Weekly Legislative Update #10
We want to provide you with our most recent update on what happened at the Capitol this past week, each bill’s current status, and what to expect next week. As mentioned before, if you ever have questions about a particular bill, feel free to email us at mark@ndfamilyalliance.org or call 701-355-6425.
Last Week
As expected, this week was a bit slower than last week, with testimony on 10 bills. However, all these bills were packed into Monday and Tuesday, so that still meant a spike of work for us at the beginning of the week.
It worked out that the main focus of many bills this week was pornography. In particular, we testified on bills and resolutions that would: declare pornography a public health hazard (SCR 4017), ensure that children are not exposed to inappropriate books in public and school libraries (SB 2307), prohibit a commercial entity from publishing material harmful to a minor (HB 1561), and prohibit sexually explicit deepfake videos. (HB 1351).
Other key bills for which we provided testimony included major education funding bills (HB 1540 and SB 2400), a bill for mandatory minimum sentencing for human trafficking offenders (HB 1361), one to provide guidance for OB/GYNs on abortion laws (HB 1511), and SB 2200, which would fund a 988 mental health hotline.
HB 1205, a bill to allow Safe Haven Baby Boxes passed its second chamber and awaits concurrence on final amendments in the House. After that, it will be sent to Governor Armstrong's desk for signature.
Next Week
Next week is looking like a slightly slower version of this week, with a number of bills packed into the first part of the week. Some of these include gender usage in the Century Code (HB 1181), a transgender bathroom bill (HB 1144 ), and the bill to teach students about the Holocaust (HB 1527). In addition to these, our ND “trigger law” which has been in court since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, will be heard in the ND Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 25th at 10 am. You can attend in person at the Capitol on the 1st floor of the Judicial Wing (same level as Memorial Hall) in the Supreme Court chambers, or stream it live at this link. Please pray that the court may side with the thousands of us who want to protect the unborn here in North Dakota!
Current Status
Each bill’s upcoming actions are shown in the following table. NOTE THAT THE STATUS OF EACH BILL CAN CHANGE MULTIPLE TIMES, IN EVEN A SINGLE DAY. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. This will indicate where the bill is at in the process. If you want to testify on a bill or have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org) and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held, the table shows the date, time, and location of the hearing. If you want to testify, you need to write your comments about the bill into a PDF or txt file. This can be a paragraph or longer, but keep to the point. Once that is written, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Hearings”, identify the hearing, and click the link on the right where it says, “Submit Testimony”. Just follow the instructions after that. Note that there will be a deadline to submit testimony for bills, often early in the morning on the hearing day (this will show once you click on the “Submit Testimony” link). If you have questions about any of this, prepare your testimony document and then call us at 701-355-6425 and we can walk you through it.
2.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses.
3.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
Weekly Legislative Update #9
We want to provide you with our most recent update on what happened at the Capitol this past week, each bill’s current status, and what to expect next week. As mentioned before, if you ever have questions about a particular bill, feel free to email us at mark@ndfamilyalliance.org or call 701-355-6425.
Last Week
This week was certainly interesting. We had 14 assorted bills for which we submitted testimony on your behalf (a few more than we initially thought). These included three bills focused on various aspects of human trafficking, such as education (SB 2330), more money for the Human Trafficking Victims Fund (HB 1003), and the permanent establishment of a Human Trafficking Commission (HB 1308). There were a couple of bills dealing with parent-child relationships: children in need of protection (HB 1556), and parents' right to be involved in their child’s education (SB 2244). It’s sad that we even need this latter bill. Some of the rest of this week’s bills included ones such as school district compliance with state laws (SB 2104), students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools (HB 1222), and safe haven boxes for abandoned infants (HB 1205).
Despite these important bills, nearly all the media attention was on one resolution. House Concurrent Resolution (HCR) 3013 would ask SCOTUS to reconsider its ruling in the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision that required all states to grant same-sex marriages. The media was all over this, as you might imagine, given that it was an LGBTQ+ issue. The resolution was passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee with a “No Recommendation” decision and was ultimately defeated in the Senate by a 16-31 vote, which was done as a verification vote. A verification vote is somewhere between a voice vote, which is normally done for a resolution, and a roll call vote where all legislator votes are shown on the tally board. As a verification vote, it was impossible to see how each senator voted. Senator Boschee asked for a roll call vote, but it did not have enough support from other Senators.
HCR 3013 was certainly a contentious topic, although one has to ask why it was so much more contentious than many of the bills (not resolutions) passed last session. This topic truly brought out the worst in people, and it didn’t have to be that way. It was a “die on the hill” issue for many people on both sides, and we get that, but the thousands of emails sent to legislators with obscenities and threats were beyond the pale. It was not democracy in action; it was intimidation. I thought we were better than this, North Dakotans.
Next Week
Next week promises to be a bit slower than this week, but there will still be quite a few bills on which to testify. We will engage on bills related to Education Savings Accounts (HB 1540 and SB 2400), controlling various aspects of pornography (SCR 4017, SB 2307, HB 1351, HB 1561), continuing education instruction on ND abortion laws for OBGYNs (HB 1551), and a few others on a variety of subjects. In all, we plan to testify on ten bills, which are listed in more detail, below.
Current Status
Each bill’s upcoming actions are shown in the following table. NOTE THAT THE STATUS OF EACH BILL CAN CHANGE MULTIPLE TIMES, IN EVEN A SINGLE DAY. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. This will indicate where the bill is at in the process. If you want to testify on a bill or have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org) and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held, the table shows the date, time, and location of the hearing. If you want to testify, you need to write your comments about the bill into a PDF or txt file. This can be a paragraph or longer, but keep to the point. Once that is written, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Hearings”, identify the hearing, and click the link on the right where it says, “Submit Testimony”. Just follow the instructions after that. Note that there will be a deadline to submit testimony for bills, often early in the morning on the hearing day (this will show once you click on the “Submit Testimony” link). If you have questions about any of this, prepare your testimony document and then call us at 701-355-6425 and we can walk you through it.
2.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses.
3.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
Weekly Legislative Update #8
We want to provide you with our most recent update on what happened at the Capitol this past week, each bill’s current status, and what to expect next week. As mentioned before, if you ever have questions about a particular bill, feel free to email us at mark@ndfamilyalliance.org or call 701-355-6425.
Last Week
Monday and Tuesday of last week were the last two days of crossover recess; things once again went into full swing on Wednesday. The second part of the session is generally the same structure as the first, so similar to early January, committee hearings take the largest share of time for legislators. This means that we will have disproportionately more testifying to do in the next few weeks than later, such as in April. The flip side is that there were fewer planned floor sessions this week, which means that the two chambers did not have to “gavel in” until Friday and were able to save some of their 80 allotted legislative days.
This week we testified on four bills which all received a unanimous passing vote in their initial chamber, so all stand a high likelihood of making it into law. The first was a bill to ensure that teaching licenses are denied/revoked for teachers found guilty of sexual crimes (SB 2043). Another bill that stands a good chance of making it to Gov. Armstrong’s desk is HB 1247, which would protect student victims of sexual assault. The third bill was designed to increase funding for gambling disorder prevention and treatment (SB 2205), and the final bill (SB 2242) called for a legislative management study of ND higher education institutions, focusing on a variety of measures such as cost, quality of education, transfer credits, and more. While all these bills stand a good likelihood of making it into law, we prefer to not take chances. Therefore, we testified in support of all four on your behalf, to help ensure they make it into law.
Next Week
Next week will be much like this week, but more intensive, with testimony on 10 bills. Some noteworthy bills being heard will include potential legislation on human trafficking prevention and awareness education for students (SB 2330), school district compliance with state laws (SB 2104), and students reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in schools (HB 1222). See the table below for more information on hearings for these bills and many others.
Current Status
Each bill’s upcoming actions are shown in the following table. NOTE THAT THE STATUS OF EACH BILL CAN CHANGE MULTIPLE TIMES, IN EVEN A SINGLE DAY. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. This will indicate where the bill is in the process. If you want to testify on a bill or have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org) and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held, the table shows the date, time, and location of the hearing. If you want to testify, you need to write your comments about the bill into a PDF or txt file. This can be a paragraph or longer, but keep to the point. Once that is written, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Hearings”, identify the hearing, and click the link on the right where it says, “Submit Testimony”. Just follow the instructions after that. Note that there will be a deadline to submit testimony for bills, often early in the morning on the hearing day (this will show once you click on the “Submit Testimony” link). If you have questions about any of this, prepare your testimony document and then call us at 701-355-6425 and we can walk you through it.
2.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses.
3.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
Weekly Legislative Update #7
We want to provide you with our most recent update on what happened at the Capitol this past week, each bill’s current status, and what to expect next week. As mentioned before, if you ever have questions about a particular bill, feel free to email us at mark@ndfamilyalliance.org or call 701-355-6425.
Last Week
This week was all about the race to the finish. Well, race to the finish of the first two months and crossover. Both chambers needed to hold a floor vote on every bill that originated in their chamber (i.e., bill numbers beginning with a 1 in the House and beginning with a 2 in the Senate), and any resolutions also brought forth in their chamber. Altogether, that amounted to a total of 1,083 bills and resolutions. The due date for all this was Tuesday, and amazingly, both the Senate and House managed to vote on every one of them by Tuesday evening!
While there were a lot of bills voted on Monday and Tuesday, a few stood out. HB 1540, which would create an education savings account program for students, passed by a 51-39 margin. House Concurrent Resolution 3013 was another piece of legislation of high interest to many. It urged SCOTUS to restore the definition of marriage to a union between one man and one woman, as opposed to their 2015 ruling in the Obergefell v. Hodges case. The resolution passed with a 52-40 vote in the House. Other bills that passed this week included one requiring education about the Holocaust, requiring the Secretary of State to clarify ballot issues, and a resolution recognizing pornography as a public health hazard. Unfortunately, an important bill on teaching intelligent design came up just short with a 22-25 vote in the Senate.
Next Week
The legislature is now in recess and all bills are switching chambers for the second half of the session. Our organization will once again be testifying and working on these bills in the second chambers just as diligently as before, making sure your deeply held values are protected! Hearings will start next Wednesday, March 5, so your prayers and support are greatly appreciated.
As we’ve stated before, there are sometimes just a few hours between when we find out about a committee or floor vote and when it actually happens, so please respond to our Call-to-Action emails as soon as you can. Many of you are doing just that and we thank you for it, so hang in there for another few weeks, and let’s see them through to completion.
Current Status
Each bill’s most recent status and future actions are shown in the following table. NOTE THAT THE STATUS OF EACH BILL CAN CHANGE MULTIPLE TIMES, IN EVEN A SINGLE DAY. To double-check the most current status of any bill, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Actions”. This will indicate where the bill is in the process. If you want to testify on a bill or have a question, you are always welcome to reach out to us (mark@ndfamilyalliance.org) and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
How to Take Action
1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held, the table shows the date, time, and location of the hearing. If you want to testify, you need to write your comments about the bill into a PDF or txt file. This can be a paragraph or longer, but keep to the point. Once that is written, you can go to this page, type the bill number into the upper right box (just need the number, not the HB or SB), and click the search button. Once you are on the bill’s page, click on the tab entitled “Hearings”, identify the hearing, and click the link on the right where it says, “Submit Testimony”. Just follow the instructions after that. Note that there will be a deadline to submit testimony for bills, often early in the morning on the hearing day (this will show once you click on the “Submit Testimony” link). If you have questions about any of this, prepare your testimony document and then call us at 701-355-6425 and we can walk you through it.
2.) If the bill hearing is over, but it still needs to be voted on in a chamber, you can contact your appropriate legislator(s) and give them feedback. If you do not know who your legislators are or how to contact them, click here and then go to the top right corner and click on “Find my legislator.” Type your house number and zip code into the boxes and click the search button. From there, you should be able to find your Senator and Representatives and all their contact information such as phone numbers and email addresses.
3.) If the bill has passed both chambers and has been sent to Gov. Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. Contact Governor Armstrong
Please remember to be respectful in all communications to our legislators and the Governor, and feel free to contact us with any legislative questions.
Human Trafficking in North Dakota
Today we have a guest contributor, Mr. Lowell Hochhalter, Co-Founder/CEO of The LifeGuard Group, an anti-trafficking organization. He has worked first-hand with victims of human trafficking for years, so I asked him to provide some thoughts about human trafficking in our region. NOTE THAT SOME OF THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL MAY NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN.
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Let me introduce you to human trafficking. Not what you may have seen on TV or read in an article, but from our first-hand experience with the issue. More specifically, our first-hand experience in North Dakota.
One of the first comments we hear is, “Why don’t the trafficked victims just leave?” There are several reasons why victims do not “self-identify,” or report their exploitation. Roughly 85% of victims want to leave their present life but do not feel like there is any other option for them. Quite often reporting their human trafficking experience can be complicated and the judicial process can be lengthy and oftentimes retraumatizing. Traffickers threaten physical harm and abuse to families and loved ones if the victims report their exploitation.
The majority of victims report being in an intimate relationship with their exploiter, or the trafficker is a guardian or relative, which can evoke confusing emotions of loyalty and a perverted sense of love and belonging. The bond between the trafficker and their victim makes it very difficult to press charges even after they have left the exploitative relationship.
Victims and survivors of trafficking often experience stigma and shame as a result of their experiences. Additionally, in some cultures, gender roles and stigma can add pressure, and reporting trafficking may carry a significantly higher personal risk when compared to trying to bury that experience and trauma. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average age of an individual recruited into sex trafficking is between 12 and 14 years old. In the United States, 45% of victims are trafficked by a family member, while 40% are trafficked by someone with whom the victim has a close relationship.
Victims are taught by their traffickers to distrust outsiders, especially law enforcement. They have a sense of fear and/or distrust toward the government and police because they are afraid they will be deported/or punished themselves. Traffickers prey on the most vulnerable, such as:
Runaway and homeless youth
56 percent of prostituted women were initially runaway youth
Within the first 48 hours, 75% of runaways or homeless youth will be approached by a pimp and/or trafficker.
Victims of prior abuse or domestic violence
Oppressed or marginalized groups
Foreign nationals lacking documentation
Impoverished or indebted
Displaced people (e.g., civil unrest, natural disasters, political instability)
Disrupted family situation
Tumultuous social situation
Mental illness (Depression, Suicidal)
Children in Foster Care
History of abuse, neglect, and trauma
Low self-esteem and minimal social support
Kids are vulnerable simply because they are kids
During their time of exploitation, victims have stated;
95% interacted with Law Enforcement
70% used the hospitality industry
88% sought healthcare
70% came in contact with an educator
Out of these listed industries, only ONE gives direct access to potential victims in a preventative manner: education.
The Bakken Tour: In 2013, 2014, and again in 2015, our team visited schools across North Dakota. In April 2014, we embarked on what we called "The Bakken Tour." Thomasine Heitkamp, Professor at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks did a study to determine the impact of the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota and Montana. The findings described the oil patch as a “fertile ground” for sex trafficking women. Our organization was made aware of situations where pimps/sex traffickers actually moved up to the Bakken from Las Vegas because they could make more money up north.
We started our tour in the Capital city of Bismarck, at Century High School. We spent the next week traveling across the state to Minot, Williston, and Dickinson, finishing in Mandan. We spoke in public and private schools, rural and urban schools. One feature they all had in common was that in each location, at least one child came up to us after our presentation to tell us about a human trafficking experience they or someone they knew had faced.
Williston: Our visit to Williston was particularly impactful. After our school assembly program, we waited, as is our common practice, until every student exited the gymnasium. It was not uncommon for students to come up to our presenters, especially the woman who spoke as a survivor. There was a girl who stood away from everyone else; she looked to be about 11 years old. She didn’t approach us until everyone had left. She said, “Thank you for being here today, it means a lot.” We invited her to come back to the evening community rally, but she said she would not be able to. We urged her to really try and come. Her head dropped and her voice broke as she told us that her dad demanded that she get home right after school.
Here’s why. For the majority of the time, this little girl lived in their trailer house all alone. Meanwhile, her father who lived in one of the man camps would schedule times for his “co-workers” to visit his daughter so that they could have sex with her. Let that sink in.
Thankfully she was at the presentation that day, came up to us, and the door of opportunity was opened to identify what was happening to her and to ask for help. But there are many others who have not had this opportunity or have been too afraid to take those critical steps to the front of the auditorium.
This is why we must fight the battle against human trafficking in North Dakota. This is why human trafficking education can and should be presented in an informative and age-appropriate manner.
North Dakota is at a critical crossroads in their fight against human trafficking. Expanded energy policies are being proposed by the new federal administration, which will greatly help North Dakota. We applaud this. However, at the same time, we are very afraid that we will experience BAKKEN 2.0, and possibly an even much greater incidence of human trafficking than before.
It is imperative to take an aggressive mindset of prevention and education. It is not enough to simply be aware of human trafficking, we must educate our most vulnerable, our children, on how to protect themselves with the tools to recognize and respond and to create a web of protection around them.
Imagine if that frightened young girl came up and told you her story. How important would it be to you that no daughter would ever have to repeat a similar story?
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During this current legislative session, there are a number of anti-trafficking bills still alive, some dealing specifically with educating students about trafficking. The key bills are listed below.
HB 1569 – Sex trafficking awareness and prevention curriculum for students.
HB 1361 – Mandatory minimum sentences for human trafficking offenders.
HB 1308 – Established a human trafficking commission which will collect and evaluate state. data and promote awareness training.
SB 2330 – Human trafficking awareness and exploitation prevention education for students.
HCR 3028- Study our existing human trafficking victim reentry services.
We will keep you updated in our weekly summary emails about what is happening with each bill and also issue Call-to-Action alerts when these bills come up for critical votes. Stay tuned and thank you for your commitment to protecting victims of human trafficking in North Dakota!