Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
The 69th Legislative Assembly in Bismarck is working through hundreds of bills that could have significant impacts on the lives of North Dakotans.
In an effort to keep local residents informed on the goings on in Bismarck, here are a few bills working their way through the legislature right now.
Pipelines, electric lines and eminent domain
There are several bills in the legislature related to carbon capture and eminent domain being considered by the 69th Legislative Assembly.
House Bill 1414, for example, specifies that the state may not use eminent domain – a power the government has to take private property and convert it for public use – for carbon dioxide pipelines and revokes common carrier status for carbon pipelines.
The bill also removes solar, wind and hydrogen energy projects from being able to use eminent domain.
The bill had its first hearing in the House Energy and Natural Resources committee on Thursday, Jan. 30, but legislators won’t ultimately make a decision regarding the bill for some time yet.
Meanwhile, another bill in the legislature could impact local setback laws.
House Bill 1258 would give the state of North Dakota authority over setback rules for electric transmission lines, meaning state laws would override county and township ordinances.
The North Dakota Public Service Commission approves the route permits for both pipelines and power lines, but currently pipeline companies follow state rules on setbacks while electric utilities follow local ordinances.
HB 1258 would change the law so both must follow state law rather than local ordinances, and the bill has already received a “do-pass” recommendation from the House Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
The bill has not yet been voted on by the full House of Representatives, and if it passes it will have to survive another round of committee work followed by a floor vote in the Senate.
Bill proposes to end Daylight Savings Time
Another bill making its way through the legislature is House Bill 1259, which would require the State of North Dakota to observe Central Standard Time year-round.
If approved, North Dakota would be just the third state in the country to not observe Daylight Saving Time – the others being Arizona and Hawaii.
Currently, Daylight Saving Time goes into effect from the second Sunday of March to the first Sunday in November. It’s intended to be an energy-saving measure and to lengthen North Dakota’s summer nights.
However, critics say those benefits are overplayed or nonexistent.
Daylight Saving Time has been around since 1966 when it was instituted nationwide by Congress in 1966. States and territories can choose not to observe the time change, but if so they must remain on standard time throughout the year.
Other than Arizona and Mexico, the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands also don’t observe Daylight Saving Time.
The bill is being considered by the House Transportation Committee, and during a hearing on Thursday, Jan. 23, no one spoke in opposition to the measure.
Legislative session information
There are hundreds of other bills being considered this year, and all of them can be read and tracked via the legislature’s website, legis.nd.gov.
The Transcript will also continue to cover some of the bills most likely to impact residents here in Eddy County throughout the session.
