State House Defeats Bill to Streamline North Dakota Ethics Commission

Rebecca Binstock, executive director of the North Dakota Ethics Commission. (Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)

(Mary Steurer – North Dakota Monitor)- The North Dakota House overwhelmingly defeated a bill that aimed to give the Ethics Commission more freedom over how it investigates potential ethics violations.

The Ethics Commission pushed for House Bill 1360 as a way to simplify the rules and laws that govern its work. Commission staff said this would both help reduce the commission’s backlog of complaints, as well as make the process easier to navigate for the public.

The Attorney General’s Office and Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s Office testified against the bill. Both agencies said the proposal would give the commission the authority to adopt and enforce its rules without proper checks and balances.

Referencing that testimony, Rep. Karen Rohr, R-Mandan, said on the floor  that House Bill 1360 raises “significant legal and constitutional concerns for clients, citizens and the state.”