Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The 66th Legislative Session is moving forward with a few tweaks that have made the first few days interesting. We gaveled in for our first day's roll call on Jan. 3 at noon to hear the Governor's State of the State Address. Prior to that, in the morning, we gathered in the House to hear the State of the Tribes Address and the State of the Judiciary Address. Neither of those were heard last session but have been returned to the protocol and process that is important to hear how both of those entities have issues coming into the session.
The tweak that happened is that on the Friday and following Monday, we did not gavel in. That results in both of those days not counting toward our 80-day session. But committee hearings were still held so bills were heard. This schedule allows both chambers to have bills ready to vote on when we do have our afternoon sessions. While this is a little confusing, we have passed those days and are now on a regular legislative schedule: Committee work in the morning, Legislative sessions at 1 p.m. and more committee work in the afternoon.
Some big-ticket items that will be hitting the media in the coming weeks are the Measure 1 Ethics language which will have to have a bill presented to work out the provisions in the measure. SB 2149 is that bill in the Senate. There is also a bill in the House addressing the measure. A special committee will be appointed in the Senate and House to address this measure. It is not known how complex the work on this will be but having a separate committee will allow for additional time to get the implementation needed during the timelines in the measure.
Another contentious bill is SCR 4001, introduced by the majority party to amend the state constitution to make it more difficult for the public to amend our state constitution by ballot measure. This resolution says that if a constitutional change is approved by a vote of the people, it would have to be approved in each of the next two legislative sessions by the a vote of both chambers. I attended a portion of that hearing this week. I am hearing there are already some amendments being considered by the sponsors of that resolution. There was a lot of opposition to this measure. The committee did not act on this resolution yet.
Our caucus will be submitting bills addressing the use of the Legacy Fund interest as well as a proposal to invest some of the principal of the fund in North Dakota projects. Those funds are currently funding infrastructure projects in other state, so we can return some of those investments and our communities can benefit from those dollars. We have also submitted several bills addressing concerns about behavioral health, education funding, and other health care needs.
Most of the bills in the Senate that have passed have been housekeeping bills. More in depth bills will be coming forward as we move along in the coming weeks.
The House deadline for introduction of bills is Jan. 14. The Senate deadline is Jan. 21. So, all of us are busy keeping those deadlines in mind.
I have had a couple of opportunities to present to groups that are associated with the legislature. I have also visited with several groups identifying important issues before the legislature.
As we move through this session, remember that you can always get in touch with me to discuss any bill or issue you have. I value your input and look forward to visiting with you. You can reach me at [email protected] or by calling (701) 302-0355.