New laws will take effect Tuesday in North Dakota, including greater enforcement of seat belt use and restrictions regarding gender identity, sexual content in public libraries and ownership of farmland by foreign entities.
North Dakota’s Republican-controlled Legislature adjourned April 30 after writing new laws and budgets for the next two years. Some contentious policy bills have already taken effect due to emergency clauses, which make legislation immediately into law when signed by the governor.
Among those already in effect are revised laws outlawing all abortions, except in cases where women could face death or a “serious health risk.” Another exception for pregnancies caused by rape and incest applies only in the first six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
Republican lawmakers targeted sexual content in public libraries with a new law for removing or relocating “explicit sexual material” from public libraries’ children’s collections.
Two new laws will also ban foreign governments and adversaries from owning land in North Dakota. The legislation came amid concerns of Chinese ties to the Fufeng company’s proposed corn milling plant near the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
AP
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