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Committee approves bill letting cities, counties fix outdated home rule language by resolution
Summary
The committee unanimously adopted an amendment and gave Senate Bill 2324 a do-pass recommendation to allow counties and cities to resolve technical conflicts in home rule charters with statute or court decisions by passing a local resolution and filing it publicly, rather than asking voters to amend charters for housekeeping changes.
The Senate State and Local Government Committee on Monday adopted amendments and unanimously recommended Senate Bill 2324, a measure that would let counties—and, by amendment, cities—use a formal resolution to correct language in local home rule charters that has been superseded or rendered nonconforming by changes in state law or court rulings.
Senator Brad Beckettall, sponsor of the bill and a Williams County requestor, said the change would allow "housekeeping language revisions" to be fixed by the local governing board rather than requiring a public vote when the change merely brings charter language into conformity with current North Dakota Century Code. "These are housekeeping language revisions to amend the nonconforming portions of their home rule charters," Beckettall said.
Stephanie Ingebretson, legislative counsel for the North Dakota League of Cities, testified in favor and said the amendment adds cities to the bill, clarifies that the change applies when a charter provision is preempted, superseded or invalidated by statute or court order, and requires public notice in the county's official newspaper or on its website. "This is intended to be a tool . . . so that we can pass a resolution to amend that language without taking it to a vote," she said.
Williams County representative Lindsey Harriman described local experience trying to update charter language and said using a resolution for technical fixes would be more efficient. Alison Hicks, an assistant attorney general who handles political subdivision matters, asked that amended charters be filed with the Secretary of State; committee members accepted language adding filing requirements to the amendment.
The committee approved the draft amendment (labeled 1,001 in committee discussion) to add cities and to require that the amended charter be filed with the Secretary of State, on a motion by Senator Lee and a second by Senator Barta. The committee then voted 6-0 to give the bill a due-pass-as-amended recommendation. Senator Lee volunteered to carry the bill.
Committee testimony stressed limits in the bill: local bodies could not use the expedited procedure to add powers not in the original charter; any change that adds powers must still go to a public vote under the Century Code provisions the amendment preserves. The amendment requires the county or city to publish the resolution or post it on its website within 30 days to notify the public.
Supporters said the proposal is a targeted fix for clerical and statutory-conformity problems that arise when state law changes and leaves local charter text out of date; opponents were not recorded in committee testimony.
