Senate subcommittee weighs who should run proposed Office of Guardianship and Conservatorship

The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Senate Bill 2029 heard testimony on a Supreme Court–drafted amendment and competing proposals for where a proposed Office of Guardianship and Conservatorship should sit in state government.

The Guardianship Association of North Dakota urged the panel to place the office under the governor's authority rather than the judiciary, saying the association's alternative rests "on 3 philosophical pillars of training, monitoring, and accountability," and warning that the bill as written could drive professional and family guardians away. "The future is now," the association's representative said, adding that Family Voices maintains a mailing list of "over 8,700 individuals associated with family guardianship."

The subcommittee heard a line-by-line explanation from Garrick Voigt, staff attorney for the North Dakota Supreme Court, who outlined edits the court system proposes to clarify the bill's scope and operation. Voigt walked the panel through targeted changes the court recommends, including limiting references to "public services" to services administered by the proposed office; adding language to permit an agency to be named on a…