Published: April 7, 2023
Key Takeaways
- An effort was made to reconsider the failed floor vote on House Bill 1446, which would give Presidents at Dickinson State University and Bismarck State College unchecked power to fire tenured professors.
- House Bill 1532 received a 9-7 “do pass” recommendation out of Senate Appropriations and is headed to the Senate floor for a final vote early next week.
- The bad pension bill that spends $5.5 billion to close NDPERS was heard on the Senate floor earlier this week. The bill passed on a 29-18 vote.
Less than one month remains in the legislative session and we have crucial work left to be done! There are several active action alerts and events listed in this email, so keep reading to learn how you can make an impact before the session wraps. It will take all of us to keep up the pressure and make our voices heard!
Tenure
An effort was made to reconsider the original 21-23 failed floor vote on House Bill 1446, which would give Presidents at Dickinson State University and Bismarck State College unchecked power to fire tenured professors. That effort failed and HB 1446 is officially dead! Thank you for reaching out to legislators who voted no on this bill and for everyone who took action to oppose this legislation in the last three months! What a victory!
Vouchers
House Bill 1532 received a 9-7 “do pass” recommendation out of Senate Appropriations and is headed to the Senate floor for a final vote early next week. The bill would create an “education reimbursement fund” that intends to funnel public dollars to private schools, with no regulation or transparency, all under the guise of providing parents with school choice that already exists. Read this article from NDU President Nick Archuleta to learn of the bevy of reasons why we are opposed to HB 1532.
This is our best opportunity to defeat the bill in the legislative session, so we need all hands on deck to urge Senators to vote NO on HB 1532. Your voice is needed now more than ever! Please head to the Act section and tell Senators your view on why HB 1532 must not pass by sending an email AND registering for our phone zap!
Pensions
House Bill 1040, the bad pension bill that spends $5.5 billion to close the popular defined-benefit retirement plan, was heard on the Senate floor earlier this week. The bill passed on a 29-18 vote. HB 1040 now goes to Senate Appropriations, where a hearing is scheduled for April 11 at 4 pm. Head to the Act section below to urge our legislators to defeat this legislation and maintain a critically important recruitment and retention tool for our state!
Specified Concepts
Senate Bill 2247 as initially written would have banned teaching of so called “divisive concepts” at higher education institutions. After a series of amendments in the Senate and the House, the bill was reduced to a study on the impacts of eliminating training that includes these “divisive concepts”. However, the floor still needs to act and could pull off the amendment.
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Keeping the Promise of Quality Public Education & Public Services
With more than 11,500 members across the state, NDU supports equal opportunities for success for ALL North Dakota students, and respect and support for all educators. NDU members are teachers, community college professors, speech pathologists, bus drivers, secretaries, retired educators and student teachers.