The state House of Representatives held a second floor session today at 5:00pm, which is a bit unusual. Typically we don’t see multiple daily floor sessions until the crunch times before crossover (when the House and Senate exchange their passed bills) and sine die which ends the overall legislative session. The former is still weeks away,…
House Reconsiders, Passes Legislation Repealing Blue Laws
Yesterday the state House of Representatives defeated HB1163 on a 44-50 vote after a lengthy debate with a lot of religious justifications for keeping some businesses closed Sunday mornings. Today state Rep. Keith Kempenich, who was a “no” vote yesterday, moved to reconsider the bill. The vote on his motion passed 54-48, and this time…
Video: ND House Shoots Down Bill Ending Blue Laws in “Tent Revival” Floor Debate
“We’re having a damn tent revival,” one legislative observer told me of the debate today over HB1163. “Anybody who watched can safely skip church on Sunday.” At issue was North Dakota’s so-called “blue laws,” or the prohibition on Sunday morning openings. Currently stores can’t open before noon on Sundays. This legislation would have repealed that…
Video: Lawmakers Vent Frustrations With DOT During Rumble Strips Debate
Taken at face value HB1284 seems like a pretty simple piece of policy. All it does is require that the rumble strips on our state highways be placed at 20 foot intervals. Typically those strips, which are along the fog lines of most highways in the state and along the center lines on undivided highways,…