The North Dakota House Human Services Committee considered a slate of bills Oct. 8 and issued recommendations or held measures. Below is a concise summary of each bill acted on, the committee’s disposition, and key notes from the hearing.

Votes at a glance

- House Bill 1035 — Social worker licensure compact: Committee recommended do-pass; recorded vote 14 yes, 0 no. Members discussed that the compact is new and likely to see tweaks as more states adopt it; committee noted potential tailoring to North Dakota in future sessions.

- House Bill 1039 — (Title not specified in transcript): Committee recommended do-pass; recorded vote reported as 13 yes, 0 no. No substantive discussion recorded.

- House Bill 1049 — Licensing bill: Committee removed proposed subpoena language (section 3) by voice vote and then recommended do-pass on the bill as amended; recorded roll call 12 yes, 1 no. (See separate article for detail.)

- House Bill 1071 — Committee recommended do-pass; recorded vote 13 yes, 0 no. Members confirmed that moving from permits to licenses will not displace currently permitted workers; existing permit holders would transition to licenses under the bill’s framework.

- House Bill 10107 (as transcribed) — The committee voted do-pass; recorded vote reported as 13 yes, 0 no. Committee discussion referenced a “shall study” provision that committee leadership supported given past litigation related to services for persons with disabilities.

- House Bill 1108 — Committee recommended do-pass; recorded vote 13 yes, 0 no. DHHS counsel clarified that the bill would not itself constitute a probation violation; probation officers and courts retain discretion.

- House Bill 1154 — Committee recommended do-pass; recorded vote 13 yes, 0 no.

Procedural notes

- House Bill 1068 was set aside (held) pending an additional amendment. An assistant attorney general presented a confidentiality amendment to add forensic examiners, their designees, and county coroners to a defined list in the bill; committee expects to revisit the bill next week.

- During the hearing members repeatedly emphasized caution when adding new powers to boards, particularly investigatory authorities such as subpoenas. In the case of HB 1049 the committee removed the proposed subpoena authority before advancing the bill.

Next steps

Most bills that received a do-pass recommendation will be placed on the House calendar for further floor consideration; committee staff and bill carriers were assigned to move bills forward. Specific calendar dates were not set during the meeting.

Roll-call tallies and amendment text referenced above were taken from the committee proceeding transcript; where the transcript did not provide full bill titles or complete statutory citations, the article notes that those details were not specified.