The North Dakota House of Representatives Monday failed to override Governor Doug Burgum’s veto of Senate Bill 2231, which would restrict the treatment of transgender students in the state’s grade schools. The chamber needed a majority two-thirds vote in both chambers of the state legislature to override the veto of the bill. The House of Representatives fell short of that by a small margin with a 56-36 vote.

Senate Bill 2231 was sponsored by State Senators Larry Luick (R-ND) and Scott Meyer (R-ND), as well as State Representatives Claire Cory and Karen Carls (R-ND). If enacted, it would have prohibited government entities from requiring employees to use an individual’s preferred pronouns and designate an employee’s preferred pronouns in work-related communications.

The bill would have also prohibited school boards from adopting policies regarding expressed gender, provide or authorize classroom instruction recognizing expressed gender, or provide or authorize professional development training to recognize expressed gender. The only situation in which such policies and practices would be allowed under the bill is if it concerned a specific student’s interest and was made in consultation with that student’s parents or guardians.

Since the veto override failed, the bill is effectively dead.