Committee hears rewrite of municipal‑court law; debate over court‑of‑record, prosecutor presence and costs (House Bill 1032)

The Political Subdivisions Committee opened a hearing on House Bill 1032, a statutory rewrite that would reorganize and update state law governing municipal courts, add procedures for fitness to proceed and criminal responsibility, and create a new chapter titled “Municipal Courts” (proposed chapter 40-18.1).

Proponents described the bill as a compilation and modernization of scattered code sections and said it was the product of a multi‑party interim study involving the Judiciary Interim Committee, the North Dakota Supreme Court, the League of Cities, and municipal judges. Senator Yana Bridal, who introduced the bill on behalf of legislative management, said the draft resulted from that collaboration and asked the committee to hear detailed presentations from the Supreme Court and the League of Cities.

The court’s staff attorney, Sarah Behrens of the State Court Administrator’s Office, told lawmakers the rewrite primarily reorganizes current law and adds detail where procedures were unclear. “We have 73 municipal courts. 54 total judges, not including the alternates. Of those 54, 21 are law trained,” Behrens said, and she handed the committee a fact sheet listing court sizes and the smallest and largest jurisdictional populations (the smallest city with a court reported as Springbrook, population 37; the largest city without a municipal court reported as Watford City, population 6,207).

Key provisions and points of debate The draft statute would do the following (summarized from committee testimony and the printed bill): - Consolidate…