Senate defeats PTSD workers’ comp bill, approves custody enforcement, farming and radon disclosure measures

At a floor session in Bismarck this week, the North Dakota Senate rejected a proposal to add post‑traumatic stress disorder to workers’ compensation coverage and approved several other bills after extended committee and floor debate.

The most contested measure, Senate Bill 2181, would have added PTSD as a compensable condition under Workforce Safety & Insurance (WSI). The Senate voted 16 ayes, 29 nays, 2 absent; the bill failed. Supporters said the bill included guardrails — a two‑biennium sunset, a 32‑week limit on disability benefits per claim, a two‑claim lifetime cap, an effective date of Aug. 1, 2025, and diagnostic and causation standards — but committee fiscal analysis and testimony from insurers raised concerns about unknown long‑term premium and reserve impacts.

Why it matters: Advocates said coverage would help first responders and others with work‑related PTSD obtain care. Opponents warned that other states’ experiences showed steep premium increases and that WSI lacks sufficient data to set rates now.

On other major items, the Senate passed legislation creating criminal penalties and civil citations tied to certain custody violations and false reports (Senate Bill 2186), approved a statutory cleanup to corporate/LLC farming language after rejecting a floor amendment (Senate Bill 2150), and adopted a seller radon‑disclosure and education measure (Senate Bill 2204). Debate on a proposed statewide property‑tax information portal (Senate Bill 2166)…