North Dakota Senate Bill SB2284

North Dakota 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 1/20/25
• Refer: 1/20/25
• Report DNP: 2/4/25

Caption

A BILL for an Act to amend and reenact sections 14-15-16 and 23-02.1-18 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to disclosure of information in adoption proceedings and access to birth records.

Summary

SB 2284 would revise North Dakota’s laws governing confidentiality and access to records in adoption cases. It amends the Century Code provisions on adoption proceedings to expand and clarify who may request identifying and nonidentifying information, how the Department of Health and Human Services and child-placing agencies must process those requests, and the notice and consent procedures that apply when adopted individuals, genetic parents, genetic siblings, or certain family members seek information. The bill also updates procedures for closed adoption hearings, confidentiality of records, court-ordered disclosure, and the handling of tribal enrollment-related information. The bill further amends the state’s birth-record statute to address how new birth records are created after adoption, legitimation, or paternity determinations, and to clarify access to original birth records for adopted individuals who are 18 or older. In practical terms, it would affect adopted adults, birth parents, genetic siblings, adoptive parents, child-placing agencies, the state registrar, courts, and tribal enrollment processes by changing timelines, notice requirements, and disclosure rules for adoption-related records.

Impact

SB 2284 would have changed North Dakota Century Code sections 14-15-16 and 23-02.1-18 by tightening and expanding the statutory framework for adoption-record confidentiality, disclosure, and birth-record access. It would have required the department and child-placing agencies to follow specified procedures for requests involving identifying and nonidentifying information, including written notice, certification, consent/refusal tracking, and court involvement in certain partial-consent situations. It also would have preserved confidentiality rules while creating clearer pathways for adopted adults and other listed relatives to seek information, and it would have updated the rules for issuing new birth records and releasing original birth records to adult adoptees.

Sentiment

The bill appears to have had limited support and ultimately failed on the Senate floor, with a 5-40 vote on second reading. The text suggests the measure was aimed at increasing access to adoption and birth-record information while retaining confidentiality protections, which may have appealed to adoptees and family-reunification advocates. However, the strong negative vote indicates substantial opposition or concern among senators about the scope of disclosure, privacy protections, administrative burden, or the balance between access and confidentiality.

Contention

The main points of contention likely centered on how far the bill would go in opening adoption records and birth records versus preserving the privacy of genetic parents, adoptive parents, and adopted individuals. Specific areas that could have drawn concern include disclosure when only one genetic parent consents, the treatment of silence as a refusal, court-ordered disclosure standards, and the handling of identifying information involving siblings and deceased individuals. The bill also touches on tribal enrollment investigations and confidential information sharing with tribes, which may have raised additional sensitivity around privacy and jurisdiction. Because there were no committee transcripts, the exact objections are not recorded, but the floor vote suggests the privacy/access balance was the central issue.