Brainer or no?

“It’s a brainer,” Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, said with a raise of his eyebrows in a news conference Jan. 15. This was in response to a reporter asking about Gov. Doug Burgum’s stance that funding the Fargo-Moorhead Diversion Project was a “no brainer.” In their joint news conference, Wardner and House Majority Leader Chet Pollert, R-Carrington, emphasized that while the diversion is a priority, revenue will need to be drawn from multiple sources for the project.

Finding a vote

If you would like to track how your legislators vote on a particular bill, the House and Senate journals are available online at https://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/66-2019/regular. You will need to know the date your bill was voted on. You will have to navigate through information about both the bill and the debate before you can read the votes of individual legislators.

The envelope, please

It may or may not be in the mail. The House Judiciary Committee heard a bill regarding envelopes, introduced by the committee chairman, Rep. Kim Koppelman, R-West Fargo. House Bill 1266 would remove the requirement for officers to provide an envelope when issuing a traffic or parking citation. Koppelman said the bill was about increasing efficiency and moving into the 21st century, referring to the increasing use of online payments. Committee members debated certain factors such as the cost of paper and printers in police vehicles. Major Aaron Hummel, chief of staff for the North Dakota State Highway Patrol, provided the committee with an example of the current envelope, which some members examined intently, suggesting they had never seen one before.

Prairie builders

House Bill 1066 – more commonly known as “Operation Prairie Dog” – has been one of the most talked-about items this session, as it deals with the allocation of oil and gas tax revenues for infrastructure projects. Its animal moniker caught on quickly after it was named by Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R- Dickinson. Wardner said the idea came to him as he was observing a “huge” prairie dog town near Painted Canyon Lookout outside of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. “Who makes infrastructure better than a prairie dog?” the majority leader asked.

Speading the work load

The House Energy and Natural Resources committee saw four bills regarding gun legislation during a Jan. 17 hearing, drawing fervent debate from citizens, both in favor and in opposition to the proposed legislation. The reason a committee whose main focus is energy and natural resources has hearings on gun bills is to help “equalize the load,” said committee Chairman Todd Porter, R-Mandan. Porter said legislative leaders decide where to send bills, and that certain bills regarding weapons, guns and hunting were sent to Energy and Natural Resources rather than the House Judiciary Committee, because that panel would “be here 15 hours a day,” while other committees may not have as much to do.

Bye bye blue

Before the House voted 56-35 to repeal North Dakota’s law requiring most businesses to be closed Sunday morning, there was heated debate about it on the floor. The last to speak on the issue, Rep. Sebastian Ertelt, R-Lisbon, argued for keeping the traditional “Blue Laws,” saying it was appropriate to consider “God’s law” in crafting legislation, citing the example of murder.