BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Lawmakers settled in for North Dakota's 64th legislative session at the state Capitol in Bismarck this week, highlighted by Gov. Jack Dalrymple's vision for the state. Now it's time to start weighing proposals. Here's a sampling some goings-on as the biennial session gets underway in earnest:
SURGE FUNDING
Perhaps the biggest issue facing the North Dakota Legislature this session is funding to address immediate problems tied to oil activity in the western part of the state.
On Friday, the Senate Appropriations Committee will consider a pair of competing proposals that each would fast-track more than $800 million in funding to oil patch cities, school districts and communities so that infrastructure projects can begin by next summer.
CIVICS TEST
North Dakota lawmakers on Wednesday will consider legislation that would require high school students to pass a 100-question civics test starting in 2016. It would require every high school student to get a passing grade on the civics exam to graduate. If adopted, North Dakota would be one of the first states to require high school students to take the same test that immigrants must pass to become a U.S. citizen.
The proposal is backed by the Arizona-based Joe Foss Institute. Foss is a former South Dakota governor and won the Congressional Medal of Honor during WWII. He died in 2003.
MUSKRAT TAPPING
At the state Capitol, it's not all about spending taxpayer money and other weighty issues. Lawmakers on Friday also are taking time to consider those interested snaring rodents with a musk-like odor.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hear testimony on a measure that would give North Dakotans a nine-day head start over nonresidents to trap muskrats in the state. The season for residents also would be about two months longer.
GOLDEN EGG
North Dakota's top oil regulator told lawmakers this week that there's a "little bit of gloom but no doom" for the state's petroleum industry due to slumping oil prices. North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources Director Lynn Helms also told the House Appropriations Committee that new regulations aimed at cutting the wasteful burning of natural gas and making crude safer for rail transport may cut oil production by more than 20,000 barrels daily.
Helms said he doesn't anticipate more regulations aimed at the oil industry anytime soon. North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness said that's a good thing and used an idiom to make the point. "Let's stop kicking the goose here for a while," he told lawmakers. "Because the goose is about to go lay down somewhere."
LEGISLATURE CASHIER
Loretta Boehn began her 22nd legislative session, which might be the longest, though not in the chambers. Boehn has been a cashier at the cafe in the Capitol building for 45 years. She lives nearby and walks to work every day. She said she still gets excited working during the session, seeing old customers and meeting new ones. Boehn is required to wear a nametag but arguably everybody at the Capitol knows her name, and vice versa.
ROAST AND TOAST
A so-called roast and toast is being held for former state Sen. John Andrist, who resigned his seat last year due to poor health. The event is being held on Monday night at the Radisson in Bismarck. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem will be the master of ceremonies, and speakers include Gov. Jack Dalrymple and North Dakota Supreme Court Justice Gerald VandeWalle.
Andrist is a retired newspaperman and publisher from Crosby. He was first elected to the Senate in 1992, serving District 2 in the northwestern corner of the state. Andrist resigned his seat in November, with two years remaining on his term. The 83-year-old, who was the Senate's oldest member, has been known as an advocate of rural North Dakota and a leader in helping to solve problems created by the rapid growth of western North Dakota's oil and gas industry.