2023 Legislation of interest
Nearly 1,000 bills were introduced in the 2023 Legislative Session and North Dakota United was monitoring over 130 of those bills. Below is a selection of the bills we were monitoring and discussing throughout the session.
- HB 1040: Eliminates the state’s defined-benefit pension plan by 2025 and will cost $5.5 billion to taxpayers. NDU opposed, bill passed.
- HB 1205: Book ban bill that overrides local control and currently existing processes to remove “explicit sexual material” from children’s collections of public libraries. NDU opposed, bill passed.
- HB 1329: Would have reduced the number of years needed for a teacher to be eligible for a lifetime teaching license from 30 to 20 years. NDU supported, bill failed.
- HB 1446: Would have attacked faculty tenure and due process rights at Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University and would have set a dangerous precedent for other higher education institutions. NDU opposed, bill failed.
- HB 1491: Would have broadened the eligibility of free school lunch to public school students. NDU supported, bill failed but the language was inserted in SB 2284.
- HB 1494: Eliminates school lunch shaming practices in public schools. NDU supported, bill passed.
- HB 1532: Private school voucher bill that would have given $10 million to private schools with no strings attached. NDU opposed, bill failed after veto.
- HB 1540: Delayed childcare funding bill that helps decrease the cost of childcare for those eligible. NDU supported, bill passed.
- SB 2239: Would have invested in the state’s defined-benefit pension plan and retained the popular benefit for 1/5th the cost of closing the pension plan as described in HB 1040. NDU supported, bill failed.
- SB 2247: Relating to training involving “specified concepts” at institutions of higher education. NDU opposed, bill passed.
- SB 2260: Would have expanded fundamental rights to parents regarding aspects of education, including curriculum. This bill ignores the expertise of educators and is unworkable in practice. NDU opposed, bill failed.
- SB 2284: K-12 funding bill with appropriation to cover school meals of children whose parents or guardians make less than $60,000. NDU supported, bill passed.
- SB 2301: Childcare funding bill that would have helped decrease the cost of childcare and supplemented salaries of childcare workers. NDU supported, bill failed.
- SB 2354: Would have spent $25,000 to provide stipends to foreign language teachers and expand foreign language education. NDU supported, bill failed.
- SB 2360: Book ban bill that would have cost over 300 million taxpayer dollars to implement and criminalized librarians. NDU opposed, bill failed after veto.
If you have questions about bill numbers, ways to get involved, or any other questions related to the legislative process, you can email us at legislative@ndunited.org.