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Votes at a glance: North Dakota Senate passes multiple bills, rejects one on school cardiac training
Summary
The North Dakota Senate passed a series of bills on topics from emergency-vehicle penalties to tourism designation and rejected one education-related bill during its floor session.
The North Dakota Senate took final action on a slate of bills during its floor session. Major outcomes:
- Senate Bill 2132 (careless driving causing injury to operator of authorized emergency vehicle): Passed, final tally 47-0. The bill amends section 39-09-01 of the North Dakota Century Code to make striking an authorized emergency vehicle an infraction similar to the existing penalty for striking a snowplow when damage exceeds $1,000 or causes injury. Committee testimony from the Highway Patrol documented multiple crashes to department vehicles and argued for stronger penalties and parity with protections for snowplow operators.
- Senate Bill 2196 (student self-administration of asthma or anaphylaxis medication): Passed, final tally 47-0. Sponsors described the bill as a technical clarification allowing noninjection self-administration options for students who need them.
- Senate Bill 2154 (definition of primary sector business — tourism): Passed, final tally 47-0. The bill adds tourism to the definition of primary sector business, allowing qualified tourism businesses to apply for primary-sector designation and related economic development tools. Sponsors emphasized tourism's out-of-state revenue contribution and statewide presence.
- Senate Bill 2110 (certification and regulation of water distribution and wastewater system operators): Passed, final tally 47-0. The bill, brought by the Department of Environmental Quality, updates certification fees, testing opportunities and violation expectations; an amendment adopted earlier provided due-process protections.
- Senate Bill 2117 (abandoned surface mine reclamation): Passed, final tally 47-0. The bill aligns state code with federal rules to ensure clarity on allowable projects funded from the Abandoned Mine Lands (AML) set-aside created under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and clarifies eligible uses, such as acid mine drainage, subsidence, and coal-fire reclamation.
- Senate Bill 2172 (long-term care insurance policy terms and claims): Passed, final tally 47-0. Sponsors said the bill clarifies definitions and strengthens Department of Insurance oversight to ensure consumers in different facility types receive claims based on medical need, not only facility label.
- Senate Bill 2099 (cardiac arrest prevention and education for student athletes and coaches): Failed, final tally 14-33. The Education Committee had recommended a "do not pass," citing duplication, agency suitability and burdens on small schools.
Other floor actions and amendments adopted on voice or unanimous consent included changes to Senate Bill 2158 (clarifying district-to-district transfers of unobligated school district reserves), Senate Bill 2195 (amendment raising purchaser age for certain aerosol inhalants and adjusting possession limits), and returning Senate Bill 2318 to the floor for withdrawal; Senate Bill 2318 was subsequently withdrawn by unanimous consent.
Most final-passage votes recorded were unanimous (47-0) where indicated by the secretary's tally. Where bills required fiscal review or had fiscal notes, several were re-referred to the Appropriations Committee for further consideration.
