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Panel approves technical updates to fire marshal law; amendment clears committee unanimously
Summary
Senate Bill 2090, which updates Title 18 language after the transfer of the state fire marshal's office to the Insurance Department and redirects a fireworks application fee to the insurance regulatory trust fund, passed the committee as amended 12-0-1; the bill removes an obsolete inspection fee, updates hazardous-materials language and stream
The House Industry, Business and Labor Committee voted to amend and give a due-pass recommendation to Senate Bill 2090, an agency bill that updates Title 18 of the North Dakota Century Code to reflect the transfer of the state fire marshal's office from the attorney general's office to the Insurance Department and to streamline several administrative processes.
State Fire Marshal Doug Nelson outlined the bill's principal changes: updated language describing fire investigations and fire- and life-safety responsibilities; a clarification excluding the Department of Emergency Services' hazardous-materials reporting program from the fire marshal's scope; removal of a rarely used fee for inspections of facilities licensed by the Department of Human Services; an update recognizing a new federal fire-reporting system; and a proposal to redirect the $250 fireworks-application fee from the general fund to the insurance regulatory trust fund (estimated at about $10,500 annually). Nelson said the change moves fee revenue to the fund supporting the fire marshal's operations following the office's transfer into the Insurance Department.
Nelson also asked the committee to eliminate interagency billing steps that require disproportionate administrative effort to recover relatively small amounts from the Department of Environmental Quality and the Fire and Tornado Fund; those billing processes, he said, added layers of work for modest returns.
Chief Deputy Insurance Commissioner John Arnold clarified that moving the $10,500 in fireworks fees to the insurance regulatory trust fund aligns receipts with the Insurance Department's funding model after the office transfer. The committee adopted a narrow amendment to further clarify hazardous-materials scope and then voted to approve the amendment (12 yes, 0 no, 1 absent). The committee then voted to give the amended bill a due-pass recommendation (12 yes, 0 no, 1 absent).
