House Human Services committee hears bill to create North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine

The House Human Services Committee opened a hearing on House Bill 1612 to establish the North Dakota Center for Aerospace Medicine and asked the clerk to read the title. Representative Landon Bail of Grand Forks introduced the bill and said the proposal would be housed at the University of North Dakota under the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences and work in coordination with the North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Bail said the bill as amended would carry a one-time appropriation of $500,000, reduced from an initial $2 million, with the goal of seeking the remainder through a separate bill (House Bill 1221).

The bill’s sponsors and subject-matter witnesses told the committee the proposal responds to mental-health barriers unique to aviation: pilots and other aviation professionals can lose their FAA medical certificates after seeking mental health care, which discourages many from getting help. “Mental health is health care,” Representative Landon Bail said, adding the center would “advance aeromedical research, facilitate aviation research across the state of North Dakota and provide assistance to flight students and aviation professionals across the entire state.”

Family members and students described personal consequences. Anne Houser’s written testimony, read into the record by Bail, said her son John Houser, a 19-year-old UND aviation student, left a note urging others to “get the FAA to change the rules on pilots seeking help with their mental health.” The letter said John worried that seeking treatment would threaten his medical certificate and grounding him; the Houser family has established the John A. Houser Mental Health and Aviation Initiative Fund at UND to promote awareness, peer support and counseling access.

Jacob Raybon, a recent UND graduate and former fraternity president, told the committee the fraternity’s campus community had been broken by Houser’s death and urged lawmakers to “be the tip of the spear” in giving pilots and aviation students more resources. Christopher Anderson, a certified flight instructor and UND aviation student, described the aviation medical certification process in detail and said pilots who seek care face the realistic prospect of being grounded for an unspecified period while they obtain a special issuance; he warned that the choice between getting help and preserving a flying career deters care.

Elizabeth Bierke, associate dean of the UND College of Aerospace and a longtime participant in industry rulemaking, told the committee UND already provides a foundation for the center: UND Student Health Services employs FAA aviation medical examiners and conducts nearly 1,000 aviation medicals annually, Bierke said, and the university has used strategic funds to create an aviation mental-health summit and train clinicians in aeromedical assessment. “Pilots simply do not trust this complicated process,” Bierke said, describing limited access to Human Intervention Motivation Study (HIMS)–trained examiners and certified psychologists as a key gap the center would address.

Jessica Dodi, director of UND Student Health Services, described clinical capacity at UND and the school’s plans to expand services across the state. Dodi told lawmakers UND currently lists 2–3 FAA-designated aviation medical examiners in North Dakota and said only two physicians had completed the specialized HIMS training, while UND employs psychologists with HIMS credentials and has seen more than 100 pilot phone inquiries in the past year. Kyle Wanner, executive director of the North Dakota Aeronautics Commission, supported the bill and emphasized growth in the state’s aviation sector, citing rising passenger numbers and pilot training at UND.

Witnesses said the center would pursue three tracks: clinical services to help pilots navigate FAA medical certification; education to make clinicians statewide “aviation savvy”; and research to collect data the FAA can use to consider regulatory changes. Speakers told the committee the FAA has been engaged in related conversations and that North Dakota could serve as a testing ground for best practices, but they acknowledged federal rule changes would be required to remove some barriers.

The committee recorded no formal vote on House Bill 1612 and closed the hearing after receiving testimony in support. Several witnesses asked for a favorable due-pass recommendation to allow work on appropriations and further development of the center’s structure.

The record contains written testimony from the Houser family and multiple UND and industry witnesses; no organized opposition testimony was recorded during the hearing.