(This is the fourth in a series of stories previewing issues in the upcoming Legislature.)

Christopher Dodson, executive director of the North Dakota Catholic Conference, recently met with his board of directors to preview the upcoming North Dakota legislative session.

Dodson, of Jamestown, represents North Dakota's two Catholic dioceses through the conference and has been on the legislative scene for a dozen years.

Fewer legislators are letting people know what legislation they are planning to introduce, Dodson said, and it's gotten pretty rare for state agencies to introduce bills. Interim committees also have very few prefiled bills, he said.

So the Catholic Conference must prepare for legislation of importance without knowing for sure what bills may be presented.

For example, "we don't know if there is a death penalty (bill coming), but if so, churches will work to oppose it," Dodson said.

The Rev. Wade Schemmel of Bismarck, the current president of the North Dakota Conference of Churches, said that the group serves as a "gathering table" for a number of denominations which affirm each other but may not always agree on issues, so the conference rarely comes out as an individual body.

The conference board meets next in January, when it will have a better idea what kind of legislation is being introduced, he said.

However, the conference has a Rural Life Committee and a Victims and Offenders Committee which have connections with particular issues, Schemmel said.

"The conference has a history of concern for strengthening family life, and family comes in all shapes and sizes, and concerns around dignity issues, particularly the marginalized," Schemmel said. "Those goals will continue to be that lens through which we view the session."

For the Catholic Conference, the overall emphasis is on budget concerns for human services, and how it impacts the most vulnerable, Dodson said.

"Legislators need to understand that the budget is a moral statement about where we stand as a state," he said.

Increasing Medicaid reimbursement to medical facilities by at least 5 percent is a high priority, he said.

"With 29 or 30 Catholic health care facilities in the state, this is a big issue for us," he said. "We will also be concerned about any infringement of religious liberties of hospitals and nursing homes," he said; this includes issues such as emergency contraception services.

People may not realize that Catholic facilities are allowed to provide emergency contraception once it is determined that ovulation has not taken place, he said.

The Catholic Conference would have an interest in any abortion-related legislation, such as cleaning up existing laws which need modernizing, or any proposed ban such as South Dakota considered.

"The bishops will support well-written (legislation) that doesn't punish the woman," Dodson said.

The conference is somewhat encouraged that previous legislation approved "alternatives for abortion" education, he said. That "abortion alternatives" legislation needs to be renewed this session; in supporting that, the conference has the support of other religious and nonreligious organizations, Dodson said.

Other issues the Catholic Conference will track include strengthening corporate guardianship and special needs' adoption, opposing any legislation that would take inmates out of the Human Rights Act, and supporting the priorities of local government zoning boards to decide large-scale feeding operations.

"We are concerned about anything regarding the school that would affect nonpublic schools, and anything that would be considered anti-immigrant," Dodson said.

Tom Freier, executive director for the North Dakota Family Alliance, sees North Dakota's greatest challenge to be keeping the family unit together.

Freier, who began with the alliance in November, is a former legislator and former deputy director for the North Dakota Department of Transportation.

Freier already has been visiting with legislators; so far just a couple of bills have been prefiled that would be of interest to his group, he said.

One would provide a certificate of birth for stillbirths, which the alliance would support, he said. Right now, parents only see a death certificate and that trauma weighs on them, he said. The alliance also is watching a bill regarding marriage license fees, he said.

Regarding a possible death penalty bill, Freier said that the alliance would carefully consider the language of any such bill before making a decision on its position.

The alliance is about 20 years old as an organization, and traces its origins to the home school movement, Freier said. An independent group not affiliated with a national entity, the alliance's mission is promotion of family, family values, religious freedom, the sanctity of life and sanctity of marriage, he said.

"The vision is to leave a legacy to the next generation," he said.

(Reach Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@bismarcktribune.com.)