An attempt to add enforcement details to a bill from the 2023 legislative session that outlined policies for transgender students sputtered out in the North Dakota House on Tuesday as representatives indicated they would uphold a narrow focus in this week’s special session.
State Rep Bill Tveit, R-Hazen, proposed the legislation on the House floor in response to Fargo Public Schools Superintendent Rupak Gandhi pledging to prioritize student safety over following House Bill 1522 the day after it was signed into law on May 8. Tveit’s bill would have granted the attorney general the power to investigate possible violations of the law and issue penalties in the form of injunctions and fines of no more than $2,500 per violation.
The attempt at introduction needed to garner at least two-thirds support — 58 votes — to move to committee, but it failed when it received only 24 yes votes.
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The special session was called to deal with a budget bill that was voided by the North Dakota Supreme Court. Tveit could have proposed his bill last week when the interim Legislative Management committee was considering potential additional legislation for the special session under the standard that it had to be a pressing enough issue that it couldn’t wait for the 2025 regular session. He told the Tribune he wasn’t prepared in time for the committee’s Oct. 19 deadline, but felt the issue was pressing enough that it warranted consideration on the House floor.
“What took place in this situation was not a defiance of this bill (HB 1522) only, but a defiance of what we do as legislators,” Tveit said to the Tribune. “It was a direct reflection on the choices this Legislature made.”
The bill sets standards for school districts with transgender students that include requirements for parental notification and the prohibition of bathroom usage that “does not coincide with the student’s biological sex.” The law also establishes a policy of separate restroom usage for transgender students, and prohibits schools and teachers from “requiring or prohibiting” the use of a student’s pronouns.
It’s one of the 10 bills passed in the 2023 legislative session that have impacted LGBTQ rights and transgender children across the state. 2023 has been a record-breaking year for this kind of legislation, which can range from bans on gender-affirming care to the prohibition of sex changes on state identification: More than 500 such state-level bills have been introduced since the start of the year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
But the North Dakota Legislature has repeatedly indicated its interest in keeping a narrow focus for this special session. In the Legislative Management committee meeting last week, leaders considered nearly 30 items for possible introduction, with the only approval being a resolution in support of Israel.
Gov. Doug Burgum has called on legislators to expand the scope of the session to include tax cuts and infrastructure projects, with his proposals seeing varying success.
After getting rejected in Legislative Management, an income tax relief proposal got the necessary two-thirds majority in the House on Monday for committee introduction. But Burgum also requested $50 million for the state Department of Transportation flexible fund and $20 million for destination development matching grants, and both proposals were considered in the House-Senate Joint Allocations Committee on Monday but didn’t make it very far.
Lefor
House Majority Leader Mike Lefor, R-Dickinson, took issue with Tveit’s proposed bill on multiple fronts in a speech on the House floor. He decried the bill’s last-minute introduction without proper vetting, as well as its impact on the length of the session.
“This bill (HB 1522) needs to be handled on a local level by the people in the community, because we’re always talking about local control,” Lefor said. “I agree with the sponsor of the bill in terms of (that) they should be following the law. However, they should be taken to the state’s attorney for prosecution.”
Tveit said he presented the bill because he saw it as “doing what’s right for our constituents.”
Most legislation throughout the special session has experienced limited opposition, with many of the bills that are seeking to replace the voided OMB budget receiving little or no discussion in committee and garnering near-unanimous votes on the House and Senate floors.
One appropriations bill was modified to add $350,000 to the state’s Emergency Fund, in part to account for potential emergency snow removal costs, and another was amended to allocate $425,000 for legislative wages and $250,000 for Legislative Council salaries to account for the cost of the special session.