Committee backs Dietitian Licensure Compact to ease licensing for relocating practitioners

The House Industry, Business and Labor Committee voted to recommend passage of Senate Bill 2223, the Dietitian Licensure Compact, following testimony that the compact would make it easier for registered dietitians to practice across member states and would expand telehealth access for rural North Dakotans.

Supporters told the committee the compact is one of several interstate licensure agreements being tracked by the Department of Defense to improve quality of life for military families and to help trailing spouses continue professional work after relocation. Jay Sheldon, administrator for the North Dakota Military Commission, said the commission views compacts as one tool to make the state more military friendly and help retain basing decisions, adding, "it is just way better to be in front of the game than try to react."

The bill’s primary professional supporters, including Amanda Emmels of the North Dakota Board of Dietetic Practice and representatives of the North Dakota Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, said North Dakota’s 2021 dietetics practice act is among the more comprehensive state laws and that joining the compact early would allow the state to help shape the compact’s rules. Emmels told the committee North Dakota first licensed dietitians in 1985 and updated its practice act in 2021 after a rule challenge; because of that earlier work the state has been invited into national conversations about the compact.

Testifying examples and reasons given in support: - Telehealth expansion and rural access: clinicians said the compact would reduce administrative burdens from holding multiple state licenses and help dietitians deliver care across state lines by telemedicine. - Workforce mobility: witnesses said the compact would help military families and other relocating professionals keep working immediately after moving, avoiding multi‑state licensing delays. - Regulatory coordination: supporters said a compact would create a shared data system for licensure and disciplinary information that could speed verification and communication between states.

Representative Ruby moved a do-pass recommendation; Representative Ulmer seconded. The committee recorded the motion and approved the bill by roll call.

The committee vote advances the bill to the next step in the legislative process. If adopted by the full chamber and enough states join the compact (witnesses said an activation threshold of seven member states is common), the compact would permit participating jurisdictions to recognize an individual’s compact privilege to practice in other member states according to the compact’s terms.

The hearing record included multiple dietitians and professional association representatives who described personal and clinical situations that motivated the request for reciprocity, and the North Dakota Military Commission’s representative who explained DOD’s interest in interstate compacts as a quality‑of‑life factor for basing decisions.