BOOK LOVERS' SALE -- The Fargo-Moorhead Catholic Home Educators group invites you to its annual used book sale on Saturday, March 24, from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church at 601 15th Avenue North Moorhead.  Hundreds of items for sale:  Educational materials - books - games - DVDs and videos - educational toys - free refreshments and more! For more information please contact Mary Norberg at (218) 287-2484.  Donations of all kinds of used books accepted as well. Call us for free local pick-up!

Legislative Watch Issue # 9 March 19, 2007

presented by the North Dakota Home School Association to home educating families for educational and instructional purposes. Nothing contained herein is to be construed as partisan in nature. Given accurate information recipients can make up their own minds about steps they can take to affect legislation in North Dakota in a respectful manner which promotes personal liberty, responsibility and freedom.  All comment is the opinion of Gail Biby unless otherwise noted.  Nothing contained herein is to be construed as legal advice and is included for educational purposes only. 

Arranged in numerical order with House bills listed first. It is our goal to send the Legislative Watch every Friday during the Session. If you have input on any of these, or others of interest, please contact me at: billbiby@msn.com  Some of the following are included for your information, some for action, and some for the sheer joy of it.

 Quick links added to NDHSA website. Go to www.ndhsa.org and click on any of the quick links to read the bills, find out when they will be heard in committee, to contact your legislator and much more.  WATCH those in red! 

To listen to audio or watch video of live floor proceedings, click on this  website address and take your choice:  www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/dailysess/

HOUSE BILLS 2007 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

HB 1136 - Will increase the number of immunizations required for entrance into public, private, parochial or home school, day care centers, child care facilities, head start programs and nursery schools. Added to the already  lengthy list of mandated immunizations are: pneumococcal disease, meningococcal disease, rotavirus, hepatitis A.

·          Passed Senate, Y 43, N1 3/15.

Health care decisions ought to be left to parents and their physicians.  North Dakotans still have the right to opt out of any or all mandated immunizations based on philosophical, religious or moral beliefs.

HB 1158 - Allows a child to take his driver’s test with someone else’s car.

·          Senate, passed, Y 44, N 0

Passed both houses...yeeee haw!

HB 1169 - Allows the Supt. of Public Instruction to be elected without a current ND professional teaching license.

·          Senate, passed, Y 24, N 20.

I think this is a good thing because the most important aspect of this position is likely to be management skills and administrative finesse. Therefore, how can a ND state teaching certificate promise that?  Can’t. Won’t. Doesn’t. 

HB 1319 - Provides for sensible laws regarding the use of deadly force.

·          Heard in Senate Natural Resources Committee 3/16.

Sneeringly called by some in the media the “Shoot the Burglar Bill” Allows an individual threatened by a ne’er-do-well to use force to protect his home and family without having to think of every possible alternative. Amendments have been added to pacify law enforcement officials.

HB 1357 - Prohibits the possession of child pornography.

·           Passed House, Y 90, N 1, 2/14. Passed Senate, Y 44, N 0, 3/14.

Changes the penalty for possessing child porn from a misdemeanor to a class C felony period!

HB 1434 - Related to the viral hepatitis education and vaccination program.

·          Heard in Senate Human Services Committee 3/13. Heard in Senate Appropriations Committee 3/19

This appears to be geared toward high risk groups and mandates that the Department of Health conduct a surveillance  regarding the impact of Hepatitis C.

HB 1435 - Relates to childhood immunizations.

·          Scheduled for Senate Human Services Committee hearing 11:00 a.m. 3/12.

The Second Engrossment with Senate amendments deals only with appropriations and the meningococcal vaccine mandate has been removed (HB 1136). Appropriates $2.5 million to provide the program to public health units.

HB 1466 - Relates to the prohibition of the performance of abortions, except to save the life of the mother.

·          Heard in Senate Judiciary Committee 3/13.

Considered a ‘trigger bill’ and would outlaw abortion if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns Roe vs. Wade. Pray for this!

HB 1471 - Relates to the human papilloma virus.

·          Heard in  Senate Appropriations Committee 3/15. Reported out of committee with a ‘do pass’, Y 12, N 0.

Mandates a public education program on the availability of an HPV vaccine. According to a recent article in the Fargo Forum (2/21/07) Merck & Co. is suspending its lobbying campaign aimed at persuading state legislatures (via Women in Government) to require this additional vaccine for young girls. Apparently the outrage across the country at this attempt by a manufacturer of the product to coerce the mandate has had some effect on Merck. Since the vaccine has only been tested on about 1200 children the long term affects are clearly not known and there are apparently some rather nasty side effects.

To find House members go to:

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/house/members/

To find out who sits on what committee in the House go to:

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/house/standing-comm/

SENATE BILLS 2007 LEGISLATIVE SESSION

SB 2181 - Related to consent for certain health care services provided to minors.

·           Heard in House Human Services Committee 3/13.

Allows a minor to obtain prenatal care, medical, mental or other health care services without parental consent (not an abortion). Apparently parents will be billed for the services but will not be privy to the services rendered under HIPPA. MOST parents have the best interests of their children in mind and this shows disrespect for parental rights.

SB 2248 - Deals with computer luring of minors.

·          Passed Senate, Y 45, N 0, 1/31. Passed House as amended, Y 92, N 0, 3/14. Returned to Senate 3/15.

I can’t see how anyone could oppose this bill on any grounds.

SB 2309 - Dealt with high school graduation requirements increasing them to 24 by school year 2011-2012. Also would have changed the specific credit requirements.

·          Heard in House Education Committee 3/12. Reported back amended, do pass, Y 7, N 5. Amendment adopted and placed on calendar.

Even some proponents of this legislation believed it was too pie-in-the-sky. Amendments added in House Education Committee which removed all course work requirements. The bill has basically been stripped of its original mandates and now simply increases graduation credits.

SB 2312 - An abortion bill which requires the Dept. of Human Services to disburse funds from Title IVA (Fed. Program) to non-governmental alternatives-to-abortion programs and mandates the DoHS spend funds to inform the public that this program exists.

·          Passed both houses. Awaiting Governor’s signature.

Would there be government strings attached to monies given to private groups? 

SB 2347 - Relates to the creation of the North Dakota promise grant program for students enrolled in institutions of higher education in North Dakota.

·          Heard in House Education Committee 3/12. Amendment adopted, placed on calendar 3/16.

Amended to include home education graduates. Grants would be given to students based on residency, high school curriculum (strong emphasis on higher math) and ACT scores. They must also be full-time students in an associate or baccalaureate program and maintain a 3.0 GPA. Program would begin with the 2012-2013 school year.  Proponents believe it is only fair if public and non-public school students are entitled to consideration then home schooled students ought to be also. Some opponents may have philosophical beliefs that preclude them from supporting taxpayer funded ‘gifts’ to fund education in any form. Some believe that subsidies/grants/welfare still consists of the taking from one and the giving to another without consent of the ‘donor’. (Any editorializing is the product of the author of the LW and  does not necessarily reflect the beliefs of the Legislative Watch Team, the Executive Director of the NDHSA or the NDHSA Board of Directors.)

SB 2371 - Would have allowed grandparents to home school; amended to include drastic changes to current testing requirements and other mandates.

·          Reported back amended, do not pass, placed on calendar, Y 7, N 6. Second reading, failed to pass, Y 2, N 86.

The hog-housed bill was soundly defeated. Though there was talk of attempting to get the passage of the grandparent section, that too failed. Biby comment: It is a sad state of affairs when a perfectly good and simple bill can be rewritten, removing the original intent, without input from the affected parties, and end up actually harming the citizens who initiated it. Makes one leery of future legislative attempts. Rep. Koppelman, Rep. Karls and Rep. Grande deserve our thanks for making honorable efforts to salvage this bill. Let them know of your gratitude.

SB 2377 - Provides for a legislative council study of midwifery.

·           Heard in House Human Services Committee 3/12.

The original was gutted and turned into a mandate to the Legislative Council to study the subject during the 2007-08 interim. Study bills are usually precursors to legislation so look for more on this in the 2009 session.

SB 2415 - Prohibits implanting microchips and provides a penalty.

·        Second reading, passed, Y 72, N 17 3/16.

Prevents anyone from implanting a microchip containing a radio frequency identification device into anyone.

To find the Senate members go to:

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/senate/members/

To find out who sits on what committee in the Senate go to:

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/senate/standing-comm/

To read any bills currently in the hopper go to:

http://www.legis.nd.gov/assembly/60-2007/leginfo/index.html

To find your Legislative District and members go to:

http://web.apps.state.nd.us/hubexplorer/legislativedist/viewer.html

During a legislative session, a legislator can be reached at the State Capitol through e-mail or by leaving a message with the legislative telephone message center at 1-888-NDLEGIS (635-3447) or 701-328-3373 (local). Otherwise, a legislator can be reached by mail, telephone, or e-mail at the address listed in the legislator's bio under Legislative Assembly.