State Leaders Discuss Current Legislative Session

North Dakota State Senators and House Representatives meet here in Fargo. Five legislators reported on the current legislative session and took questions from the audience at a forum on Saturday.

Several issues, such as oil prices, corporate farming, rail safety and flood protection were discussed at the meeting. But Senate Bill 2279, an amendment that would prohibit discrimination based on factors, specifically sexual orientation, had legislators disagreeing.

“My position on it is I wanted to not open up small businesses and other institutions that are open to the public and the state to what I view as a myriad of lawsuits,” says St. Sen. Jonathan Casper.

“It’s the right thing to do first of all because the time has long past to end discrimination and to afford a true promise of equal treatment to all our citizens,” responds Rep. Mary Schneider.

In another discussion, the legislators said there is bipartisan support for bringing ridesharing companies such as Uber to Fargo.

“Uber wants to come to Fargo. We’ve had an Uber representative at several of our committee hearings. I think this is really a terrific program if it gets here. We think it will and we think it might even be here by the end of the year if this works out,” says St. Sen. George Sinner.

The legislators also discussed corporate farming. A bill recently passed exempting dairy and swine from North Dakota’s anti-corporate farming law. Many leaders opposed the bill saying it is a foot in the door for large corporations to overrun family farms. One representative said the state will regret passing it.

They also addressed the issues of rail safety, early childhood funding, and permanent flood protection, which every leader supported but also noted there is a water supply issue that cannot be left out.