Capitol Hill is a rockin’, let’s go a knockin’

The North Dakota Legislature is in session and is already tackling large, complex issues. Some pieces of legislation could affect North Dakota State and its students.

The first year free
NDSU STEM students might receive a first-year of tuition break if a new bill gets passed. Sen. Curt Kreun, R-Grand Forks, introduced the bill that would give students interested in STEM careers, or a skilled trade, a break their first year, according to the Inforum. The tuition would be reimbursed by the Bank of Fargo through a waiver.

Kreun got some help writing the bill from University of North Dakota Student Body President Erik Hanson, who told the Inforum the bill would fill a gap in North Dakota’s economy. “We’ve got jobs, we’ve got infrastructure and now we just need the people,” Hanson said. “If this can be one way to attract students to stay, then that’s kind of what we’re looking at,” Hanson said.

The Inforum reported that similar programs already exist for medical degrees at UND. “It seems to be working (at the medical school), so if we can entice individuals out of those other areas, that would be great,” Hanson told the Inforum.

Abortion cause
According to the Bismarck Tribune, pro-life advocates urged lawmakers in the Human Services Committee to require health providers to tell women that chemically induced abortions can be reversed. Advocates on the other side say this claim is not based in reality.

Republican Sen. Janne Myrdal said during the procedures that women deserve the same transparency that people get when they receive a regular checkup. Tammi Kromenaker, director of the Red River Women’s Clinic in Fargo, disagreed with the pro-bill testimony. Kromenaker said the bill would force physicians to lie to their patients. According to Kromenaker, there is no “credible, medically accepted evidence that a medication abortion can be ‘reversed.'”

The Bismarck Tribune reported the committee did not act on the bill after the committee recessed.