Fri, Apr 28th, 2023 - 8:21am
March 29, 2023 - 7:46am | By Kyle Cornell
(Bismarck, ND) -- The gluten of bills circulating in Bismarck as the legislative session continues is beginning to lessen.
The North Dakota House rejected its remaining bills seeking to strengthen private property rights connected with carbon dioxide pipelines.
Several bills failed Tuesday that relate to eminent domain in connection with the Summit Carbon Solutions proposed CO2 pipeline. One bill covered issues such as requiring survey crews to get written consent from landowners or a court order before entering their property. Another bill would have initiated an interim legislative study of "fair and just compensation in all eminent domain proceedings."
The pipeline would cross two-thousand miles through Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, and North Dakota.
Meanwhile, North Dakota Senators are rejecting the chance to bring a school lunch bill back to the floor.
Senators chose to not bring the bill back to the floor for another vote. The bill would have set aside six million dollars for lunches for low-income families. The money would have paid for free meals for kids below 200-percent of the federal poverty level.
The state senate also rejected a bill that would have penalized people for falsely accusing someone of sexual harassment.
The bill would have charged anyone over 18 who lies about sexual harassment or discrimination under Title Nine with a Class A misdemeanor. The bill failed on an eight to 39 vote.
A pair of bills are however moving forward during the session.
One of those from the state House is focused on the instruction of "specific concepts" at institutions of higher learning in the state.
The House passed the bill that would prohibit the teaching of concepts asserting that the United States is inherently racist or sexist. Other prohibited concepts would be teaching that all Americans aren't created equal and endowed with inalienable rights, and that meritocracies are oppressive by nature. The bill would also bar schools from discriminating or initiating disciplinary action against students or faculty for refusing to endorse those concepts.
The State Senate in the meantime is moving forward with a bill that would allow students to enroll in a virtual classroom.
The bill would allow parents to open enroll kids in the Center for Distance Education in Fargo. School districts where the students live would pay the fees for them to attend virtual classes. The home district wouldn't be allowed to deny open enrollment for students approved for the virtual program. The bill narrowly passed.
