AN ACT to amend and reenact sections 23-24-07, 26.1-01-03, 26.1-21-01, 26.1-21-02, 26.1-21-04, 26.1-21-07, 26.1-21-09.1, 26.1-21-10, 26.1-21-11, 26.1-21-12, 26.1-21-14, 26.1-21-16, 26.1-21-18, 26.1-21-19, 26.1-21-21, 26.1-21-23, 61-06-08, and 61-16.1-05 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to changing the administration of the state bonding fund from the insurance commissioner to the office of management and budget; to repeal sections 26.1-21-03, 26.1-21-08, 26.1-21-09, 26.1-21-13, 26.1-21-15, 26.1-21-17, 26.1-21-20, 26.1-21-22, and 26.1-21-24 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to the administration of the state bonding fund; and to provide a continuing appropriation.
HB 1026 transfers administration of North Dakota’s state bonding fund from the insurance commissioner to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The bill updates numerous Century Code provisions to replace references to the commissioner with OMB, and it revises the fund’s operating language so OMB becomes the entity that manages coverage, assessments, claims processing, reporting, and related administrative decisions. It also authorizes OMB to contract for administrative services, sets terms for those contracts, and provides a continuing appropriation for fund expenses and claim payments.
The bill also modernizes and consolidates the statutory framework for bonding public employees and public officials. It updates definitions, claim procedures, coverage minimums, assessment rules, reinsurance authority, cancellation procedures, and the role of the attorney general and state auditor. Several obsolete sections are repealed as part of the reorganization. The bill preserves the basic purpose of the fund—providing bonding coverage for public officials and employees, including certain district employees and game and fish license agents—while shifting oversight and administrative responsibility to OMB.
HB 1026 changes state law by moving the state bonding fund’s administrative authority from the insurance commissioner to the Office of Management and Budget and by conforming multiple related statutes to that transfer. It affects the North Dakota Century Code provisions governing the state bonding fund, public employee and public official bonding, claims against the fund, assessments, reinsurance, and related duties of the attorney general and state auditor. The bill also creates a continuing appropriation for fund operations and claim payments, and it repeals several sections that are no longer needed under the revised structure.
The bill appears to have been noncontroversial and broadly supported. It passed the House 89-0 and the Senate 44-2, indicating strong bipartisan approval. No committee transcript or recorded debate was provided, but the vote totals suggest the measure was viewed as an administrative and technical cleanup rather than a policy dispute.
The main issue in the bill is administrative control: whether the insurance commissioner or OMB should manage the state bonding fund. The bill also shifts several operational responsibilities, including assessment collection, claim review, contract administration, and reporting. Because the measure is largely a reorganization of existing law, there is little evidence of substantive policy disagreement in the available record; the only apparent contention would be around the choice of agency responsible for fund oversight and the related transfer of duties.