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District 14 Legislative Reports

By Staff | Feb 10, 2017

Today is day 25 here at the legislature. Things are moving along, and we are doing what we can to shorten the session from the 80-day maximum. No one is sure how many days we might need. As of today, the Senate has acted on 224 of the 334 bills introduced: 150 have passed, 71 have failed, and 3 were withdrawn. The bills that fail do so for a variety of reasons. Some are constituent bills that are unworkable. Others are duplicate bills that someone else has entered. Others are withdrawn after we learn that the idea already exists in the Century Code somewhere.

As I noted, we are covering many issues. This week, we are addressing the rights of property owners along Lake Sakakawea. Some years ago, the state took over the mineral rights claiming they are the state’s. Hopefully, we will be doing the right thing and returning those mineral rights to their true owners.

We are also hearing a bill that relates to puppy mills. I believe that the animal cruelty law that we passed a few sessions ago addresses all of those concerns. It seems that the ag groups are in opposition as well as the Board of Animal Health.

We are also dealing with a bill to help out our local implement dealers. The manufacturers are putting a lot of pressure on the dealers to comply with a lot of new guidelines. The idea here is to more clearly define what they are forced to do under their contracts.

Thank you for all the messages –

Sen. Jerry Klein