This past week we have transitioned from regular hearings on bills to conference committees on bills that had amendments put on a bill by the other chamber. Three members are chosen from each chamber and then a committee is formed and the process is to work out the bills differences as presented by each chamber.
Some of the conferences are fairly simple but others are contentious and difficult. The session is moving into a period where all the laundry is aired and the real issues are ironed out. This past week we passed out of chamber several bills related to social concerns. The Senate gave approval to several bills concerning gender issues, including HB 1139, HB 1249, and HB 1301. Although the Senate voted to override the Governor’s veto of SB 2231, the public employee and parental rights protection bill, the House did not. However, the Senate amended HB 1522 to include parts of SB 2231, rewritten to address some of the Governor’s concerns. House Bill 1532 received a Do Pass recommendation from the Senate Appropriations Committee. The full Senate will soon vote on the bill.
This article is written on the weekend of Easter. The obscenity bills should also be on the floor the week of the 10th. I would like to say a few words on those two bills to clear up some false narratives. The bills (SB2360 and HB1205) do not ban any books; they simply get obscenity out of the accessibility of children.
No staff in any public arena where minors are will be in any legal trouble unless they willfully get obscenity/ pornography to minors. The staff simply need to put the obscene material in an area not accessible to minors. When we picked up this child protection quest, I always thought this was a goal of those adults that had minors as their charges. We have found out that is not the case. We have heard several statements from leaders at the state level that the horrid material found in at least 40 libraries in our state is not pornography it is free speech. I challenge everyone to listen to the testimony at the hearings for this legislation to find out the real narrative.
The session has been very contentious as far as fiscal policy is concerned. We came into the session with a billion+ surplus and at crossover all the legislation had used up the surplus plus over another billion. The appropriations committees have been trying to work those amounts down to sound fiscal policy but it is very difficult and many fiscal notes need to trimmed, some severely. When I vote on bills that is always in front of us. Please follow along at ndlegis.gov and get the ground level facts. I was elected on District 33 to protect our Innocent, our livelihood of Energy and Ag, Business and the Republican ideals from the platform. Many times, these arenas conflict and I must pick the path of least harm.
Senator Keith Boehm kboehm@ndlegis.gov
701 425 1520
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