Committee holds Senate Bill 2243 for revisions after debate over traffic points and out‑of‑state tickets

At a House Transportation Committee meeting, members agreed to hold Senate Bill 2243 for further amendment after discussing proposed changes to the state—s traffic-violation points system and related fines.

Chairman Ruby opened the discussion by noting the committee had one unfinished bill, Senate Bill 2243, and asked Representative Koppelman to outline possible amendments. Representative Koppelman said, "I'd like to somewhat restore the original bill," explaining the original draft corrected an inconsistency in how speeding fines were assigned points and that a portion of the current draft omits language that would have excluded low-point violations from reporting to law enforcement.

The committee spent most of its time debating where the points schedule should be adjusted. Koppelman recommended restoring the first part of the original bill that would treat many low-level violations as "two points or less" and then selectively raise points only where law enforcement data supported repeat or egregious offending. He cautioned against automatically assigning three points to some offenses, saying he was "a little bit nervous about changing the points on the, what we call the texting law." He cited a municipal practice he had flagged in Fargo where local guidance appeared to treat certain phone uses differently than state statute.

Representative Schatz asked whether out-of-state tickets affect a North Dakota driving record and whether the state should add a monetary penalty for nonresident drivers. After discussion about interstate reciprocity and the need to consult the Department of Transportation, Schatz said, "I think that if it's worth 3 points, then we should be adding $50 a point to that ticket for out of state people." Committee members did not adopt that change at the meeting and said they would seek DOT input on how out-of-state citations are reported and enforced.

Representative Fralick raised a specific concern about an item in the draft that would assign three points for certain stop-sign-related violations, noting he had looked up the cited provisions and observed cases where a motorist might technically fail to yield without causing a crash. "You went before the other person to your right or something, and now it's at 3 that's 3 points," Fralick said, expressing surprise at the severity.

Members also questioned whether some longstanding offenses still serve a safety purpose. Koppelman said he personally thought assigning points for open-container violations was unnecessary now that DUI offenses are enforced with a 0.08 blood-alcohol threshold. He urged the committee to balance any point increases by removing or reducing points on other, lower-risk offenses.

No formal amendments or votes were taken. The committee agreed to hold the bill while Koppelman drafts revisions and solicits law-enforcement input, and to reconvene Thursday afternoon to consider those amendments. The chair said the committee does not plan to meet tomorrow and will aim to act on SB 2243 when members return.

Next steps: Representative Koppelman will circulate proposed amendments that aim to restore portions of the original bill and to narrow any new three-point assignments; staff will seek guidance from the Department of Transportation on interstate reporting of citations. The committee scheduled a follow-up meeting for Thursday afternoon to consider the draft changes.