that NDFA/NDFALA was going to be amongst them in an even more prominent way, advocating for your values.
Perhaps most importantly, Tuesday gave us a chance to connect with legislators and other like-minded organizations about specific bills. Hundreds of bills had been prefiled already by Tuesday, and hundreds more have been filed since that time. Tuesday gave us a chance to further talk with legislators about particular bills, strategize how best to move them through the legislative process, and determine how we can help support them.
Nearly everyone we spoke to commented that this session will have a higher-than-normal number of bills on social issues. That’s code for bills about your and my values. We have our work cut out for us, but we’re energized. With God blessing our efforts and with your support (e.g., financial, prayer, Call to Action Alert responses), we are optimistic that we can get much accomplished this session.
On a final note, if you’re reading this, you are already on our email list and will get legislative updates on a regular basis. If you know of someone who does not get our emails, but would like to stay updated on important bills and legislative news, feel free to direct them to our website (ndfamilyalliance.org), scroll to the bottom of the page, and enter their email. It’s that simple.
As we kick off this session, I want to thank each and every one of you for your faithful support of our organization. It’s only through your support that we can represent you in the halls of Bismarck. May God bless you and all our efforts to further His kingdom this legislative session.
Blessings,
Mark
