Hello again from Bismarck,

This has been a flurry of a week. It has been a pleasure to serve District 4 and get back into the swing of things. 

This week I carried HB-1069 on the floor which addressed how inmates are dealt with upon release and it passed out of the House.  This will allow the State to provide transportation both in state and out of state according to the inmate’s release plan. 

HB-1106 was in committee attempting to reduce the penalty for someone who carried the aids virus to knowingly infect someone that was not informed that they carried the virus.  The argument was made that because of advances in medicine,aids can now be treated so it is not as deadly as it was before the treatments.  The bill would change it from a class A felony to an infraction.  We in the committee did not feel it was appropriate to reduce the penalty this much so we passed it out of committee with a do not pass recommendation. 

HB-1034 deals with involuntary treatment for an individual with a substance use disorder or a mental disorder. The bill was trying to get access to medical records for the attorney’s involved in the case at least 24 hours before a hearing.  It seems there has been a problem with the attorney’s not being able to be prepared in time for hearings.  We will be working on it more next week.  

HB-1110 seeks to include US Marshals on the list of Federal agents that can work inside our state in conjunction with law enforcement. 

In our transportation committee HB-1128, was attempting to make it a crime to be traveling on a closed road. It only used to be a crime when you entered  a closed road by going around the sign.  The committee had too many questions about what would happen if you were traveling on a road that was closed without you knowing that it was closed, so we sent it out with a do not pass recommendation. 

HB-1072 is a bill that will allow the department of transportation to develop an electronic version of people’s driver’s licenses.  They will still be able to have a hard copy but an electronic version would be available.  We heard a lot of testimony on the bill and the committee passed it out with a do pass recommendation (10-3).  I will probably carry the bill next week.

It is such a pleasure to serve you.  If you have any thoughts, questions, or concerns, please feel free to contact me.

Terry B Jones

701-627-3397

[email protected]