Fri, Feb 16th, 2024 - 6:16am
February 10, 2023 - 7:35am | By Kyle Cornell
(Bismarck, ND -- Several more bills are working their way through the state legislature in Bismarck, with one being shot down over the past 24 hours.
North Dakota lawmakers are considering a bill that would tighten the process for citizen-initiated measures to change the state constitution.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee heard a resolution Thursday that would require petitioners wanting to bring constitutional initiatives to a public vote to have lived in North Dakota for at least 120 days. It would also ban petitioners from accepting money or in-kind gifts and would require signatures from five percent of the state's most recent federal census.
The North Dakota Senate is moving forward with an amended bill that would have banned COVID-19 and other messenger RNA vaccines in the state.
The amended bill would provide for an optional legislative study into the "long-term health effects on human beings of vaccines" for RSV and mRNA vaccines. The original bill received a do not pass recommendation from the Senate Human Services Committee. The amended bill passed the whole Senate and is headed to the state House.
Another Senate bill would increase the state general fund by 150-million dollars.
The general fund includes property tax relief funds and money for infrastructure projects. Opponents say the state needs a permanent funding structure to address road and bridge repairs. Others say adjusting allocation laws for state oil and gas taxes will hurt current infrastructure needs.
A North Dakota House bill would create a state food security task force.
Supporters say many families in the state are on the verge of homelessness and experiencing food insecurity. They believe the task force would help get to the source of the issue. Officials from the North Dakota Food Bank say that food banks will never be the long-term solution to the issue and that ideas need to be found to address the issue of food insecurity.
One lawmaker in the meantime is making a proposal to relax rules related to deer gun season.
Representative Donna Henderson is sponsoring a bill to legalize party hunting. The bill would allow a party of up to ten hunters to fill each others' tags during the season. It would also require the entire party to be hunting together when deer tags are filled by other members of the party.
Lawmakers are also considering a bill that would prohibit certain voting methods in the state.
The bill would eliminate ranked-choice voting and approval voting from options available in North Dakota. Ranked choice allows voters to rank who they would like to win, and isn't currently used in North Dakota. Approval voting is used in Fargo, and allows voters to pick all the candidates they would approve of, with the one who is chosen the most prevailing. No immediate action has been taken on the bill.
Meanwhile, a bill that would have expanded healthcare benefits for women experiencing infertility has failed on the state House floor.
The bill would have altered the existing Public Employees Retirement System healthcare plan to provide additional benefits. The measure would have increased the lifetime cap on infertility coverage to 50-thousand dollars. Opponents say the bill would have driven up premiums.
And finally a proposed bill would change the minimum age for visiting breweries and brew pubs.
A state Senate bill would allow those under 21 to enter a brewer's taproom with a parent or guardian before 10 p.m. Minors would have to sit at least three feet away from the bar counter. Some brewers say the rule would make their establishments more family friendly.
