Legislative Update – Week 4

Week 4

On Monday and Tuesday in Finance and Tax we discussed bills related to income tax reduction. Many of them would provide corporate income tax breaks and/or individual income tax breaks in a variety of ways. We have also heard quite a few bills regarding tax breaks in myriad other ways, including a sales tax equity bill that would kick more sales tax revenue back to the political subdivision that generated the sales tax for the state. That bill does not change the state aid distribution formula, but creates instead a “bucket” that would be distributed based on a revenue generating formula. This would bring more money back to local governments to allow them to invest in infrastructure, property tax reduction, or other investments. We are currently working on amendments for this bill.

Week 4 also saw the Finance and Tax Committee examining a bill that would give tax credits to individuals with children in childcare, as well as childcare providers and businesses that have a partnership with, or open, a childcare facility. Those testifying in support of the bill were from a broad coalition ranging from Child Care Awareness to the Greater North Dakota Chamber to Economic Development of North Dakota. Conversely, there was virtually no opposition to the bill, which still received a do-not-pass recommendation along straight party lines in committee and was killed on the floor. I found this result somewhat confounding as the bill’s sponsor was a Republican and it enjoyed bipartisan support on the House floor. The bill was an innovative idea to address childcare issues in North Dakota, but we are not giving up the fight that easily. We will continue exploring options to address the crisis that is childcare shortage.

I testified on my bill that would add GPS tracking devices and other electronic devices to the stalking stature. One in four victims of stalking has an electronic device used by their stalker to track them, and one in 13 victims are stalked by a GPS device according to the U.S. Department of Justice. My bill is a proactive piece of legislation that would help law enforcement and prosecutors crack down on stalkers. The hearing went well with thoughtful questions from the committee regarding the issues. Technology in stalking is an issue that needs to be addressed, perhaps not all at once, but this bill is a step in the right direction.

The Human Trafficking bills were all heard in Senate Judiciary. I have cosponsored many of the pieces of legislation that would compact this action in North Dakota, one of the bills would provide for a one million dollar appropriation to help victims of human trafficking get the services they need that will lead to recovery. The hearings went well and the legislature is considering up to 11 bills regarding the human trafficking issues in North Dakota.
The week ended with a long day in the Agriculture Committee on Friday. We heard a very important discussion, with passionate testimony on both sides, about raising the beef check off from $1 per cattle to $2 per cattle that would go to the Beef Commission. The bill, in its current form, offers an “opt-out” option for ranchers, although many ranchers believe that it should be an “opt-in” option instead.

On another note, Raja spent the week with me. We enjoyed several walks to the Capitol as the weather was completely fantastic!

Thank you for reading, and please contact me at any time with any concerns, questions, or input.

National Conference of State Legislators

At the beginning of the year, my mother gave me a journal to write down my experiences and travels. It begin when I went to the white house and has since taken on a life of its own. However, it does take time away from sharing on my blog and telling the “life of a legislator” as it is. In August, I had two eye opening learning experiences that have helped my insight as a citizen legislator, and for both experiences I am grateful.

The first was a trip to Minneapolis for a conference. It was put on by the National Conference of State Legislators. There are a few different organizations that provide information to legislators, for example, if I wanted to know what type of law exists in a certain state about a certain topic I could email these various organizations and they serve as a reference. The other is Council of State Governments and they put on the BILLD program that I attended in Madison, Wisconsin last summer. Both are great.

The trip started with an ag tour, which started early Monday morning. We ate breakfast on a pig farm, drifted down the Mississippi on a barge, and then headed to Second Harvest, a food pantry that delivers food to many communities in Minnesota. The tour lasted the entire day and proved to be educational and offered insight on practices to eliminate hunger that could be implemented right here in North Dakota.

 

The rest of the days were filled with many individual sessions regarding different policies. I went to a large variety of interests, not only for me, but concerns or ideas I have heard from constituents and citizens. The taxes task force was of interest to me, as I serve on Finance and Tax in the session, also, to hear how other states tax different entities. Senator Dwight Cook has been on the NCSL Tax Task Force for years and he and John Walsted, who has worked in legislative council on tax for decades, took me with to the meeting.

A particular highlight of the week was sitting front and center when Senator Amy Klobuchar and Cindy McCain spoke at a general session regarding the devastating issue of human trafficking. Senator Klobuchar mentioned the “North Dakota oil fields” and her work with Senator Heitkamp numerous times. While I believe that this issue has been going on in North Dakota for years, so the industry is most definitely not to blame, it certainly has enhanced since the boom. I hope we as a legislative body can do more to provide help for the victims and stop the pimps and their customers.

A great aspect of the workshops was the fact that NCSL would put people with opposing views on an issue to discuss and listen to both sides of the topic, which is incredibly beneficial to someone who is attending to learn. They do not provide political affiliation of any side. Two incredibly hot topics that I attended were regarding the state’s role in retirement security and online gambling. An attendee definitely had a great amount of information to gather about both sides, and it really put into perspective each issue. I appreciated all the work the conference planners put into that aspect of the discussions.

I also had an opportunity to take in a session regarding social media. I learned a few tips and tricks and hope to implement them in the next session. Stay tuned.

 

The best part was the people. Familiar faces and new friends. It was exciting to visit with people about their ideas, experiences, and thoughts on the possibilities for the future.

This is my friend Senator Howard from Nebraska. She is a young women in office, is new in her public service role and deeply passionate about her work. She has a serious boyfriend, so an unmarried young woman serving in office. Sound familiar? She’s what I would call one of my soul sisters. We are going though many of the same experience, just with different people, and we can relate so well. We met at BILLD last year and hit it off right away. I was beyond excited to see her again.

Anyone familiar with North Dakota politics knows this woman, Dianne Mondry, she worked for Earl Pomeroy for years and her and I became great friends during his 2010 campaign. I don’t think I’ve seen her for many years. We sat together during the general sessions and attended a workshop on medicaid for persons with disabilities. Loved catching up with her!

I left the city completely exhausted yet excitedly refreshed on the new perspective and new tools and network that I have to reach out to while working on the important issues regarding North Dakota. Let’s get to work!