LEGISLATION

A look at N.D. DUI reform

FARGO — After losing his son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter in a crash caused by a drunk driver last summer, Tom Deutscher prays that North Dakota’s tougher DUI law works.

By Mike Nowatzki, Forum News Service , May 13, 2013

Gun control loses: No expanded background checks

Senate Republicans backed by a small band of rural-state Democrats scuttled the most far-reaching gun control legislation in two decades Wednesday, rejecting tighter background checks for buyers and a ban on assault weapons as they spurned pleas from families of victims of last winter's school massacre in Newtown, Conn.

By Associated Press , April 17, 2013

Heitkamp votes against expanded gun sale checks

North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp says she couldn't support a measure to tighten restrictions on the sale of guns because it focuses on the wrong issue.

By Associated Press , April 17, 2013

Both sides hunt support in background check fight

Republican opposition is growing to a bipartisan Senate plan for expanding background checks for firearms buyers, enough to put the proposal's fate in jeopardy. But the measure may change as both sides compete for support in one of the pivotal fights in the battle over curbing guns.

By Associated Press , April 16, 2013

New bill intended to curb Jamaica lottery scams

Jamaican officials said Thursday that they are hopeful new legislation will finally result in a stream of convictions and lengthy sentences for fraudsters behind a multimillion-dollar lottery scam that has swindled mostly elderly Americans out of their retirement savings for years.

March 15, 2013

Obama signs insider trading ban by lawmakers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama signed legislation Wednesday barring members of Congress, the president and thousands of federal workers from profiting from nonpublic information learned on the job, calling it an embodiment of the fundamental American value of fair play.

April 04, 2012

Farm bill payments to change

When budget-cutters get serious about reducing federal spending, farm expenditures are sure to take a hit. Negotiations are under way now on a new farm bill. Farm-state congressmen and senators will be among those on the cut-spending bandwagon. It will be their task, however, to target farm-program changes that do not undercut the success of the current farm bill.

By The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead , November 01, 2011

Most states to seek exception to education law

WASHINGTON (AP) — A majority of states intend to take President Barack Obama up on his offer to let them get around unpopular requirements in the "No Child Left Behind" education law, the Education Department said Thursday.

By Kimberly Hefling, AP Education Writer , October 13, 2011

Conrad introduces bill for spreading highway funds to rural states

Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., has introduced the Rural Mobility and Access for America Act, bipartisan legislation that would require a fair distribution of highway funds to rural states.

By Teri Finneman , June 15, 2010

Letter to the editor: Legislation that Pomeroy supported will help families

As we reflect over this Memorial Day week on and the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform have made for us, I thought it would be important to let the people of this state know of a piece of legislation that recently passed the U.S. House of Representatives.

By Bruce Hagen , June 04, 2010

NDFU supports new legislation

North Dakota Famers Union is in support of the American Power Act after Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., announced provisions that would benefit the state’s agriculture industry on Thursday. “North Dakota Farmers Union believes the legislation is a positive step forward in securing America’s energy future,” NDFU President Robert Carlson said. “The bill also includes key provisions that will enable the nation’s farmers and ranchers to play a role in that future with renewable energy opportunities and carbon offsets.”

May 14, 2010

N.D. health care hearing draws Dem objections

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — North Dakota Democrats say a planned legislative hearing on the new federal health care bill is stacked with people who opposed the measure.

April 27, 2010

Health care bill passes

Summoned to success by President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled Congress approved historic legislation Sunday night extending health care to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and cracking down on insurance company abuses, a climactic chapter in the century-long quest for near universal coverage.

By By David Espo, The Associated Press , March 22, 2010

Congress still can improve legislation

There’s not much hope for major changes in Congress’ health care bill as it moves toward final passage, but some incremental improvements surely can be made. One is for the House to adopt the Senate’s proposal to devote $500 million a year to bridge the “valley of death” that prevents medical-research discoveries from being translated into disease treatments and cures. Another would be for House-Senate conferees to revive a Senate proposal — rejected because it would cost $1 billion a year — to increase America’s supply of doctors, especially the primary-care physicians that will be needed to treat 30 million newly insured people.

By Morton Kondracke, Roll Call , January 12, 2010

Democrats will bypass format, lawmakers haul compromise

House and Senate Democrats intend to bypass traditional procedures when they negotiate a final compromise on health care legislation, officials said Monday, a move that will exclude Republican lawmakers and reduce their ability to delay or force politically troubling votes in both houses.

January 05, 2010