"They're consistent with the biblical values that we stand for and that our constituents ask us to stand for frankly," says Mark Jorritsma of North Dakota Family Alliance, referring to the two bills.
The library bill (SB 2307) would have expanded North Dakota's 2023 prohibition on "explicit sexual material" in public libraries to school districts, and would have required those entities to have policies for relocating such material "to an area in the library not easily accessible to minors."
The bill also mandated that libraries have technology to stop K-12 students from accessing certain online content and required local prosecutors to weigh in on alleged violations of the state's restrictions. Still, Governor Kelly Armstrong (R-North Dakota) did not like the bill, saying it "represents a misguided attempt to legislate morality" through things such as overreach and censorship.
"The bill imposes vague and punitive burdens on professionals and opens the door to a host of unintended and damaging consequences for our communities," added the governor.
Jorritsma disagrees. "The bill basically was to move books that were pornographic or obscene to areas of the library where children did not have access," he tells AFN. "It in no way restricted books, it did not ban books, [and] it did not actually put additional workloads on librarians."
As for the school voucher program, HB 1540 would have created an Education Savings Account (ESA) program administered by the Bank of North Dakota. Money from that would have been used for tuition at private schools, textbooks, technology expenses and other costs beginning in the 2026-27 school year.
"Educational choice … is one of the main planks of Governor Armstrong's campaign, and we truly do believe that he wants educational choice in North Dakota, which is great; we certainly support that," says Jorritsma. "We're one of the few states that do not have an educational choice program – and we've been trying to do it for years [but] we just can't get it through, which is really kind of sad for a deep red state."
Regarding his veto of the school choice bill, Governor Armstrong did say he "strongly supports expanding school choice." However, the governor felt this bill "falls far short of truly expanding choice."
Legislative efforts to override the two vetos were not successful.
