House Human Services committee hears bill to rename regional human service centers, add certified behavioral clinic rules

Senate Bill 2113, which would change the name of regional human service centers to state-operated behavioral health clinics and establish a process for certifying community behavioral health clinics, was heard by the House Human Services Committee. Jonathan Ulm, chief legal officer for the Department of Health and Human Services, testified in support and walked committee members through numerous statutory changes included in the engrossed bill.

The bill makes a series of technical and substantive changes across multiple statutory sections, updates departmental program names, clarifies information‑sharing and appeals authority for the department, adds the department’s ability to pay stipends to participants who serve on councils and boards, and creates a certification pathway for certified community behavioral health clinics. It also includes a $150,000 appropriation to update signage, an amendment added by the Senate.

Ulm told the committee the engrossed bill renames “Regional Human Service Centers” to “State Operated Behavioral Health Clinics,” removes obsolete deadlines and restructuring language, and aligns department rules with the move from accreditation toward certification as certified community behavioral health clinics. He said the change clarifies that the state-operated behavioral health clinics provide community‑based behavioral health services and that state operated behavioral health clinic directors follow regular state hiring practices rather than a commissioner appointment requirement. “There is no loss of service,” Ulm said when describing the restructuring in the bill.

The bill adds a new subsection allowing the department to pay a stipend to recipients or providers who serve on advisory councils or boards; proponents said that would increase participation and provide consistency across department councils. Ulm also described a new subsection permitting the department to appeal court orders that require the department to perform a function, service, or duty, because the department sometimes receives orders in which it is not a party. The bill would also require providers receiving department funds to submit process and outcome measures, a requirement the department has included in budget bills previously and is seeking to codify.

Nikki Wagner, president of the North Dakota Long Term Care Association, testified in support of the Senate amendment to change daily reporting requirements in the behavioral health bed management system for general psychiatric skilled nursing facilities (geropsychiatric facilities). She and Maren Gamer, CEO/administrator of SMP Health Saint Raphael in Valley City, told the committee that geropsychiatric units have long average lengths of stay and high occupancy, which makes daily bed reporting administratively burdensome and of limited operational value. Gamer said her facility’s geropsychiatric unit averaged about 691 days per stay and reported only a handful of admissions and discharges in 2024. Both urged keeping the Senate amendment that shifts rudimentary daily reporting to a weekly requirement with updates within 48 hours when a bed becomes available.

Denise Harvey, director of program services for Protection & Advocacy, supported the department’s move to create certified community behavioral health clinics and the changes to the Cross Disability Advisory Council membership, but she expressed concern with sections that permit court‑ordered admissions of juveniles to the North Dakota State Hospital or the Life Skills and Transition Center. Harvey said P&A believes institutional placement by court order can conflict with Olmstead principles and urged the committee to review the court’s ability to order institutional placement of youth. She also noted that while the bill gives the department the ability to appeal court orders, P&A worried that appeals could divert resources from community alternatives.

The bill makes multiple discrete statutory edits across at least a dozen sections (the engrossed package referenced Sections 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 36 in Ulm’s testimony). Ulm said some language is being restored at the auditor’s request (an operating fund line first adopted in 1971), and other changes update vendor names and remove outdated mandates. The committee took questions from members about the stipend language (Ulm said stipends must fit within existing appropriations and gave the Early Childhood Services Board as an example of a board that sometimes pays stipends) and about the function of the special operating fund (Ulm described it as a revolving fund that can receive income, for example, Medicaid billing recoveries).

No vote was taken during the hearing; the committee opened Senate Bill 2113, received testimony from the department and stakeholders, and then closed the hearing after additional supportive testimony. The clerk read the bill title at the start of the hearing and the committee closed the hearing following public testimony and questions.

The bill text, as described in testimony, would (a) rename facilities and update related statutory language, (b) create a certification process for certified community behavioral health clinics and allow the department to adopt related rules, (c) add stipend authority for council/board participants, (d) add internal information‑sharing clarifications subject to federal law, and (e) add an ability for the department to appeal court orders that require it to perform duties when it is not a party.

The committee hearing record includes supportive testimony from the department, long‑term care providers, and protection and advocacy, along with committee questions. Chairman Ruby opened and closed the hearing; no formal committee vote on the measure was recorded at this hearing.