North Dakota Senate Bill SB2048

North Dakota 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/7/25
• Refer: 1/7/25
• Report Pass: 1/31/25
• Engrossed: 2/5/25
• Refer: 2/18/25
• Report Pass: 3/12/25
• Enrolled: 3/27/25
• Passed: 3/31/25

Caption

AN ACT to amend and reenact section 54-59-11 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to information technology plans.

Summary

SB 2048 amends North Dakota’s information technology planning statute, section 54-59-11 of the Century Code. The bill requires executive branch state agencies and institutions, with an existing higher-education exception unless waived by the chief information officer, to continue participating in the statewide IT planning process and to submit their plans by August 15 of each even-numbered year, unless an extension is granted. It also keeps the requirement that judicial and legislative branch agencies file their IT plans with the department on the same schedule. The bill directs the Information Technology Department to review agency plans for compliance with statewide IT policies and standards and authorizes the department to require changes when plans conflict with those policies or with each other. The statewide IT plan is then prepared from those submissions and distributed to legislators as requested by the Legislative Council. The amendment also updates the description of the statewide plan’s focus, emphasizing alignment with statewide information technology initiatives and long-term strategic goals, business objectives, and accomplishments.

Impact

SB 2048 makes a targeted update to the state’s IT planning framework rather than creating a new program. It reinforces the authority of the Information Technology Department and the chief information officer over agency technology planning, preserves the biennial planning and submission deadlines, and continues to require coordination across executive, judicial, and legislative branch agencies. The practical effect is to keep state agencies aligned with statewide IT standards and to maintain a centralized review process for technology plans under section 54-59-11.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have been noncontroversial and broadly supported. It passed the Senate and House with unanimous votes, and the available vote history shows no recorded opposition in either chamber. No committee transcript was provided, but the voting pattern suggests the measure was viewed as a routine administrative or technical update to state IT planning law.

Contention

There is little evidence of substantive contention around SB 2048. The only potentially notable policy point is the continued centralized oversight by the Information Technology Department, including the ability to require agencies to revise plans to meet statewide standards or resolve conflicts. However, the unanimous votes indicate that any such concerns were not significant enough to generate opposition in the recorded legislative action.