Today the North Dakota Senate passed HB1305 and HB1456, both introduced by Rep. Bette Grande. HB1456, which bans abortions in instances where a heartbeat is detected, passed with no debate on a 26-17 vote. But the real fireworks were on HB1305. Democrats moved to divide the bill into two portions. Division A was the portion…
The Outdoor Heritage Fund Is A Threat To Property Rights
In the first half of the legislative session the North Dakota House passed a bill, HB1278, to create the Outdoor Heritage Fund. The idea came from a ballot measure that was derailed by petition fraud last summer. It would create a panel of special interest groups that would decide how to spend $30 million in…
Republicans Need To Stop Letting Democrats Define Compassion In Dollars
The Fargo Forum had a review of the first half of the legislative session up this weekend, under the ridiculous headline “GOP progress is problem for Dems in North Dakota Legslature [sic]”. Glad to see the Forum casting the first half of the session in terms of what was good and not good for Democrats.…
ND House Votes For Stronger Voter ID Law, Kills Democrat Ethics And Transparency Bills
In less than an hour the North Dakota House voted on ten bills related to voting, campaigns and legislative ethics. I’m glad Republicans voted in tougher voter ID laws, and voted to move up campaign disclosure dates, but I think they may have made a real mistake in not approving at least a couple of…
Video: ND Senate Shoots Down Bill Banning Discrimination Against Homosexuals
In its original form, SB2252 would have added homosexuals to North Dakota’s list of protected classes against whom employers and landlords cannot discriminate. The bill was amended in committee to remove homosexuals from the list of protected classes and state simply that North Dakota doesn’t condone discrimination against homosexuals. The amended version of the bill…
Heidi Heitkamp, John Hoeven Help Pass Unconstitutional Violence Against Women Act
During the North Dakota Senate campaign last year, liberal Democrat Heidi Heitkamp was quick to lambaste her opponent Rick Berg for a “war on women” because House Republicans were resisting the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act. To hear Heitkamp tell it at the time, Berg was all for violence against women, but there…
North Dakota Democrats Object To Amendments Strengthening Voter ID Laws
HB1332, introduced by Rep. Randy Boehning, originally would have changed North Dakota’s voter residency requirement from needing to have lived in the state/district for 30 days before the election to 30 days before absentee ballots are sent out. In committee, Rep. Boehning introduced amendments changing the bill significantly to require a state or tribal-issued ID…
Why Do North Dakota Democrats Hate Hungry Children?
I got this invitation from North Dakota Democrats today inviting me to a chili feed in Bismarck which will feature former gubernatorial candidate Ryan Taylor portraying Will Rogers. Because I’m not very interested in watching a humorless man playact as a humorist I won’t be attending, but I noticed something interesting. Democrats aren’t inviting any…
Republicans Don't Have A Gender Problem, They Have A Race Problem
Mark Perry takes a look at some of the demographic breakdowns from the 2012 presidential election and finds some interesting results. Despite the “war on women” narrative, Romney actually beat Obama among white women by 16 points. The problem is that, overall, Romney lost women by 11 points. The take-away from these numbers is that…
North Dakota Democrats Crying Over Spilled Milk
In what is perhaps the most obnoxious political stunt to date in the current legislative session, North Dakota Democrats pushed a bill (HB1421) to fund a federal program providing milk to school children during snack breaks with a state appropriation. It’s a very small program – just 6,000 kids would have qualified for it –…