BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - In the waning weeks of the North Dakota Legislature, conference committees will be hard at work reconciling differing versions of bills endorsed in both chambers.
The bulk of the Legislature’s time will be taken up over the next few weeks by such meetings. Once agreements are made, the legislation goes back to the full Senate and House for approval.
Legislators hope to finish the session within about three weeks. Budget bills are the big unfinished work.
BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET
Legislators are feeling the stress of deadline to finish their work, which includes adopting a balanced budget for the next two-year budget cycle. The most recent budget estimates are that revenues in the next two-year cycle will fall nearly $672 million short of the proposed $4.3 billion spending plan for the general fund, which is financed mostly by taxes on sales, income and energy.
Senate and House appropriation leaders are scrambling but say they are confident money can be found and/or moved around from various reserve funds to make for the deficit.
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PACKING HEAT
Gov. Doug Burgum last week signed a bill that will allow most adults to carry a concealed firearm without a permit, the first in a package of gun measures that may hit his desk this session.
Burgum, an avid hunter, is likely to sign another bill approved by both chambers that would allow him or any other state employee to store a firearm in public-provided housing, so long as they have permission.
One bill pushed by gun-rights advocates this session that could get shot down is a proposal to allow carrying a concealed firearm in schools, if education officials allow it. The bill is aimed at rural schools without a school resource officer, since it takes law enforcement a while to respond to an emergency situation.
The House approved the bill but it still awaits action by the Senate.
Similar legislation has failed in the two prior sessions.
Some education groups have told lawmakers that schools would be open to potential lawsuits and higher insurance costs if the bill becomes law.
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LITTER LAW-ENFORCEMENT
People who litter along a highway will face stiffer fines beginning Aug. 1 under a bill approved by lawmakers and signed by the governor. It raises the littering fine from $100 to $500 for anyone who tosses trash along any publicly maintained road. It includes cigarette butts.
Although the legislation appears to be a crackdown on litterbugs, it likely won’t have much of an impact.
The measure’s own fiscal note, which calculates the legislation’s impact, predicts only $2,000 in fines over the next two years, or just four tickets to litterbugs.
State troopers say litter enforcement is tough because most people have the sense not to toss anything in view of a squad car.
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LEGISLATIVE ACTION
North Dakota’s Legislature opened the session in January with more than 800 bills. As of Friday, Burgum had signed 172 of them into law.
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