Committee gives due-pass to bill reorganizing North Dakota Commission on Uniform State Laws

The House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday recommended a due-pass on House Bill 11-75, a bill that reorganizes and updates chapter 54-55 of the North Dakota Century Code governing the North Dakota Commission on Uniform State Laws. Representative Lawrence Clamine, sponsor of the bill and chairman of the state commission, testified in support; the committee vote was 13-0 with one absent.

The bill rewrites and reorganizes the existing statutory language about membership and officers, adds an explicit vice chairman position, updates references to the national Uniform Law Commission (ULC) and clarifies compensation and per diem language for legislators attending commission meetings. It also adds a new subsection that lets Legislative Management appoint a qualified attorney if there are no licensed lawyers available in the Legislature to serve as the legislative member.

"Members of the House Judiciary Committee, I'm Lawrence Clamine, representative for District 47 in Bismarck," Clamine said while describing the bill's changes and the commission's role. He told the committee the rewrite is primarily a technical reorganization to comply with current drafting practices and to remove obsolete language. Clamine noted the commission’s work with the national ULC and said North Dakota has enacted many model acts over time.

Committee members asked procedural and oversight questions. Representative Van Winkle asked who determines whether an attorney is in good standing; Clamine replied the state Supreme Court handles attorney discipline and supervision. Representative Twight asked whether Clamine should recuse himself because he serves on the commission; Clamine said he did not see a conflict beyond routine per diem payments.

Representative Vetter moved a due-pass recommendation for House Bill 11-75; Representative Satrim seconded. The clerk’s roll call showed 13 yes votes and one absent. After the motion passed, the committee assigned Representative Hoverson as the bill carrier to take the bill forward.

The bill reorganizes statutory subsections for clarity, clarifies which categories of appointees must be licensed attorneys at first appointment, adds the vice-chair officer slot, and updates compensation language to align with current per-diem provisions for legislators who attend commission meetings. Clamine said the changes remove obsolete provisions that referred to long-serving legislators who no longer are common because of term limits.

With the committee recommendation, House Bill 11-75 moves to the next step in the House process accompanied by the committee record of the 13-0 due-pass vote.