North Dakota Human Rights Coalition
Working to effect change so that all people in North Dakota enjoy full human rights
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North Dakota Human Rights Coalition Working to effect change so that all people in North Dakota enjoy full human rights |
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From the NDHRC:
Thanks to all of you who e-mailed & called your legislators on SB 2337, the bill to create a ND Commission on Human Rights. However, the ND Senate defeated the bill yesterday, and defeated an amendment to revise the bill to meet objections.
The Fargo Forum story is below. The Bismarck Tribune has a story, also, but it doesn't seem to be online.
Cheryl Bergian
Senate Bill 2356 proposes outlawing the sport unless the secretary of state writes a set of administrative rules about how it may be conducted. In North Dakota, the secretary of state oversees boxing.
Promoter Chris Nelson of West Fargo, who runs Dakota Fighting Championship, supports the bill. He told the Senate Government and Veterans Affairs committee on Thursday that he wants the sport regulated or banned.
Nelson said his tournaments already have an ambulance on site and doctors' examinations of fighters. But there is no requirement that other promoters do the same. The sport is growing nationwide and is televised on sports channels, Nelson said.
"It's getting bigger and bigger all the time."
The North Dakota Peace Officers Association sent a lobbyist to support the bill.
"Law enforcement needs this bill to have that direction about what activity is lawful and what is not," said John Olson for the peace officers.
Seemingly every session, Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, backs a bill to create a state Human Rights Commission, and every session it goes down to defeat.
The Senate on Thursday defeated both a last-ditch effort by Mathern to amend his bill on the floor and then the bill itself.
Republicans said the commission is not needed because the Department of Labor is doing a good job with human rights enforcement.
Mathern's Senate bill had requested a commission be set up as a volunteer advisory body to the state Department of Labor, which investigates human rights violations in the state.
When the bill came to the floor Thursday, Mathern introduced a "hoghouse" amendment to replace the bill with a different proposal. Hoghouse is the term when an amendment replaces the entire text of a bill with new language.
His new language proposed, instead of a commission, a seven-member volunteer advisory committee to the Labor Department, to be appointed by the governor.
The motion to replace the bill with the amendment lost on party lines, 32-15, and the original bill calling for a commission then lost, 30-17.
Sen. Mike Every's economic development accountability bill was defeated in the Senate Thursday.
Every, D-Minnewaukan, had proposed a lengthy set of new laws in which businesses that receive public funds would have to make disclosures about what kinds of jobs they were creating with the subsidies, the pay scales of the jobs and other information.
His bill also called for the employees to become secured creditors, so that they would be in line to recover back wages if a company goes out of business when employees are still owed paychecks.
The bill was inspired by the failure of Websmart, a Minot-based call center that abruptly went out of business two years ago, leaving several hundred workers unemployed and unpaid for their last weeks of work.
Republicans have their own economic development accountability bill working its way through the House.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Janell Cole at (701) 224-0830
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North Dakota Human Rights Coalition P.O. Box 1961 Fargo, North Dakota 58107-1961 Phone: (701) 239-9323 Fax: (701) 478-4452 Email: humanrights@ndhrc.org
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