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Treasurer asks committee to shorten FBI recheck period for staff with federal tax access; amendment adopted and bill advanced
Summary
State Treasurer Thomas Beadle told the State and Local Government Committee that Senate Bill 2073 would update criminal‑history check requirements for staff with access to federal tax information, aligning state code with federal guidance.
North Dakota State Treasurer Thomas Beadle testified in favor of Senate Bill 2073, which amends North Dakota Century Code provisions governing criminal history record checks for individuals with access to federal tax information.
Beadle told the State and Local Government Committee the bill updates state law to match changes in federal guidance and systems used to process background checks for employees who handle federal tax information. "This bill just seeks to codify that change to comply with the federal guidelines," Beadle said, describing a federal reduction in the recheck interval from 10 years to five years.
Technical amendment adopted: after introduction, the treasurer said he was approached by the Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), which recommended a conforming change to the code language in North Dakota Century Code 12‑60‑24 so the state's background‑check provisions match BCI's provisions. The amendment adds parallel wording (changing “individual” phrasing to “applicant or employee”) and removes the phrase "independent contractors," which the treasurer and committee counsel said the Treasurer’s Office no longer uses and could be undefined in practice. Beadle said the office removed the phrase to avoid ambiguity and to prevent a potential federal compliance issue: "having the term in there but having it not defined could result in a situation where... they could put our office on probation and ask us to come in and clean it up later anyways."
Committee action: the committee adopted the technical amendment (vote recorded as 5‑0‑1) and later voted to give SB 2073 a do‑pass recommendation as amended (also recorded as 5‑0‑1). Committee discussion referenced the amendment text that mirrors BCI language and the removal of independent‑contractor language because the Treasurer's Office said it does not use independent contractors in ways that would require background checks under this section.
Why it matters: the bill aligns state statute with federal background‑check practice for handling federal tax information, clarifies who must be screened, and reduces the recheck interval consistent with federal guidance.
Ending: The committee named a carrier for the bill and scheduled follow‑up steps to introduce the amendment and the bill on consecutive days.
