No smoking in the car, please

Four Williston Middle School students are confident a smoking ban is going to pass in the North Dakota House.

The process thus far, including testifying in Bismarck, has been “really nerve-wracking,” said seventh-grader Hailey Bendixson.

“When you testify, you don’t know what will happen. I think the bill will pass because it’s a good law,” Bendixson said.

Seventh-graders Austin Anderson, Keely Kleven and Drew Borseth also believe the bill will pass.

“I had some friends think it wouldn’t pass; we’ve gotten this far. I think it is a great bill,” Borseth said.

“It passed in the Senate with pretty high numbers,” Kleven said.

“It’s personal to me, and I believe it will pass,” Anderson said.

The bill makes it illegal to smoke in a vehicle if someone younger than 16 is inside. The ban applies if the vehicle is parked on private property, and it would still be a violation if its windows were rolled down. Violators of the law would face a $50 fine, states an Associated Press article.

The students began working on the smoking ban legislation last year when they were in Nancy Selby’s sixth-grade class at Rickard Elementary. The issue was among a variety of issues students researched for a business-letter writing and persuasive-writing portion of the language arts course, Selby said.

While working on their projects, the students needed to find the correct people to contact regarding the issues. Some of the students chose the smoking-ban issue and wrote to Sen. Stan Lyson, R-Williston.

Lyson wrote back and visited the class to talk to it about the issue, Selby said. He encouraged the students to talk to their parents about the issue and get their opinions. Lyson later returned to the class and the students asked him to draft the bill, she said.

On Jan. 22, the students traveled to Bismarck to testify for Senate Bill 2070 before the Senate, and it ultimately passed. On March 12, they testified before the House. They’ve enjoyed the experience of being at the state capital.

“It was a blast, it was fun. I like the feeling that we were little business people,” Anderson said.

Borseth is excited he had the opportunity to shake hands with Gov. John Hoeven, and Kleven enjoyed the bus rides and tour of the capitol building.

Last Thursday, Selby heard from Rep. Gary Sukut, R-Williston, that the bill came out of committee with a 7-6 do not pass recommendation. The bill eventually goes to the House floor for a vote, she said.