Legislative Report March 1-5
This week the Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives reconvened from our crossover recess. On Wednesday we returned to the House floor to consider four concurrent resolutions.
The HCR 3020 passed by a vote of 46-45. This resolution declares the state will obey only the federal laws, agency rules, or presidential executive orders the state determines to be constitutional. While supporters argued this resolution would promote state’s rights, Opponents believed that North Dakota may not have the constitutional authority to ignore certain federal laws and rules. It now heads to the Senate for consideration.
HCR 3005 passed by a vote of 78-13. This resolution seeks to refer a ballot measure to the state’s voters. The measure would amend the North Dakota Constitution to allow the legislative assembly to convene within twenty-five days after the adjournment of a session or special session in the case of a veto or to convene during a declared emergency or disaster. If passed in the Senate, this resolution would be placed on the ballot for the voters in 2022.
HCR 3010 passed with widespread support. This resolution also creates a ballot measure for consideration by the voters. It would recommend amending Article XIV of the state Constitution. This clause as written allows the rules of the Ethics Commission to supersede other sections of the Constitution if there was a conflict in wording. Supporters of the bill argued that it should be up to the North Dakota voters to decide which Articles in the Constitution supersede others.
On Thursday, the House of Representatives resolved into a Committee of the Whole for the first time since the mid-1960s to consider HCR 5001. This resolution sought to expel Representative Luke Simons as a member of the Assembly. A Committee of the Whole is a procedure in which the entire House of Representatives forms a committee to consider whether to recommend passage of a resolution. During nearly four hours of debate and testimony, several amendments were proposed to the resolution, all of which failed to pass. The Committee of the Whole recommended DO PASS with a vote of 66-28. The House then dissolved the Committee
of the Whole, and took up the resolution as a body for final consideration. With little additional debate, the resolution passed the House with a vote of 69-25.
You can contact Rep. Kiefert at dhkiefert@ nd.gov and Rep. Christensen at colechristensen@nd.gov. During the session, mail can be sent to: ND House of Representatives, 600 East Boulevard, Bismarck, ND 58505-0360. If you want to leave a phone message you can call the incoming toll-free number 1-888-NDLEGIS (1-888-635-3447). For hearing-impaired individuals, the TTY toll-free number is 1-800-366-6888 to reach a relay operator. If you wish to watch videos of the floor session and committee hearings, you can access them at legis.nd.gov.