Last year a group of activists got together and gather signature for petitions to empanel a grand jury charged with investigating bribery allegations against Governor Jack Dalrymple. North Dakota state law allows for petitioners to initiate a grand jury with signatures numbering just 10% of the number of people who voted in the gubernatorial race…
Shameful: ND House Votes Down Local Government Transparency Bill
Rep. Blair Thoreson has been a real champion when it comes to fighting for government transparency here in North Dakota. Back in the 2009 legislative session Rep. Thoreson introduced and got passed a bill creating an online database of all state government spending (you can see it here). Since then Rep. Thoreson has been trying…
ND House Votes Down More Tax Bills
Yesterday the North Dakota House voted down a number of tax bills, most notably one that would have suspended the state income tax for two years, and today another laundry list of tax bills got shot down. Here’s the kill list: HB1396, introduced by Rep. Kim Koppelman, would have required that any property sold in…
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…
ND Legislature Hall Of Shame Week 5: Rep. Kim Koppelman
It was hard to pick this week’s Hall of Shame winner, because I was inclined to award it to every single Republican who voted against HB1437, introduced by Rep. Rick Becker, which would have ended the state’s ban on some business opening Sunday mornings and allowed political subdivisions to set their own policies in that…
Entertainment Industry Gets Social Media Inheritance Bill Amended To Exempt Copyrighted Material
HB1455, introduced by Rep. Ben Hanson, does two things. First, it prevents employers from asking employees for access to their online/social media accounts. As I’ve noted previously, this makes me a little uncomfortable. I don’t like the idea of employers asking for that sort of information, but I really don’t like the government putting the…
NDGOP Disappoints on Sunday Opening
The North Dakota House of Representatives defeated a bill on Wednesday, sponsored by Rep. Rick Becker of Bismarck, that would have empowered local governments to decide if allowing retail businesses to open on Sunday morning was the right thing for their community. The bill was HB 1437, and added the following key language to Century…
Hennen's Notebook: Planned Parenthood, March For Life And Guns In Church
I wonder if Representative Kathy Hawken (RINO – Fargo) remembers what happened to Senator Curtis Olafson? Given her cheer leading this week for the two NDSU professors who were part of dissing legislators by doing an end-around the law on sex-education curriculum in North Dakota, she could face the same fate at election time. She…
Pastor Wants To Let His Parishoners Concealed Carry In Church
When I first wrote about bills before the legislature that would end a state prohibition on concealed carry in churches many objected to the idea of guns in churches. But I think people are a little confused about what the law would do. It wouldn’t mandate that churches allow concealed carry but rather allow churches…