Committee hears competing views on regulating earned‑wage access; industry split over proposed real‑time database

The Senate Industry and Business Committee heard testimony on House Bill 1393, a measure to regulate earned‑wage access (EWA) providers and to add penalties for noncompliance. Testimony laid out a clear industry split: vendors that provide direct‑to‑consumer advances and regulatory consultants pressed for a real‑time transaction database; employer‑integrated providers and fintech trade groups opposed a database requirement, saying it would raise costs, raise privacy concerns and may not address real harms seen in EWA.

Representative Jason Dockter introduced the bill as an effort to bring online EWA providers onto an "even playing field" with brick‑and‑mortar deferred‑presentment businesses that report to a statewide database. "If they want to go brick and mortar, they can. If they want to do it on a phone app, they can. They just should follow the same requirements for giving their information," Dockter said.

Bill Kalanick, representing the North Dakota Pawnbrokers Association and Catalyst companies, urged an amendment to require direct‑to‑consumer providers to submit transaction data to a statewide database. He cited…