The Legislative Sprint is ON!

As the legislative session races toward its critical “crossover” deadline later this month, lawmakers are working at breakneck speed. This is the time when committee hearings, amendments, and debates are packed into every available moment to ensure bills have a chance to move from one chamber to the other before time runs out.  You may have noticed how many proposed bills have already passed in either the House or Senate and realized that some of these issues hit close to home. If you’ve got strong opinions, here’s the good news:There’s still time to act!  Stay informed, reach out to your representatives, and make your voice heard before these decisions are finalized. The clock is ticking, but your input can still make a difference!

How to Take Action:                                                                             

1.) If a bill hearing has been scheduled, but not yet held:  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 www.legis.nd.gov, 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 the night before or 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 701-581-6630 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, go to www.legis.nd.gov 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 Governor Armstrong, you can contact the Governor via this link and provide input on the bill. https://www.governor.nd.gov/contact.

We hope you find this helpful. Remember, kindness and respect go a long way. Even if you’re passionate about an issue, approaching conversations with civility and thoughtfulness will always be more effective.

Jan Wangler, Executive Director