Senator Gary Lee (District 22) and Abel Nelson (contributing writer)

by Abel Nelson

Yesterday morning (02/04/2013) Mom and I made a trip into Bismarck so that Mom could testify on House Bill 1426. Before Mom could testify, however, she had to have the written version hole-punched with a special hole puncher that made particularly large holes so that when it was put in the record book it would turn the page easier. 

After that we went to the room where Mom was going to testify on the bill. However, the previous bill, House Bill 1358, was still being debated in the council. So instead Mom and I went over to the room where Scott Hennen was hosting his radio show. During the break Scott came out and asked Mom if she would come on as soon as he could get some free time on his show. Mom said yes and then we waited about 20 minutes before seeing if HB1426 was in council. It was, so we went in. After listening to the Sponsor, Dan Ruby, give his testimony, Mom gave hers. 

After the council was over, we talked with some of the representatives before going to the cafeteria but we only got parfaits. 

Then Mom took me over to the Senate Floor. Once there, I got to sit on the floor with Senator Gary Lee. He told me how the Senate worked and how they identified the bills. I sat on the Senate Floor the entire session and learned how bills were introduced and voted on, which I know helped me learn more about our political system.

The best part of the trip for me was after we had left the capitol and were headed back, because we went to a restaurant that had delicious food.