Hello and Happy Wednesday to everyone!

We told you that we would have a NEW Call to Action for you today, and here we are!

Today, we are asking that you take a moment to send this one click email to the North Dakota Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee.  We are asking for a “DO PASS” on SB 2331.

You can take this one click action here: https://secure.everyaction.com/M3047e3SIEOe-57Ll5DTzw2

YOU STILL ALSO NEED TO SUBMIT YOUR WRITTEN TESTIMONY IN ADDITION TO TAKING THIS ACTION!!

I want to talk about what happened yesterday and also answer a few questions that keep coming up.

Yesterday, we had a similar Call to Action for SCR 4006.  You guys did such a GREAT job taking this easy action, that the committee members were overwhelmed with emails. 

This let them know that passing SCR 4006 was important to the public. 

They said that they would give SCR 4006 a “DO PASS” when their committee votes.

What does that mean?

I will refer everyone back to School House Rock’s I’m Just a Bill video: https://youtu.be/SZ8psP4S6BQ?si=f9kKS4o0LpT_9OjY 

Our bill did NOT die in committee!!!

YAY!!!

BUT

It still has a long long way to go to get across that finish line!

Committee hearings will happen Thursday afternoon.  We will be there to testify in person for this legislation.  Once the committee decides that they will give it a “DO PASS” then it will get scheduled for a vote in front of the ENTIRE ND Senate.  If the Senate as a whole passes this, then it will go over to the ND House – and the process starts again!

There will be House Committee meetings and we will ask them for a “DO PASS”.  If we get that in the House, then it goes to the House floor for a vote.  If they vote favorably, then the Secretary of State will send it off to our federal legislators. 

Since this is a resolution, it does NOT require the signature of the governor. 

REMEMBER: A resolution is simply an “ask”.

BOTH chambers have to pass the EXACT SAME LEGISLATION!

SB 2331 is a little different.  It will still go through the same process, BUT at the end, Governor Armstrong will have to sign off on it, or he can VETO it and then it goes back to the chambers and there are discussions. 

This is why we have been talking to EVERYONE.

Your testimony on BOTH pieces is STILL very important.

As we talked about over the weekend at the virtual summit, this is one of your CIVIC RESPONSIBILITIES, if you want these horses protected.

A few things to note:

SCR 4006 and SB 2331 are each being heard by DIFFERENT committees! 

If you plan to write out ONE piece of testimony for BOTH pieces of legislation, that is fine – just remember you have to submit it to BOTH committees that will be hearing testimony. 

The committee hearing SCR 4006 will NOT pass testimony off to the committee hearing SB 2331 (and vice versa). In other words – You have to submit testimony TWICE! Once to each committee.

People keep asking what is the document that you have to upload.  That is your testimony.  It has to be made into a pdf document.  We have instructions on how to testify, including how to make a pdf document (it’s so much easier than it sounds!) on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/mhO34CyU4hQ

You CAN state that you volunteer for Chasing Horses Wild Horse Advocates.  As we said before, this nonprofit belongs to everyone!

We cannot give examples of what you should say in your testimony.  Don’t overthink it – there really are not any wrong answers!  You can simply say “Please pass SB 2331”.  Between us and the people we have testifying, we believe that the who/what/where/when & why’s will all be covered!

Both committees will be allowing 30 minutes for testimony.  We have 5 people that we have either worked on setting up or have contacted us about testifying.  This includes subject matter experts.  We are not sure how much more time there will be for additional testimony, that is why we are urging everyone to submit written testimony. 

We hope this helps explain things.  Please make sure you testify “IN SUPPORT” for BOTH SCR 4006 AND SB 2331.

Make sure you also take a minute to take the one click action!  Here’s hoping we get the same response as yesterday!

IF WE DON’T GET BOTH OF THESE TO PASS COMMITTEE THIS WEEK WE WILL NOT GET ANOTHER CHANCE TO PRESENT THESE TO THE LEGISLATORS UNRIL 2027!!!!

Thank you for your support and have a great day!

---