701-566-9300Many of the issues we were involved in are being settled: Today, 2224 – the Bioscience bill passed the Senate which means it now goes to the Governor. That holds the potential for high value-added commercial use, especially in the ag and medical arenas.
Also on the Senate floor, 2345 – the animal feeding operation bill – passed the Senate this afternoon and goes to the House tonight. (Yeah, we are at the point where committees go well into the night.) UPDATE – 2345 just passed the House as well.
2315, the automatic posting bill, got out of conference committee and will probably appear in both houses tomorrow. Basically, it gives the landowners who were smarting from the NO DAPL protests what they wanted which was that all land is automatically posted. So that the bill could pass, they excepted hunters. For now, posting for hunting will continue on as it always has. There is a study which will look at developing an app or data base which could eventually allow landowners and hunters to coordinate via computer or smartphone, but that is a ways into the future.
Advancing even further into our agenda of bills is another biggie dealt with today – 2346. This is the grain inspection bill which sought to bring new protections to bear for our producers, especially in light of the insolvency which has made problems for so many. You may recall some of the proposals including financials being held confidential, a cash broker license, a new opt out grain indemnity fund and others. Today, the conference committee decided to do two things: a) move enforcement and inspection from the PSC to the Agriculture Department and b) strip all other changes out of the bill and move it all into an interim study “to get it right”. The chair stated “It is incumbent upon us to move slower”.
