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During the 69th Legislative Assembly, North Dakota Democratic-NPL Insider will provide updates and calls to action each day of the regular session. If you would like to have something added to the newsletter, email us at [email protected]. Spread the word of our newsletter by sharing our sign-up link today: https://demnpl.com/join-our-newsletter/.
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Friday Federal News Round Up - 31 January
This week’s list of actions and ideas happening at the federal level. This is not an exhaustive list because none of us has that much time - to curate or to read. If there are issues you wonder about, let us know and we will try to get you more information.
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Before we launch into the lengthy blast of mean-spirited and unpatriotic activities from this week, we must note that in a late evening vote last Friday, the Senate confirmed the supremely unqualified white supremacist, Pete Hegseth, to head up the Department of Defense.
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Monday started out with a new record high for immigrant arrests - 1179 worthy souls
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The federal judge who barred Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes from entering DC with court permission rescinded the order, only because he knew DOJ wouldn’t enforce it
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Acting Attorney General James McHenry fires several Justice Dept prosecutors who with with special counsel Jack Smith on the Trump prosecutions saying they could no longer be trusted to do their jobs
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Trump argues that presidential immunity shields him from having to pay E. Jean Carroll $83 M in damages
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Trump signs 4 military related executive orders: eliminate DEI, end recognition of trans and non-binary people and ban them from serving, re-instates members who refused COVID vaccines, orders development of defense shield like Israel’s iron dome
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The Senate votes to confirm billionaire Scott Bessent as the next Sec of the Treasury - a man who says handing the ultra-wealthy another tax break is the “single most important economic issue” for him, and who will not stand in the way of Trump gutting Medicare, Medicaid, and the ACA
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Tuesday, Karoline Leavitt, Trump's press secretary gives her first briefing and takes less time than Sean Spicer to start lying for her boss. She assures the country that Trump is leaving in place his executive orders while also saying that the freeze and pause on federal funding is rescinded
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In an act of utter subservience, Google renames the Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America on maps, but just for us idiots in the US. Also changing the name of Denali to Mt McKinley.
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Six transgender service members sue Trump/Hegseth over new ban on trans people serving
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Trump’s immigration crackdown, now joined by Homeland Security Secretary (and our former neighbor) Kristi Noem expands to NYC
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The WH openly admits now that the deportation focus is not just for violent criminals
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Sen Angus King calls the funding freeze the most direct assault on the authority of Congress in history
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Medicaid websites go down in all 50 states
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The WH ties egg prices to Biden’s mass killing of 100 million chickens but doesn’t mention bird flu (can you say propaganda?)
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Trump has proposed pulling money from TSA (you know, the agency tasked with keeping our flying public safe) and the Coast Guard (remember they help guard our borders) to help ICE afford costly deportation
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Poll results show that an overwhelming majority of people in Greenland do NOT want the island to be annexed into the US (which doesn’t stop ND legislator Jared Hendrix from filing a resolution to encourage the president to do so)
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The president instructs Hegseth and Noem to begin preparing a 30k bed detention center at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba (anyone remember the Japanese concentration camps?) Cuba calls this, as it is, an act of brutality and says the base is illegally occupied (boy we are making friends everywhere)
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In a move based totally in spite and vengeance, the president has the portraits of Gen Mark Milley and Mark Esper removed from the Pentagon.
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The Pentagon’s intelligence agency has paused observances of Pride month, Black history month, MLK birthday, Holocaust Remembrance, Juneteenth and other cultural events
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Blackhawk helicopter crashes into a commercial jet carrying 64 passengers and there are no survivors. Trump blames it on DEI (remember he just fired the head of TSA and an aviation safety committee)
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The president’s approval rating is at 47%, lower than every other president dating back to 1953 at this point in his administration
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Tulsi Gabbord refuses to answer questions from both parties about whether Snowden is a traitor, and denies meeting with Hezbollah, a terrorist organization
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Kash Patel, in his confirmation hearing, won’t answer if Trump lost the 2020 election
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Experts warn Trump’s abrupt decision to pause all US foreign aid could exacerbate violence in Latin America, increasing migration (remind us again of all the “efficiencies”)
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Trump’s FCC is investigating sponsorship and funding practices of NPR and PBS stations
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Trump fires the directors of the Center for Women Veterans and Minority Veterans
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I know - the list is so long. Read what you can and take breaks when you need to. It is going to be a long 2 years (#midtermscansave), but we need to stick together. Get some rest, read something besides the news, and call if you need to. In this together.
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-Cheryl Biller, Democratic-NPL Executive Director
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What happened today in the ND legislature?
Fessenden, North Dakota, and Robert James Seale of Grand Forks, North Dakota on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall passed the House! She also presented a bill (HB 1568) to create a North Dakota Ireland trade commission, and it immediately received a “DO PASS” recommendation.
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Rep. Collette Brown (D-9) presented a bill (HB 1603) to fund Native American grave protection and repatriation projects through the state historical society. Brown said in her testimony, “The repatriation of human remains, and cultural items is an essential act of healing for Native American communities who have long sought the return of their ancestors. It is also an opportunity for North Dakota to set a precedent as a leader in ethical museum practices and tribal relations. Through the establishment of a committee comprised of representatives from both NDHS and Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, we ensure that decisions are made collaboratively, prioritizing projects that have the most significant impact on repatriation efforts”
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What's coming up?
A bill to provide school lunches for all will be heard on Monday! HB 1475 would provide breakfast and lunch to all students of participating entities, including school districts, nonpublic schools, and tribal schools, at no cost to the student. Democrats have been fighting for this for years, and this issue is facing headwinds from national Republicans, so it is heartening that Republican lawmakers here have also sponsored this bill.
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Yet another bill that would allow public charter schools will be presented on Monday by Sen. Michelle Axtman (R-7) (SB 2241). A similar bill from Rep. Eric Murphy (R-43) FAILED the House today, but the vote was 45 nays - 44 yeas with 5 members absent, so they may bring the bill back for another vote.
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Rep. Jim Kasper (R-46) will present a bill (HB 1585) that would require law enforcement to contact United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if they believe a person is in the United States unlawfully. The bill specifically says that a peace officer shall use “the tip line phone number or the tip form on the agency's website” which seems like an odd way for one law enforcement entity to interact with another. A person would also be found guilty of an infraction if they violated this law, which seems like it would be difficult to prove. Overall, the bill seems to put an extreme onus on our law enforcement.
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Sen. Desiree Van Oosting (R-36) will present a bill (SB 2388) to make ivermectin suitable for human consumption available over-the-counter. While ivermectin is an effective drug to fight certain parasitic infections in humans, it’s not a treatment for COVID-19. Misinformation surrounding ivermectin even caused shortages of the drug in 2021.
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District 12 Blue Dinner
Friday, January 31, 2025 – 6:00 PM The Bunker
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1520 3rd St SE, Jamestown
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The Winter Blue Dinner will be held on Friday, January 31st at 6:00 PM at The Bunker in Jamestown, where attendees can enjoy a warm chili and baked potato bar, participate in a pie auction and silent auction, and engage in meaningful discussions. This is a family-friendly event and all ages are welcome.
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The evening features dynamic speakers who will share recent insights and empower attendees to take action. Josh Boschee, member of the North Dakota State Senate, will outline state legislative priorities for the year ahead and discuss how to “cut through the noise” to meet the core needs of our communities. Katrina Christiansen, former U.S. Senate candidate and university educator, will highlight the power of people-oriented campaigns focused on local issues. Olivia Schloegel, District 12 Chair and former ND State Senate candidate, will share how individuals can step up in their communities, whether through involvement in local initiatives or by organizing at the grassroots level.
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General admission tickets are $35, Kids (6 -12 years old) tickets are $12, and Kids 5 and under can join at no cost. Tickets can be bought online at secure.actblue.com/donate/d12bluedinner or by mailing a check to District 12 Dem-NPL, PO Box 873, Jamestown, ND, 58402.
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Legislative Updates with District 21
Saturday, February 8, 2025 – 11:30 AM
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Amvets 1001 1st Ave S, Fargo
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We are hosting a Legislative Update Lunch on February 8th! We will be hearing from Senator Kathy Hogan and Representatives Mary Schneider and LaurieBeth Hager. We would love to see you there- and invite a friend!
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Where: AMVETS Post 7 1001 1st Ave S Fargo When: 11:30-1:00 PM $8 brats/burgers plus sides (optional)
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Excited to see you all there!
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District 36, 37, and 39 Reorganizations
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 – 7:00 PM The Press Box at Players Sports Bar & Grill
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2050 1st Ave E, Dickinson
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District Reorganization is a great time to get involved in your local Democratic-NPL Party! District 36 is located in Dunn, Stark, and Morton Counties. District 37 is located in the City of Dickinson. District 39 is located in Golden Valley, Billings, Slope, Bowman, Dunn, Hettinger, Stark, and Adams Counties.
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District 24 Reorganization
Sunday, February 16, 2025 – 2:00 PM District 24 Headquarters 200 N. Central Ave. Valley City
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District Reorganization is a great time to get involved in your local Democratic-NPL Party! District 24 consists of all of Barnes and Ransom Counties.
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Cass County Dem-NPL Re-organization meeting
Saturday, February 22, 2025 – 10:00 AM Carl Ben Eielson School
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All Dem-NPL districts will meet on Saturday, February 22nd at Carl Ben Eielson school, 1601 S 13th Ave. Fargo from 10:00-12:30 pm. Coffee & Rolls will be served. We will meet in the lunchroom for the kickoff before each district moves to their assigned room to elect, Chair, Vice Chair, Secretary & Treasurer and any additional leadership that the district membership deems necessary.
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The District with the most members will be awarded a prize!
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Please join your neighbors from all 11 districts in Cass County and help plan the next two years to be successful ones.
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Northern Valley Dem-NPL Reorganization
Saturday, March 1, 2025 – 10:00 AM
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Ramada Inn Grand Forks 1205 N 43rd St, Grand Forks
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Save the Date! We’re excited to announce the Northern Valley Dem-NPL (NVD) Re-Organization event!
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Please mark your calendar and join us for this important gathering: When: Saturday, March 1, 2025 Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM Where: Ramada by Wyndham Grand Forks This is a great opportunity to connect with fellow Democrats, engage in meaningful discussions, and plan for the future. Spread the word and bring your friends along!
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Dist 29 Dem-NPL Reorganization Meeting
Sunday, March 16, 2025 – 2:00 PM
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District 29 Democratic-NPL will host their Re-Organization meeting March 16 2pm at the Pekin Community Center.
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Help us spread our message—share these posts from the past week!
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North Dakota public broadcasting under threat from proposed bill
“We already fund schools, libraries, online educational platforms that can fulfill this role without the need for taxpayer-funded broadcasting,” Johnson said.
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He said Prairie Public, the largest public broadcasting network in North Dakota, would remain even without funding from the state, and that ceasing funding may even be beneficial for the organization.
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Bills would bring new regulations, aid to North Dakota libraries
North Dakota lawmakers are revisiting potential regulations about the placement of allegedly questionable library materials, as well as a measure to clarify who may distribute state grants to libraries and how the State Library can provide surplus materials to local libraries.
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Protections necessary in North Dakota for IVF, contraceptives, advocates say
Tears of multiple proponents fell on the podium that stood before the House Human Services committee as they begged lawmakers to establish their rights to fertility care.
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"This bill protects us. It protects the work we have been doing that allows us to decide, not legislators, what our treatment is," Tara Harding said, who stood alongside her son who is a product of IVF
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Written in Blood
I have two Marine Corps flight helmets on my office shelf. I got the second one after a lieutenant was killed in a mishap at the Mountain Warfare Training Center in Bridgeport, CA. As the helicopter descended violently through the trees, his helmet shook forward on his head and then the base of his skull smashed into the top of a metal seat post. He was a twenty-seven-year-old CH-53D pilot, just like me. About a month later, I had a different style of flight helmet and some procedures were changed. They were hasty changes, written in blood.
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Bills seek to add protections for North Dakota renters
Three bills heard by the Senate Industry and Business Committee this week would provide renters protection from snowballing late fees, and empower the Department of Labor and Human Rights to investigate complaints against landlords. The department would also be able to take disciplinary action against a landlord for violations of North Dakota Century Code involving the leasing of property and eviction.
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Cody Schuler, advocacy manager for ACLU of North Dakota, said 40% of renters in North Dakota are “cost burdened,” meaning those tenants tend to live paycheck-to-paycheck, spending more than 30% of their income on rent. He testified in support of all three bills.
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State senator proposes bill to lock up student cell phones during class
“It’s just putting an extra burden on schools, who now are probably going to be more distracted, confiscating phones and enforcing this a state law. Rather than allowing them to maintain local control,” KrisAnn Norby-Jahner with the North Dakota School Boards Association said.
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North Dakota Senate votes to eliminate Gaming Commission
“If we do eliminate it, the judge, jury and executioner will be the Attorney General’s Office,” Braunberger said. “There will be no balance, there will be no checks that could potentially happen.”
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Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system
The highest-ranking career official at the Treasury Department is departing after a clash with allies of billionaire Elon Musk over access to sensitive payment systems, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private talks.
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David A. Lebryk, who served in nonpolitical roles at Treasury for several decades, is expected to leave the agency soon, the people said. President Donald Trump named Lebryk as acting secretary upon taking office last week. Lebryk had a dispute with Musk’s surrogates over access to the payment system the U.S. government uses to disburse trillions of dollars every year, the people said. The exact nature of the disagreement was not immediately clear, they said.
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Elon Puts Kid Who Just Graduated From High School in Charge of Disemboweling the US Government
On Monday, some federal HR chiefs received a memo from the OPM's acting director regarding hiring freezes and return-to-office orders, making concrete some of Trump's promises to drastically cut down the federal workforce. Eagle-eyed redditors quickly found the memos contained metadata which linked back to Noah Peters and James Sherk — two right-wing lobbyists who aren't officially affiliated with the OPM, but who are officially connected to the ultra-right Project 2025.
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That memo led to a class-action lawsuit on behalf of two federal employees, alleging that the OPM set up its own internal server for the purpose of storing federal employee data in one central location. The suit alleges that OPM chief of staff Amanda Scales received and stored the information without ever running a privacy assessment — directly violating a United States Digital Service statute from 2002.
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Michigan State Cancels Lunar New Year Event Following Trump’s DEI Order
Michigan State administrators told Bridge Michigan they canceled the lunch, which was scheduled for Jan. 29 and has been held four times before, after Chinese students “expressed concern about an event tied to one racial group.”
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Father of helicopter crew chief in D.C. crash reacts to Trump's blame of DEI
Reaction to President Trump's comments about DEI and the Washington, D.C., plane crash is coming from Gary O'Hara, the father of Ryan O'Hara who was crew chief on the Black Hawk helicopter that collided with an American Airlines plane Wednesday. Timothy Lilley is also speaking out about his son Samuel Lilley's final moments as one of the pilots onboard the American Airlines plane.
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MAGA's revenge of the mediocre: Trump's war on federal workers targets the meritorious
In this truly unbalanced assault on federal workers, we can see again the truth in Thompson's observations. No doubt actual federal workers are a diverse bunch, and some aren't great people, just as with any organization. But the concept of the federal worker has great symbolic resonance, as the icons of people who work hard and serve their country — not for big paychecks or fame, but simply because they can and it's the right thing to do. That image of self-assuredness that comes from nothing more than a job well done must be maddening to MAGA types who, for whatever reason, can't or won't find such security in themselves. So they're lashing out at the idea of competence that maddens them. Unfortunately, real people — normal, imperfect, but mostly decent real people — will pay the price for this MAGA psychodrama.
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How Americans ended up without an FAA administrator as Trump came into office
Rachel Maddow tells the story of how the former FAA administrator, Michael Whitaker, fell afoul of Elon Musk and was driven from his position upon Donald Trump taking office. With Trump's negligence toward assembling a competent government, the position remained empty through the deadly mid-air collision Wednesday night.
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Trump Heals Grieving Nation By Making Deadly DC Plane Crash About DEI
Finally, a president willing to blame a devastating air crash on diversity hiring and two of his predecessors! Nearly two weeks into his second term, Trump continues to sow bitterness, fear, and chaos everywhere he turns: issuing a spending freeze so drastic and haphazard that his team has to rescind it after three days, demanding that more than two million federal workers resign or face loyalty tests, and vowing to send 30,000 immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. Meanwhile, three of his most extreme cabinet picks face tough questions in their confirmation hearings—but will it matter? Jon and Dan reflect on a dismal week, what's next, and signs of life in the opposition party. Then, Jon checks in with Senator Chris Murphy about the threats that Democratic leaders are getting, and why it's so important to fight back anyway.
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Committees
Every bill is voted on in the North Dakota legislature, but first, it must go through a committee hearing. The committee will vote to give the bill a "Do Pass" or a "Do Not Pass" recommendation. Below is a list of Standing Committees this legislative session.
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Senate Standing Committee Members
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Meets Monday through Friday
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Desiree Van Oosting (R-36)
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Desiree Van Oosting (R-36)
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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House Standing Committee Members
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Gretchen Dobervich (D-11)
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Cynthia Schreiber-Beck (R-25)
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Meets Monday through Friday
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Cynthia Schreiber-Beck (R-25)
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Patrick R. Hatlestad (R-1)
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Mike Motschenbacher (R-47)
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Gretchen Dobervich (D-11)
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Lisa Finley-DeVille (D-4A)
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Meets Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday
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Lawrence R. Klemin (R-47)
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Patrick R. Hatlestad (R-1)
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Lawrence R. Klemin (R-47)
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Mike Motschenbacher (R-47)
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Meets Thursday and Friday
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Lisa Finley-DeVille (D-4A)
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The Century Club supports our year-round work to build party infrastructure supporting candidate recruitment, local district and regional leadership, issue-based education, and tools for Dem-NPL success.
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Help us elect great Democrats up and down the ballot!
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The North Dakota Democratic-NPL is launching a new grassroots program called “Neighbor to Neighbor” where volunteers will connect with voters in your community to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. As a volunteer, you will be responsible for connecting with voters in 25 homes in your neighborhood or friends and family to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot about 3-4 times this year.
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Grassroots organizers are the lifeblood of the Dem-NPL! Sign up to volunteer with the Dem-NPL!
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