The North Dakota House easily passed legislation calling for a study of refugee resettlement in the state Monday, but not before a testy exchange on the floor.

Rep. Pamela Anderson, D-Fargo, said she didnt want to see state resources spent on a mean-spirited study. Rep. Mary Schneider, D-Fargo, read an email asking her to vote against the legislation because it tries to hide racism and religious discrimination behind a guise of rationalism and data.

Rep. Christopher Olson, R-West Fargo, the bills primary sponsor, said the Democrats comments impugned his motives and he hoped for an apology.

Bills like this always seem to get emotional, said House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo. But I think its always important on the floor of this House that we remember to keep our comments to not be impugning someone elses integrity.

Schneider said after the floor session that she would never attack the personal motivations of a member of the House, but she argued the bills language is inappropriate.

I didnt say he was mean-spirited; I said the study was mean-spirited, Anderson said after the floor vote.

As introduced, House Bill 1427 would have allowed for a suspension of refugee resettlement if a community lacked sufficient absorptive capacity, which included the ability of various community and government services to meet residents needs. Proponents, which included a Fargo city commissioner and the chairman of the Cass County Commission, said they were merely seeking more input on the program.

The House Government and Veterans Affairs Committee heard lengthy opposition testimony earlier this month from new Americans who told stories of finding opportunity in United States.

The study was amended into a study of various aspects of refugee resettlement, which Schneider worries would only seek negative features of the program and scrutinize one group of people.

But Olson said the refugee resettlement program has largely become an unfunded mandate from the federal government on state and local services.

If this was anything else, wed ask what the cost was, Carlson said. It could show a very positive effect instead of a negative effect.

The study bill passed the House 86-5.

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Refugee resettlement study bill passes North Dakota House, Democrat calls it mean-spirited - Bismarck Tribune