A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 54-03 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to limitations on the introduction of legislative bills prepared by executive branch agencies and the judicial branch.
Summary
SB 2349 would add a new section to North Dakota Century Code chapter 54-03 governing how bill drafts prepared by executive branch agencies and the state supreme court may be brought before the Legislature. Under the bill, each executive agency and the supreme court could submit proposed bill drafts to the Legislative Council by November 1 of each even-numbered year, so long as the drafts do not include appropriations. The Legislative Council would then forward those drafts to the chairman of the Legislative Management.
The bill requires the chairman to call a Legislative Management meeting by November 20 of each even-numbered year to review the submitted drafts and decide whether each one contains a “substantial policy change,” defined as a statute alteration that significantly changes or transforms the law. Unless a majority of members present and voting determine that a draft contains such a substantial policy change, the draft would be deemed introduced by the Legislative Management. In effect, the bill creates a screening process for agency- and court-drafted legislation and ties introduction to a legislative determination about whether the proposal is a major policy change.
Impact
If enacted, SB 2349 would have changed the process for introducing legislation prepared by executive branch agencies and the judicial branch by placing those drafts under Legislative Management review before they could be treated as introduced bills. It would have affected the Legislative Council, Legislative Management, executive agencies, and the supreme court, while also limiting these entities to non-appropriation bill drafts submitted on a set timetable. The bill would have added a new procedural rule to chapter 54-03 and potentially narrowed the ability of agencies and the judiciary to advance proposals that legislators viewed as making substantial policy changes.
Sentiment
The bill did not advance, failing on Senate second reading by a vote of 17 yeas to 30 nays. With no committee transcript available, the recorded vote is the main indicator of sentiment, and it suggests the proposal did not have majority support in the Senate. The outcome indicates skepticism or opposition to changing the existing process for agency- and court-drafted bills, at least in the form presented.
Contention
The central point of contention appears to have been whether executive agencies and the supreme court should be allowed to submit bill drafts that could be introduced unless legislators affirmatively classify them as substantial policy changes. Supporters likely viewed the bill as a way to preserve legislative control over major policy decisions and prevent agencies or the judiciary from effectively bypassing the normal legislative process. Opponents likely objected to the added procedural hurdle, the discretion given to Legislative Management to decide what counts as a substantial policy change, and the possibility that the bill could restrict the flow of technical or policy-related proposals from other branches of government.
A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 54-03 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to limitations on the introduction of legislative bills prepared by executive branch agencies and the judicial branch.
A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 54-03 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to limitations on the introduction of legislative bills prepared by executive branch agencies and the judicial branch.
A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 54-03 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the introduction of bills prepared by executive branch agencies and the judicial branch.
A BILL for an Act to create and enact a new section to chapter 54-03 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to access to requests to the legislative council made by members of the legislative assembly.