Reminder: There is no North Dakota League of Cities Legislative Update Call on Friday, February 26   The North Dakota Legislature has finished the first half of its work with North Dakota Senators finishing on Tuesday, February 23, and North Dakota Representatives finishing on Wednesday, February 24. Crossover is the day when all House bills that have passed must be sent to the Senate and all Senate bills that have passed must be sent to the House. Study resolutions and proposed constitutional amendments do not need to cross over to the other chamber until March 10. Week of February 22 The League did not testify on any bills this week as most of the Legislature’s time was spent either on committee work or on the House or Senate floor voting on bills. Here is a summary of the results of the vote on the bills that were pending from the League’s High Priority list:   Bill Action Description HB 1020   Amended Passed House 8

Cities had two big legislative wins this week.  First, HB 1182, which would have provided the option to declare a political party in city, county, and school elections, failed to pass by a vote of 36-55. Second, SB 2188, which would have preempted cities from regulating the sale of consumer merchandise but was very broadly written and had all kinds of unintended consequences on city zoning and liquor licenses, failed to pass by a vote of 6-41. Up for hearing on Thursday (2/11) is HB 1367. The bill will be heard at 10:30 a.m. in House Political Subdivisions Committee. This bill moves the preliminary budget deadline up a month to July 10 and allows only 10 percent of the voters to refer the city budget.  Looking forward to talking to all of you at 2pm CST on Friday at our regular Legislative Update Virtual Meeting. 

HB 1182 which would give candidates for city elections the option to declare a political party came out of committee with a DO PASS Recommendation. It will likely be voted on by the House on Thursday (2/4).  Email or call your House members and ask them to vote no/red on HB 1182. Let them know that it is best to keep city elections non-partisan. Click here and scroll to your representative's names to find their phone number and email address.