House committee advances bill requiring radon disclosure at residential sale

The House Industry and Business and Labor Committee voted to recommend passage of Senate Bill 2204 on a voice and roll-call vote Wednesday after a hearing that focused on requiring sellers to disclose known radon test results when transferring residential property.

Senator Jeff Barta, who carried the bill to the committee, told lawmakers the proposal does not mandate testing or mitigation and is intended only to increase buyer awareness. “This is not a mandate to perform testing or to perform any mitigation,” Barta said as he introduced the bill. He said the measure would require sellers to disclose test results they have in their possession or that are reasonably available to them.

That limitation—requiring only disclosure of results a seller knows about or can reasonably produce—was a point repeatedly clarified in testimony. Jill Beck, chief executive officer of the North Dakota Association of Realtors, said the measure will be folded into the state’s existing property-condition disclosure process. “We currently have environmental concerns of which radon is included in our seller’s property disclosure form,” Beck said, and added that the association supports a “due…