“I know we are getting a lot of these – what some folks have referred to as cultural war bills. I don’t regard it as such,” Senate Majority Leader David Hogue said. “I fully support the idea that the Legislature and the people of North Dakota should try to champion values that they want our school children to champion and one way to do that is the Pledge of Allegiance.”

Hogue is a co-sponsor of House Bill 1222, which would require school children to cite the pledge of allegiance at the start of each school day.

“The North Dakota House says it every day before they start their other business. The North Dakota Senate does the same thing. I grew up doing it,” Hogue said.

Current law allows schools to have students recite the pledge but does not mandate it. HB 1222 bill grants exceptions for children whose parents indicate in writing their desires to not have their children recite the pledge.

Jill Schramm/MDN Rep. Jeff Hoverson, right, visits with Ward County Commissioner Jim Rostad, left, following a legislative forum in the State Fair Center Saturday.

Hogue also spoke in support of Senate Bill 2355, which requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to include intelligent design in the state science content standards for elementary through high school students by August 2027.

Asked about the potential for a legal challenge, he noted threats of lawsuits are common with many pieces of legislation but shouldn’t drive how legislators vote.

“We’re always prepared to defend what we do because we know that there are organizations out there that have an agenda that don’t like what we do,” he said. “My message to every legislator is you make the best policy that you think is best for the people of North Dakota.”

Sen. Jose Castaneda, a co-sponsor of the House Bill 1145, related to posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms, described how the legal standard used in determining separation of religious and secular purposes has changed in recent years. The courts now are applying a history and tradition standard rather than the former Lemon test,” he said.

The Supreme Court used the Lemon test, from the 1971 Lemon v. Kurtzman case, for more than 40 years to determine if a law violated the prohibition against the government’s establishment of religion. The court abandoned it in 2022.

Sen. Bob Paulson, a co-sponsor of a bill to place chaplains in K-12 schools, said the bill is not breaking new ground.

“There are other states that have done this already and it is working well. In Texas, what I heard at a conference is that they have had a significant impact on the mental health of the students, including a significant decrease in the suicide issues that they were experiencing,” he said.

House Bill 1456 appropriates $500,000 to the Department of Public

Instruction to fund salaries, training, oversight and governance of school chaplains and to evaluate the efficacy of the program in the 2025-27 biennium.

Rep. Jeff Hoverson, a co-sponsor of House Concurrent Resolution 3020, described the intent of the language, which resolves that “North Dakota acknowledge the Kingship of Jesus Christ over all the world so that this great state may at last receive the great blessings of real liberty, well-ordered discipline, peace and harmony.” The resolution would be forwarded to the governor, U.S. president and members of the state’s congressional delegation.

“I just personally think that over the generations, mine included, we’ve gotten so far away from being willing and able to say that publicly,” said Hoverson, a pastor. “If we are dealing with public things, we can’t say ‘Jesus,’ but that has to be reserved for private areas. That’s what I don’t think is constitutional. So, I think a resolution like this gives people permission to say it’s OK to talk about your faith in public.”

The Legislature also is reviewing Senate Bill 2307, related to what is appropriate in a public library.

“We dealt with this last session,” said Hogue, a co-sponsor. He said the bill’s prime sponsors were confronted by parents in two different school districts with school library material believed to be pornographic.

“They put forth this bill to make it clear that not only should those materials be removed from the library, but there should be consequences – financial consequences – if those books are not removed. I know this is a frustrating thing for a lot of librarians because they feel like there’s some sort of assertion that there’s censorship going on, and I don’t feel that’s the case, and I think the vast majority of you would not feel that way either if you actually saw the content of what is being made available to our young children.”

The bill would allow certain state funds to be withheld from a library or school if found to be in noncompliance.

Rep. Macy Bolinske, a co-sponsor of House Bill 1430,said amendments are planned to the bill, which relates to social workers and treatment of individuals questioning their sexuality.

“It is basically allowing therapy to be offered to individuals that are seeking services that align with their values,” she said. “At the onset this looks good, but social workers came in and said the implications could be a conversion therapy. We are working on amending this bill to exclude practices that would include, like, aversion therapy.”

Bolinske also said she voted with the committee minority on House Bill 1255, which proposes to defund public broadcasting. The House Political Subdivisions Committee voted 8-4 to recommend the House kill the bill.

The state has spent about $1.5 million a biennium on public broadcasting, Bolinske said. However, this is a small part of the organization’s overall funding. She said Prairie Public testified it could operate without those funds.

On the other hand, Bolinske said she voted in committee for a bill that would designate rhubarb as the state vegetable.

“To be honest with you, I do not like rhubarb. But there was a homeschool family that came and sold their view,” she said. “And there’s lots of people in North Dakota that love rhubarb.”

Bill funds new BCI building in Minot

Legislation that would create new offices for the Bureau of Criminal Affairs in Minot is set for a hearing Tuesday before the House Finance and Tax Committee.

House Bill 1487 would authorize the North Dakota Department of Transportation to transfer about 1.25 acres next to its building in southeast Minot to the Office of Management and Budget to allow construction of a building to lease to other state agencies. The bill appropriates $4.9 million to the construction.

Co-sponsor Rep. Dan Ruby explained at Saturday’s legislative forum in Minot that Job Service North Dakota plans to relocate its office on Minot’s far north side to be closer to the heart of the city. BCI also has an office in that building and is looking for another place, he said.

The move to the proposed new building would save BCI in rent, he said.

“It’s a common sense thing,” co-sponsor Rep. Jay Fisher said of the bill. “The land is available and it’s more accessible.”

Legislators advance tax credit for homes in trusts

North Dakota residents whose primary residences are held in trust would become eligible for the $500 property tax credit they missed out on last year under a bill being fast tracked through the Legislature.

The Senate passed SB 2201 as an emergency measure, and the House plans to quickly advance it to Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s desk.

Sen. Randy Burckhard said at Saturday’s legislative forum in Minot that about 4,000 homes held in trusts were excluded from the tax credit approved last session. Legislators have said the exclusion was an oversight.

Under SB 2201, those property owners would be able to collect retroactively for 2024, even if they didn’t apply that year, by filing an abatement claim. They also become eligible to apply for $500 off the tax bills they received in December 2024 for their 2025 taxes.

Individuals who are living in care facilities can still claim the credit on their primary homes as long as the residences are not rented to others, according to the bill.

The bill has a fiscal note of $1.9 million.

– Jill Schramm