Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Session Votes Roundup topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Senate passes a string of bills, reassigns two house bills and adopts amendments
Summary
On March 13 the North Dakota Senate adopted amendments and passed multiple House bills covering agriculture regulation, financial data security, small-estate administration, Medicaid waivers, juvenile referrals, and more. The chamber also returned two house bills to the floor and re-referred them to other committees.
The North Dakota Senate on March 13 took final action on a number of House bills and handled several procedural motions returning bills to the floor and re-referring them to other committees.
Major floor actions included final passage of a bill creating a regulatory chapter for biostimulants and beneficial substances (House Bill 15 51), enactment of a financial institution data security program for nonbanks (House Bill 11 27), repeal of a statute criminalizing intentional transmission of HIV (House Bill 12 17), and an increase in the small-estate affidavit limit in probate from $50,000 to $100,000 (House Bill 12 24). The chamber also passed measures on accessibility for people with hearing differences, school-initiated juvenile referrals, Medicaid waiver adjustments for disabled children, and a requirement that public schools offer voluntary opportunities to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Several bills drew committee-level explanation on the floor: Senator Bridal said the biostimulants bill was requested by the Pesticide and Fertilizer Division of the Department of Agriculture; the sponsor described the measure as aimed at stronger labeling and penalties for misleading products. Senator Kessel described House Bill 11 27 as a model law to address cybersecurity and data security for nonbank financial service providers and clarified it does not create significant new regulatory burden where federal requirements already exist.
Other notable points recorded on the floor: - House Bill 12 17 repeals section 12.1-20-17 of the North Dakota Century Code, removing a felony specific to willfully transferring bodily fluid containing HIV; the Human Services Committee described the change as aligning HIV with other communicable diseases and cited advances in treatment that reduce transmission risk. The bill passed 34-13. - House Bill 12 24 raises the threshold for administrative collection of small estates to $100,000; sponsors noted surrounding states have adopted the same threshold. The bill passed unanimously, 47-0. - House Bill 10 67 modifies Medicaid waiver rules for disabled children, including raising the eligibility age for the autism waiver from 18 to 20 and taking effect July 1, 2026; the bill passed 47-0.
Procedural motions recorded earlier in the session moved two House bills back to the Senate floor and re-referred them: Senator Klein moved that House Bill 11 30 be returned to the Senate floor from the Finance and Taxation Committee; that motion prevailed and the Senate subsequently re-referred House Bill 11 30 to the Education Committee. Senator Klein made a similar motion for House Bill 12 29, returning it from the Judiciary Committee to the floor and re-referring it to the Transportation Committee.
The Senate also adopted proposed amendments on a pair of bills under consideration for amendment: an amendment to House Bill 11 39 providing an excise tax exemption for specified fire vehicles was adopted on a voice vote; and amendments to House Bill 14 97 to preserve four-year-old preschool program eligibility for the Best in Class program were adopted by voice vote, with committee sponsors asking for concurrence.
A list of final tallies and outcomes is included below.
