North Dakota Senate passes measures on wage access, child protection and corrections; restitution bill fails

Bismarck — The North Dakota Senate on Tuesday advanced a package of bills addressing consumer finance, public safety, corrections reentry and technology, voting to adopt multiple amendments and final passage on several measures and rejecting one high-profile restitution proposal.

The most contested vote came on an amendment to House Bill 13-93, a bill to regulate earned-wage-access providers; the amendment establishing a shared database and other guardrails passed 25-21 after floor questions about consumer costs and data security. The chamber also narrowly rejected House Bill 15-58, which would have required prosecutors to seek restitution calculations for children who lose a parent to criminal vehicular homicide; the bill was defeated after the Judiciary Committee recommended a “do not pass” and explained that prosecutors lack the civil-court tools to calculate long-term parental-loss damages.

Other notable actions included final passage of bills to: require alternate opt-out procedures for certain required vaccines (HB 14-54); expand penalties and definitions to cover computer-generated child sexual abuse materials (HB 13-86); require age verification on commercial websites that publish material harmful to minors using commercially reasonable methods (HB 15-61); institute changes to child-protection/school liaison structure (HB 10-95); and create studies and grants related to corrections reentry, advanced nuclear energy, and lender/appraiser evaluation practices. Several budget and administrative measures also passed, including funding for non–fixed-route rural transit and the state auditor’s office.

Senators who questioned the EWA amendment raised concerns about who would bear database costs and whether consumers would have to transmit…