Heidi Heitkamp (Photo: C-Span)
NORTH DAKOTA (KFGO) – On “News and Views”, former Sen. Heidi Heitkamp said if she was a legislator during North Dakota’s special session last month, she would have pushed for amending the state’s open records law.
“NDA’s signed by a county who is not part of an economic development project, who are just giving approvals one way or another on zoning, should never be subject to an NDA,” Heitkamp explained. “They’re going to hide behind that trade secret exception and I happen to know a little bit about this because I basically wrote it.”
Dem-NPL State Sen. Tim Mathern of Fargo’s bill banning NDA’s between governments and data center and industrial project developers was defeated in a 32-15 vote in the Senate during the special session earlier this month.
Governor Kelly Armstrong believes it wasn’t needed. He said government officials who have signed an NDA would have to consult with the Attorney General’s office to find out if it was exempt from open records or not if someone made a request.
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