House Judiciary hears bill to create juvenile-specific competency process, $500,000 appropriation and delayed start

House Judiciary Committee members opened a public hearing on Senate Bill 2,036, a measure that would create a standalone juvenile competency chapter in the North Dakota Century Code, set timelines for fitness evaluations and hearings and authorize remediation paths for juveniles found unfit to proceed.

The bill matters because current practice evaluates juvenile fitness under adult statutory sections and lacks a unified juvenile-specific process, proponents said. The measure would codify due-process protections, define “remediation” for juveniles, and allow courts to take judicial notice of prior fitness determinations. The bill includes a $500,000 appropriation to contract for remediation and evaluation services and carries a delayed effective date of Jan. 2, 2027.

“We do stand in support of Senate Bill 2,036,” said Travis Fink, executive director of the Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigence, who described the bill as the product of an interim competency work group chaired by Judge Nick Thornton and guided by national best practices. Fink said the legislation pulls provisions now scattered across adult and delinquency chapters into a new juvenile chapter (proposed chapter 2720.5xx) and codifies time frames for evaluation, reporting and hearings.

Under the bill as described in committee testimony, a fitness (competency) evaluation must be scheduled within 20 days after…