Lawmakers shooting for April 19 end to session
State Director Alison Ritter reports from Bismarck on the small-business agenda for legislative activity up to March 28.
Today marks day 55 out of a possible 80-day legislative session. The rumor around the Capitol is that lawmakers are hoping to adjourn on Good Friday this year, but there is still work to be done before we know for sure if they will make that goal.
The biggest action related to small business was NFIB’s work in helping defeat House Bill 1060 when it came to the Senate, which failed 44-0. This bill would have added a surcharge onto Unemployment Insurance assessments for employers who are in a negative balance position.
In other action, the following bills last week were sent to Gov. Doug Burgum for his signature:
- HB 1097, which would eliminate North Dakota’s Blue Laws, passed in the Senate. The governor has said that he plans to sign the bill.
- HB 1127, which would change the standard from “deceptively similar” to “distinguishable in the record” for business names. North Dakota was only one of three states that still had deceptively similar.
- HB 1193, which would prohibit political subdivisions from implementing living wage provisions.
- HB 1200, which relates to prohibiting local control of regulation of plastic bags, straws, and other auxiliary containers passed in the Senate.
- HB 1351, which allows contractual non-compete provisions to extend beyond county boundaries, was passed in the Senate.
- SB 2192, which allows counties to impose a lodging tax in areas that don’t already have one, was passed by the House.
- SB 2262, which makes it a class B felony to attempt to use a re-encoder, skimmer, or scanner.
- SB 2338, which relates to collection of sales and use tax by marketplace facilitators.
Other Action Last Week
- HB 1530, which would have used Legacy Fund earnings to eliminate corporate and personal income taxes, was defeated in the Senate.
Previous Reports from the State Capitol
