Committee approves bill clarifying when probation begins after alternatives to incarceration

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to give Senate Bill 2067 a favorable recommendation after hearing from Tom Earhart of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The bill clarifies North Dakota Century Code 12.1‑32‑06.1 to state that a defendant’s probation period begins after release from incarceration or completion of an alternative to incarceration unless the court orders a different start date.

Earhart told the committee that business practice historically treated alternatives to incarceration — such as house arrest with electronic monitoring or inpatient treatment — as equivalent to incarceration for the purpose of computing probation start and end dates. He said the bill would put that practice into statute to reduce confusion about when probation begins and when DOCR may file petitions for revocation if defendants fail to serve court‑ordered alternatives.

“Probation starts after the defendant’s release from incarceration or an alternative to incarceration,” Earhart said, explaining the statutory gap the bill seeks to close. Committee members asked whether this would mean, in practice, that probation would begin when an ankle monitor is removed; Earhart confirmed that absent a different date in the judgment, that is how the statute would be applied.

What happened next: Senator Meerdal moved a due‑pass recommendation for the bill and the committee took a verbal roll call. The committee reported the motion carried and designated a senator to carry the bill forward to the floor.

Ending note: The committee’s action clarifies an administrative ambiguity about when supervised probation begins after noncustodial alternatives and is intended to align DOCR business practice with statutory direction and judicial intent.