North Dakota’s legislature meets once every two years, and our state Constitution requires they complete their business in 80 days or less. It means when they’re in session, they’re working and making news. Here’s a round-up of the latest from the legislature. But before we get to the news, we’ve built a new tool that
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In Montana, affordable housing is a growing problem. The influx of people is putting pressure on prices, and the legislature is looking at some less-common ways to help keep them in check. One idea under consideration — making small lots for developers and home builders more readily available. They’d can do that with a law
Read & Share sourced from: Montana Free Press
By a vote of 41-4, the ND Senate advanced Senate Bill 2150. The bill cleans up language from a previous bill that is currently being challenged in court, and restricts abortions in North Dakota as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detected except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance. Get the full story
Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck TribuneWASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND), member of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and Chris Coons (D-DE), member of the Appropriations Committee, reintroduced their Choice in Affordable Housing Act. The bipartisan, bicameral bill would improve the federal government’s largest rental assistance program and create the Herschel Lashkowitz Housing Partnership Fund, named after
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Should city zoning laws control where the sale of guns is appropriate they same way they do for every other property use type? Or should the legislature overrule those zoning provisions for the purposes of further protecting the 2nd amendment? House Bill 1340 is setting up a fight over who has control, the locals or
Read & Share sourced from: InForumIn North Dakota, the legislature has a bill in front of them that would ban libraries from keeping legislatively defined ‘sexually explicit’ books in their collections. In Florida, a law cut from the same cloth — defining what can be kept in school libraries — is further along. It’s passed and it’s being implemented, and school
Read & Share sourced from: News 4 Jacksonville
From gender and LBGTQ+ issues to banning library books, one long-time Wyoming reporter and columnist is wondering why his state legislators insist on importing bad ideas from other places. It’s a question especially relevant as state legislatures around the country seem to be tackling all the same culture issues at the same moment. Read the
Read & Share sourced from: WyoFile
A slate of bills aimed squarely at a single pipeline project through southern North Dakota saw lots of citizen engagement at hearings last week. At question is whether a proposed pipeline developer should have ability to use eminent domain, the authority to take land and easements with compensation, to advance the project. Get the full
Read & Share sourced from: Bismarck Tribune
They would be required to be enclosed on all four sides and have ventilation systems, and if the Senate says yes, a bill allowing cigar lounges will go to Governor Burgum. The house passed the bill by a vote of 59-32 last Wednesday. Representative Dan Ruby of Minot is the sponsor of the bill; he
Read & Share sourced from: Dickinson Press
Here’s the list: House Bill 1483, House Bill 1404, House Bill 1194, House Bill 1341, House Bill 1339, and House Bill 1401. They’re all bills to expand gun rights and where gun owners can legally carry their guns in North Dakota. The bills where in committee hearing last week; the NRA and a others showed
Read & Share sourced from: InForum
North Dakota’s Industrial Commission is made up of Governor Burgum, Ag Commissioner Doug Goehring, and Attorney General Drew Wrigley. They met on Wednesday, and among the items they considered was proposed Minnesota legislation requiring electricity consumed in Minnesota to come from non-carbon bearing production methods. The Industrial Commission acted to draft a letter reminding Minnesota
Read & Share sourced from: InForum
The East Grand Forks City Council has heard a request by a citizen to change its zoning ordinance to allow for backyard hens. The request was made in light of significant increases in the price of store-bought eggs. Meghan Arbegast with the Grand Forks Herald has the full story. And why does it matter in
Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald
It’s always awkward when you’re asked to bring the beer to Thanksgiving dinner, but you forget you can’t buy it on that particular Thursday. Well if you forget this year, you may have the North Dakota Legislature to thank for saving your skin. The house passed a bill making Thanksgiving Day alcohol off-premise sales legal
Read & Share sourced from: The Dakotan
If you go to the grocery store these days, you’ll quickly notice the milk section is a lot bigger than it used to be. But it’s not the cows that made it so. There are whole shelves of new products made from soy, almonds, oats, coconuts, and more. And it invites the question, what is
Read & Share sourced from: Dickinson Press
Tenured University professors have long enjoyed a level of job security far less common in other lines of work. And if House Bill 1446 is approved, it’s a situation that will change. The bill sets forth the terms in which tenured professors can be removed by University Presidents and other delegated administrators. And there’s a
Read & Share sourced from: Grand Forks Herald
A U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services study from 2020 found that insulin prices in the U.S. are as much as 10 times higher than in other developed countries. It’s an issue that’s getting the attention of state legislatures across the country, and the solution that’s increasingly adopted — regardless of which party is
Read & Share sourced from: PEW