Special committee advances HB1588 after removing binary-trigger exclusion, adds higher-education exception

A special meeting of the legislature's Special Gun Committee voted Thursday to send House Bill 1588 to the full committee with a due-pass recommendation after agreeing to several amendments, including removal of language that would have excluded a so-called "binary trigger" from the bill's definition of prohibited devices and a new carve-out for buildings and property under the control of the State Board of Higher Education.

The changes, approved in separate motions during the meeting, also replace enumerations such as "city, county, township" with the broader term "political subdivision," specify schools' leased or rented property, add exemptions for the governor and retired judges, and set noncriminal penalties for certain violations at $100 for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses.

The committee's action matters because HB1588 would create several new sections restricting possession of firearms or dangerous weapons in specified public places and grant rulemaking authority to the State Board of Higher Education over campus possession. That grant of authority was the focus of a discussion with university-system counsel, who asked for language clarifying when campus possession is allowed so members of the public and law enforcement are not left uncertain.

Chris Pesky, chief compliance officer for the North Dakota University System, told the committee that the bill as amended could leave a member of the public unsure whether they may carry on campus. "I don't know if I can bring a gun to campus or not. I would need to contact the campus to know whether it's permitted or not," Pesky said, and proposed text to make the exception explicit: buildings and property owned or under the control of the State Board of Higher Education, except as permitted by a policy adopted by the State Board of Higher Education.

Committee members discussed how to place the higher-education exception in the bill text and whether to reference an existing parking-lot statute, NDCC 62.10213, which was described during the meeting as governing vehicle-stored firearms on certain parking lots. Legislative staff advised moving the statutory parking-lot exception and any policy exception to the front of the clause if legislative counsel prefers exceptions listed first.

On a procedural amendment, committee members voted to remove overstruck language on page 2, lines 13–14, that had defined a "binary trigger" as firing one round on pull and one on release; that motion passed with the committee recording that it carried 3 to 1. The meeting transcript does not fully specify how each member voted on that motion; the committee clerk summarized the result as 3–1.

Other substantive edits the committee approved or discussed during the meeting include: - Replacing specific local-government terms with "political subdivision" to make the definitions apply uniformly to cities, counties, townships and similar entities; - Adding "property leased or rented by a school" to clarify that school-leased facilities such as ice arenas or baseball fields are covered; - Removing the phrase "publicly owned building" pending later clarification; - Adding exemptions that name the governor and a retired state or federal judge; - Changing the duty to show a license to a requirement to produce one only if requested by an officer; - Setting a first-offense civil penalty at $100 and $500 for subsequent offenses for specified noncriminal violations.

The committee also agreed to strike a prior section (section 4, page 5, lines 17–19) as part of the renumbering of the bill. Representative Doctor moved that the committee adopt the amendments and send HB1588 to the full committee with a due-pass recommendation; Representative Conmee seconded. The roll call for the final motion was recorded as yes votes on the due-pass recommendation and the bill was forwarded as amended.

The meeting record shows several drafting steps remain. Committee members directed staff to prepare the revised language — including an insertion that would read, in effect, "except as permitted by NDCC 62.10213 or a policy adopted by the State Board of Higher Education, buildings and property owned or under the control of the State Board of Higher Education" — and to circulate that text before the next committee presentation. No final policy on parking lots or the precise wording of the higher-education exception was enacted at the meeting; the committee asked legislative staff and the bill author to reconcile placement and wording with legislative counsel prior to the full committee hearing.

The vote actions taken in the special committee were procedural approvals of amended language and a recommendation to advance HB1588; they do not, by themselves, enact the bill. The full committee and subsequent floor processes will determine whether the bill's restrictions and exceptions take effect or are further amended.