Private-investigation board seeks statutory fee ceiling amid backlog; industry critics urge transparency

The House Industry, Business and Labor Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 2051, which would amend Section 43-30-16 of the North Dakota Century Code to allow the North Dakota Private Investigation and Security Board (NDPISB) to operate under a statutory ceiling for fees and to seek an emergency clause so any rulemaking could take effect for the board's September 30 renewal season.

Chris Redmond, special assistant attorney general representing the board, and John Shorey, the board's executive director, told the committee the board's only funding source is industry fees and that protracted litigation related to protests around Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and subsequent open-records work left the board with substantial unplanned expenses. Redmond said the bill establishes a fee ceiling and that an administrative-rules process would be required to actually raise fees in practice; "this bill in and of itself raises fees, that's not what this bill does," he told the committee. Shorey said the ceiling would permit the board to begin an administrative-rules process in time to affect the September renewal season.

Shorey described litigation and related document handling tied to the TigerSwan/DAPL matter: a settlement payment of $175,000 to the board and case-related expenses of $155,469 to date; discovery produced roughly 61,000 pages that required redaction, an effort Shorey estimated at 440.2 staff hours and that he quantified in testimony as producing redaction costs (one cited figure in testimony was $6,006.25 for a particular redaction effort). A prior appropriation request for about $36,318.11 to reimburse DAPL-related expenses failed in the Senate committee, Shorey said, leaving fee changes as the board's only remedy.

Board witnesses said the board plans to use fees to hire part-time administrative help and to acquire a cloud-based licensing system to reduce future backlogs. Shorey and board members told the committee that many renewal applications were incomplete and that the board's paper-based process contributed to a backlog dating to 202026#x2013;22; the board estimated about 1,700 active individual licensees and registrations.

Several industry members and small-business owners testified in opposition. Sarah Cody, owner of Apex Security and Investigations, said she submitted 2024 renewal applications and payments on time but had waited six months for renewed cards and that at least one of her checks was not deposited for weeks. Cody urged the committee to reject the bill until the board demonstrates improved operations and transparency, and she proposed non-monetary fixes such as volunteer help and a move to a two-year renewal cycle. John Pumphrey of Elite Security Solutions likewise urged more transparency, saying some board meeting minutes were not publicly available and that industry members learned of the bill secondhand.

Committee members pressed board staff about the two-step process (statutory ceiling followed by administrative rules) and about emergency-clause timing to capture renewal-season revenue. Several representatives noted concern about sudden doubling of fees; board witnesses said the board would use the administrative-rules process and industry notice and hearing to set actual increases and that the board's intent is to restore solvency and later reduce fees when feasible. The committee closed the hearing without recording a committee vote on the bill during this session.