House Bill 1361
Relating to personhood status
What will this bill do?
This bill states that an individual's rights are superior and not equal to environmental elements, artificial intelligence, animals, inanimate objects.
Environmental elements, artificial intelligence, animals, inanimate objects may not be granted personhood or any right personhood entails.
Why is this bill needed?
Questions raised about what constitutes personhood status are becoming more and more prevalent in a culture that is rapidly and markedly changing due to technological advances and a declining respect for human life.
There has been a global and nationwide push for nonhuman entities such as bodies of water to gain personhood status in order to limit access to natural resources.
Granting human rights to computers, animals, and nature would degrade human dignity and our unalienable rights given to us by God. It is imperative that the state upholds a clear understanding of human identity, worth, moral agency, and natural rights.
What is the current status of the bill?
An amended HB 1361 was signed into law by Governor Burgum on April 12th.
Resources
Could an artificial intelligence be considered a person under the law?
The History of Corporate Personhood
‘Corporations Are People’ Is Built on an Incredible 19th-Century Lie