Senate panel hears bill to simplify titles for older "fence‑row" vehicles

Senate Transportation Committee Chairman David Clemens opened a hearing on Senate Bill 2247, which would create an affidavit‑based path to title ownership of older, untitled vehicles, allowing buyers or restorers to obtain a certificate of title for vehicles more than 40 years old.

Proponents told the committee the measure would reduce costly, time‑consuming court processes and let people who inherit or buy long‑stored vehicles document ownership without an original title or a notarized bill of sale.

Senator Paul Thomas, R‑District 6, told the committee he introduced the bill after constituents and car‑club members reported repeated problems obtaining titles for decades‑old vehicles. “The heart of this bill is really on the last page in section E,” Thomas said, adding that the draft replaces a “statement of ownership” with an “affidavit of ownership” and gives applicants the option to declare a vehicle purchase price on the form.

Under Thomas’s draft, when a transferee is a person and the vehicle is more than 40 years old at the time of application, satisfactory proof of ownership would be established by a notarized affidavit of ownership containing make, model, VIN, description of how the applicant came into possession, and certification of no liens. The applicant would bring the affidavit to the Department of Motor Vehicles; DMV staff would still perform their standard checks, including confirming the vehicle is not listed as stolen.

The bill reflects repeated testimony from restoration hobbyists and owners who said current procedures are cumbersome or effectively impossible in many cases. Warren Heidenreich of Mandan told the committee the bill “would help us to put so people would know that's our vehicle,” describing a truck he bought for $200 and later sold for $5,000 but could not easily title. Robert “Pete” Honrut of Bismarck described using a workaround in which he temporarily sold and repurchased a car so he could obtain a title, saying, “I sold it to him. I bought it back from him so I could get a title.”

Several witnesses urged the committee to remove the requirement for a notarized bill of sale or to permit the affidavit in place of a bill of sale. Richard Johnson, a longtime collector, said the bill would provide a stable, statewide procedure instead of relying on ad‑hoc solutions from individual DMV staff. Roger Gauzer, a restoration professional and club member, supported parts of the bill but urged the committee to consider an assigned VIN process for some very old cars (for example, Model A bodies that never bore a readable chassis number).

Senator Tony Hogan asked whether the 40‑year cutoff was intended to reduce theft risk; he said keeping a higher threshold could prevent fraud. “It is because of the potential risk,” Hogan said, supporting the distinction between newer vehicles and older vehicles of low market value. Thomas and other witnesses said most vehicles older than 40 years have relatively low market value and that the affidavit would carry legal liability for false statements.

Melissa Diebolds of the Motor Vehicle Division, Department of Transportation, told the committee she and DOT staff reviewed an amended draft and remained essentially neutral, saying they saw “no huge red flags that we can't work through” with the sponsor. Diebolds and other DOT staff noted DMV would continue procedural checks beyond accepting an affidavit, including VIN verification and stolen‑vehicle database queries.

Supporters asked the committee to eliminate or relax requirements that they said are barriers in the present administrative process, such as tracing prior owners and producing bills of sale for vehicles that have been on farmsteads or in barns for decades. Opponents who testified earlier in the session raised concerns about assigned VIN procedures and the need for clear administrative standards so local DMV offices apply the rule consistently.

The committee heard multiple anecdotal examples of vehicles left on farms, acquired informally, or passed down in family estates; witnesses said a predictable administrative form—a notarized affidavit created by the department—would let owners legalize titles without expensive court actions. Thomas said the proposed affidavit would ask for descriptive information, the applicant’s attestation regarding liens and ownership, and a notarized signature.

The bill does not change DMV's ability to run checks for theft, outstanding liens or other encumbrances; DMV staff said those checks would remain part of the process. The sponsor said the affidavit would not eliminate enforcement tools and would carry legal consequences for false statements.

The hearing closed with the committee accepting the testimony; members did not take a vote at the hearing. Committee staff and DOT indicated they will continue to work with the sponsor on technical language and implementation details.

The committee left the record open for further material and may take the bill up in a subsequent meeting.