Panel hears bill to seal dismissed criminal records after change to court rule

The House Judiciary Committee opened a hearing on House Bill 1166, which would establish a statutory process to seal criminal records for dismissed, not-guilty or pardoned cases and apply that process retroactively, Rep. Brandy Pyle said.

Supporters told the committee the proposal responds to a change in North Dakota Supreme Court Administrative Rule 41 that removed a sentence limiting name-based public searches and, they said, unintentionally restored public visibility for many long-closed nonconviction records. Opponents — including court administrators and the North Dakota Newspaper Association — warned the bill’s retroactive and emergency provisions would impose large burdens on clerks, erase routine public access and hamper news reporting.

Rep. Brandy Pyle, a state representative from District 22, told the committee the bill “will create a process for criminal records to be sealed much like the current process for successful completion of a deferred sentence,” and urged a do-pass recommendation. Pyle and witnesses said the measure would use the same 61-day timing now used for…