Three bills related to outdoors issues have either seen final action or are awaiting final action during this year’s legislative session in Bismarck. The trio of bills represent the last of what has generally been a very limited session in terms of proposed legislation regarding issues of importance to sportsmen in the state.

A bill signed into law by Gov. Doug Burgum was House Bill 1411, signed the final day of March. HB 1411 provides an exception to hunting with artificial light, allowing “an individual or the individual’s agent” to use a “lantern, spotlight, night vision, thermal vision, infrared light, or other artificial light” on the individual’s premises in pursuit of predatory animals “attempting to destroy the individual’s poultry, livestock, or other property.”

HB 1411 passed the House 92-2 and the Senate 47-0.

A bill amending a section of the Century Code to provide for a $250 fine relating to criminal trespass and electronic posting passed the Senate 45-2, was amended in the House where it passed 86-6, and was sent back to the Senate for final approval or further mark-up.

Wrapping up the legislature’s outdoor-related action was Senate Bill 2036, a bill to authorize legislative management to continue studying the electronic land access database program, also called “electronic posting,” which passed in the previous session, and to expand it to all 53 North Dakota counties. The original study included three counties.

The Senate approved the measure 45-2 before it was passed on to the House, where it received 91-2 approval.