BISMARCK, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Citing everything from God to Ghostbusters in a debate today, the North Dakota House of Representatives has voted to repeal the Sunday Closing Law. You can watch the debate here.
he moved to the top of today’s order all in favor say aye hos nay motion carries hospital 11 1097 has has moved to the top of today’s order the house has before it House bill 1097 which has been read mr. chief clerk mr. speaker House bill 1097 was introduced by representatives aurorus Jones and other House and Senate sponsors Hospital 1097 is a bill fernack to manually enact section 12.1 – 3204 of the North Dakota century code creating – sunday closing laws and retail agreements to repeal section 12.1 – 30 – 0 1 12.1 – serve 30 days 0 – and 12.1 – 30 days 0 3 of the North Dakota century code relating to sunday closing laws mr. speaker that says that this control prepared by the office of the Tax Commissioner their analysis indicates if enacted this bill may result in additional state and local sales tax collections mr. speaker your interesting business and Labor Committee recommends to pass in elseville 1097 by vote of the 11 days two days and one absent not voting mr. speaker representative D who will be Megan mr. speaker mr. speaker members and assembly House bill 1097 as you can see is a pretty simple bill as far as how it’s written it basically is a repealer of the sections of code that relate to the limitations of sales and retail sales in our state code mr. speaker may I continue you may continue Thank You mr. speaker members in assembly I know that people have strong beliefs on this this law I myself have voted on both sides of this law in the past as they’ve come up last session I did speak in favor of the bill and I’ll be making some of those same points today for my reason to to change my position on this the majority of the opposition that we saw of course has been from churches and for people who are have strong beliefs that this is a holy day and that we need to limit the instance where people are going to be working on Sunday and that is a concern for for me and I don’t like to require people to work but I also don’t like to require businesses to be told by the government when they can and can’t be open now the other issue with this is of course for a vast majority of the churches in North Dakota Sunday is the Sabbath but there’s many churches where they go on Saturday or Friday I’ve even heard some on Wednesday but with probably the three largest ones that they basically will use one of those three days so if we go along that line of thinking God gets a three-day weekend every week so obviously if we’re trying to respect the Sabbath we get into the conflict of whose Sabbath are we protecting it was mentioned by representatives from from my church that people need to have a day whether it’s any day they didn’t say it necessarily had to be Sunday but they strongly believe that employees need a day off and I agree in our so does our century code and Mr Speaker I know you asked that we don’t read on the floor but is it okay if I read a portion of the century code is there any objection without objection you may proceed Thank You mr. speaker in our century code 3406 – five point one an employer may not require an employee to work seven consecutive days in a business that sells merchandise at retail an employer may not deny an employee at least one period of 24 consecutive hours at a time off for rest or worship in each seven-day period and it goes on you can look up that section and read the rest of it if you’d like so ours our code still protects time off and people can get that time off on the day of their rest or their day of worship either one so I think that we’re covered there I think the current law that we have obviously picks winners and losers there’s many businesses that do operate on Sunday and sell and have employees I myself left church and went and had breakfast and so there were waitresses who were working and cooks and everyone else that was there so that business was able to operate but if I got done with that and went over to a retail store to pick something up before I left town I couldn’t so I had to wait till noon so obviously there’s there with the exceptions we’ve also had such as truck stops where we have because they’ve become many malls but they’re exempt so if you have a craft store or a small souvenir store that is close to a truck stop you can open till noon but make sure can sell everything you probably can sell in their in their place so there’s a real conflict and I think it’s not treating them fairly the other argument is that the employees need the time that to not be working during that time well even in the retail places that can’t open on Sunday if you are in the parking lot waiting form to open there’s people working there and some of them came a lot sooner than just opening time so we’re we’re really our law does not stop people from working it does not prevent people from working it just stops us from shopping so I think that if the goal is to require people not to work during those times then the law should have been changed to prevent that but it didn’t so at the end of the day were we’re I don’t think that the current law is working I think it is like I said picks winners and losers and it’s time probably that we just change the law and then allow businesses decide when it’s best for them to be open and closed Thank You mr. speaker this is there any discussion representative Katie compliment Thank You mr. speaker pardon me Thank You mr. speaker members of the assembly I rise not to debate the bill not to tell you how to vote on the bill that’s a matter of conscience and I suspect that each one of you will vote according to that conscience today and and like representative Ruby like the bill carrier I have voted on this bill several times before as have many of you that have been here for a while and I find myself agreeing with everything he said in the beginning of his floor speech which was that he doesn’t like to require people to work on a Sunday or a different time when they feel for religious reasons they don’t want to do that and then also that he doesn’t like the government to tell businesses when they can and cannot be open and I agree with him completely that’s why this bill has always been a struggle I think for a lot of us however he also read a section of the century code which presumably or ostensibly protects religious liberty and I would submit to you members of the assembly that it really does not because if you read the rest of that section of the century code there’s an exception that you could drive a truck through and that creates a loophole which so that section really becomes moot in terms of its operation I just want you all to be aware as you vote on this bill that there is another bill that’s been introduced that will actually strengthen that section and strengthen the religious liberty protections that we give people so that they can have the freedom to observe their religion whether that’s on a Sunday on a Saturday on a Friday whatever it might be thank you mr. speaker representative hoverson Thank You speaker may I ask a question of the presenter and then also give a give reasons after that representative Ruby would you yield to a question yes Mr Speaker I will mr. speaker representative Overson mr. speaker representative Ruby would I be in order to ask do you know or does anybody know why it was moved up today this this bill was moved up to the time represent over son that question would be out of order okay thank you my reasons for encouraging an OLE I realize that you know a lot of you have been through this before and you’ve come made up your mind but I also have talked to some that have said either way it doesn’t really matter to me so I guess I may be more talking to you as well first of all we keep referring to the awkwardness of the law but I don’t consider it fair to use the 1991 compromise awkward compromise against the the sundae blue law the creator of our preamble the Almighty God that we referred to in our troop thinks differently he designed many things along with the seven-day week life gender and our society continues to try to improve on those things I don’t know that it’s such a good idea for us to try to improve on what’s been designed and that’s not or even a religious statement that’s just simply recognizing the truth of how things are designed also almost every founding father of our country disagrees with this approach to not having some sort of Sunday closing so it’s a matter of the that we’re the most free when our laws match the way things really are when they when they line up with the truth and so I did a poll about a month ago it’s unscientific it’s not real large but at least a poll and I think any poll even if it’s unscientific represents a certain segment of North Dakota and I found that over 95% of people don’t want this repealed I really wonder if we have listened to the people maybe a few sections of people but it would be really interesting to say no to this and take the time to actually see what North Dakota thinks I’m only going to refer to two studies I have back up if anybody wants to see them there’s many studies many Supreme Court cases I’m only going to give – one is that when you converse already had six days 1981 they got six and a half the government doesn’t have a role to play because though the only ones that can play this role and that is if the guy if commerce gets every single day and the church has none it does have a statistically proven reduction in in every state and that was that was done by a Notre Dame and MIT in 2008 and I do have that study I can back that up also I want to share another one’s actually kind of a fun one but it’s a a great researcher if you’ve heard of George Barna this guy is even more of a researcher than him his excellent research I have found this out a few years ago that they calculated that through their polls and surveys that you can divide up our nation into four groups of people roughly 25% of piece the strong churchgoer which by the way this bill is and can affect them and the anti just never gonna go don’t believe in this stuff it’s not going to affect them but there is 50% in the middle and our culture is what’s changed in in the middle the the attendance or not a tennis hasn’t but the attitude toward the church has in the 50% in the middle there’s a movie that rip reflects that difference and that is do you remember the Ghostbusters of the 70s Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd well in that movie they’re going after the ghost and there’s a marshmallow monster and this is in the 70s and it’s it’s coming through town stepping on buildings and it steps on the church and Bill Murray who we wouldn’t consider our strong church-going person who knows where he’s at regarding that but he represented the culture that 50% and when the marshmallow monster Stay Puft steps on the church Bill Murray says hey nobody steps on the church in my town and then the Ghostbusters go after him and I think that was the attitude back then towards the church even thieves and robbers didn’t mess with the church and so I think today we have an opportunity – let North Dakota be different we’ve attracted many people through through oil money which i think is great but we we aren’t paying attention to the social fabric of North Dakota I believe that you know we’ve we’ve attracted human traffickers we have attracted drug dealers with money but how about attracting some people that actually appreciate the sunday laws I appreciate the wholesomeness that comes with that and the virtue we can’t improve on God’s design as much as we try with life we’re trying with gender and we’re trying with the days of the week so if you if you’re in the middle or if it doesn’t matter I guess I just appeal to you that you would side with with the church on this one vote no on 1097 Thank You speaker represent of Leaning Thank You mr. speaker I would imagine some of you remember a statement I made during our last session which I’ll try not to repeat I had numerous responses to that but as our carrier expressed rest is needed by individuals and right now we’ve restricted we used to have the entire sunday set aside and there were very limited businesses open we’ve shrunk that down to one half a day on Sunday and many times we brag about how North Dakota is number one in many things my understanding is that North Dakota is the only state that has a blue law remaining on the books I think we should stay number one in that case something to think about we mentioned restriction of government over people there are many many areas where government restricts people if you’ve been on a highway I think you’ll see speeding limit signs that’s a restriction on what you may want to do if you have a little hot rod like mine I’d like to run 100-plus miles an hour avoid that because you wouldn’t see me here very long but at any rate I don’t think the argument that government restricts you is necessarily a good one in this case we do need time to rest we’re talking about a half a day here and I doubt very much that the business difference would be that great that you’re going to see a significant improvement in sales tax or anything of that nature I think that half-day should be set aside to recognize that we all do have a creator and he’s the ultimate lawgiver and the ultimate law controller and I don’t think it hurts North Dakota to remain in that position to recognize that with that mr. speaker thank you represent wait Mr Speaker I rise in agreeing with the two previous speakers but I’d like to carry it a bit further as I look around this assembly there’s a number of us that have been in the military and I’m sure you remember how we could go to church on Sunday when we were in the military you could go if you brought the bulletin back so you show it to your squad leader or the First Sergeant or whoever was over you however there was usually some repercussions down the way whether it was lack of a promotion or whatever I often wonder our carrier talked about being able to have that one day a week off out of the seven you’re not guaranteed that’s gonna be your Sunday to go to church or spend with your family and as a previous employer I tried to treat my employees fair but I’m not sure all employers do the same thing and I speak for the employees today that do deserve that they arrest and do deserve that day of worship and yes we’ve already opened a gate with let’s out that happened to work but let’s not make it any more than it is Thank You mr. speaker representative damson Thank You mr. speaker mr. speaker members at assembly the blue glass you know don’t tell anybody they have to go to church on Sunday morning and they don’t tell you can’t work I don’t think the repealing them is going to be a real economic boon to anyone I don’t I don’t really know the reasoning behind that seeming so important it isn’t like the government is being more intrusive or that they were more intrusive when the original blue laws were put in place I think it was probably much more conservative bunch of people then we have now so I don’t think that’s a concern for me it isn’t anyway I guess what I think is important about keeping our blue laws is that we can set aside a little time away from our everyday normal activities busy lives and show a little respect for the principles that our founders built our country on I’d hope you’d consider voting rather than this one Thank You representative M Nelson Thank You mr. speaker members of the House as the owner of a retail establishment I have a significant conflict of interest on this bill and asked to be excused from voting on represented glozer Mr Speaker I move the representative Nelson be allowed to vote on this bill question is on the motion of representative lozer that represented Nelson be allowed to vote on this bill all the favor say aye posed nay motion carries representative Nelson you Mabel represents craw Thank You mr. speaker members of the assembly when deciding how you will vote on this bill I asked you to consider these things I grew up at a time when there was actually a day set aside every week called family night through the collaboration work of school districts and families Wednesday evenings were set aside to carve out free time when parents and children could have relaxing time over a meal around the dining table this time was established by the recommendations of child and family experts for the good of the family and for the building of her relationships I asked my fellow representatives what day is there where there’s likely to be free time anymore it’s Sunday how do you plan major holidays with schedules so tight and you’re trying to juggle work school activities meetings community activities etc what day do you choose Thanksgiving and Christmas are the most heavily traveled days of the year as loved ones come home to gather and celebrate for many families it is the nearest Sunday but if we choose to celebrate on Saturday Saturday we do so to allow loved ones to travel all day Sunday in order to be back home for Monday work obligations Congress changed the national calendar placing the national holidays many of them on mondays to create a three-day weekend for the good of the people what day are you or your employees most likely to request off it’s Sunday the most Universal day to schedule birthday parties for your kids and your grandkids the closest Sunday to the big day President George Washington our founding father understood the value of a day not wanting his federal postal employees to work too hard he established a mandatory day of rest for them he chose Sunday he demonstrated great wisdom and understanding of the human person in this there are incredible benefits for taking down time we need time for R&R for rest recovery regeneration relaxation restoration recreation relationships and reflection mr. speaker members the assembly as I serve on the Human Services Committee and hear the testimony of all the devastation resulting from broken and failing families I can’t help but wonder if lack of such time is a root cause you may have heard some say there’s so much that’s a little left a remnant of the sunday closing laws why bother trying to save it it is this very body that for years have allowed the undermining and chipping away of its provisions I want to re-emphasize a statement made by a previous speaker North Dakota is unique and being the last state with sunday closing laws still in place it also has the honor of being the happiest state for a family to want to raise their children it is the number one state where people want to live we should not change that mr. speaker and members of the assembly when I consider all of the above-mentioned benefits but we received from a day of rest especially a universal day of rest we should rather be making efforts to restore this day of rest and so a mr. speaker and members of the assembly for the sake of our well-being for the good of our families and our state we must not strip the last remnants of the North Dakota sunday closing laws I urge you to vote no on House bill 1097 vote read Representative D Ruby Thank You mr. speaker members assembly I just wanted to clarify because I know there’s been some comments made about more Commerce on Sunday more profit and as as you remember I did not use that as one of the reasons I don’t think that would be a good reason for that I think there’s there’s just the flexibility for business to be able to open a little earlier when their customers are actually showing up so I just the main the main point that I was making his the flexibility of the employee to open when people want to shop he already has his employees working there so all of the discussion and you know compassion for the employees to be home and to have the day off is great but in reality our law does not provide for that and I understand everybody I don’t think anybody that is here that in this body that wants to go to church and is going to change your mind and and go go shopping right away instead of church I don’t think but there’s a lot of people out there that while you’re in church are hitting to work but you can’t you can’t shop in store so the law really does not accomplish in in hardly any way the intent of what these people that are here that are passionate about this have
ND House Votes to Repeal Sunday Closing Law, Debating a Range of Topics from God to Ghostbusters
