North Dakota lawmakers approve Ethics Commission bill with deadline removed

Yahoo

02-05-2025

North Dakota Ethics Commissioner Murray Sagsveen, left, and Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, talk while walking in the hall of the Capitol on May 1, 2025. (Kyle Martin/For the North Dakota Monitor)
North Dakota lawmakers on Friday approved an Ethics Commission budget full of major policy changes — though they abandoned a controversial proposal that would have imposed a deadline for ethics complaints.
The budget, totaling nearly $1.4 million, was forwarded to both chambers for a vote that morning following final amendments from a six-member conference committee. The Senate approved the budget by a 44-2 vote, while the House passed it 71-19.
The Ethics Commission sought money in Senate Bill 2004 for a fourth staff member for the 2025-2027 budget cycle, which the Legislature ultimately rejected. That employee would have focused on education and communications. The Senate initially approved the request, setting aside $250,000 for a two-year salary, benefits as well as other costs. The House later axed this funding — a move the conference committee sustained.
Legislators did agree to fund a $50,000 case management system to help the commission track filings, which staff say will help them work more efficiently.
Other noteworthy provisions in the budget include a handful of changes intended to fix bottlenecks in the Ethics Commission's complaint process.
Some lawmakers who worked on the budget this session complained that the commission sometimes takes years to resolve complaints. Some complaints are more than two years old.
Meanwhile, the commission has received a flood of new filings since Jan. 1. As of April 28, the board had received 68 complaints since the start of 2025. That's more than the commission received in all of 2024.
Some, though not all, of the policy changes in the budget were originally proposed in bills that died earlier this session, like House Bill 1360 and House Bill 1505.
Generally, the Ethics Commission is opposed to adding policy into the budget bill, said Executive Director Rebecca Binstock. She said she worries some of the provisions will add red tape to the commission's work, though she expects at least a few to help the board's work go more smoothly.
'The commission's position has always been that we prefer a clean budget,' Binstock said.
Ethics commissioners say bill would impose an arbitrary cutoff for investigations
One provision in the bill approved Friday would allow the commission to informally settle ethics complaints directly with the accused. Previously, the commission could only act as a mediator to broker informal resolutions between the accused and the filer — which sometimes doesn't work if that filer's demands were unrealistic. The commission must attempt to mediate between both parties first, however.
Another requires the commission to develop time management standards for processing complaints, which Binstock said the commission supports and wanted to pursue anyway.
Until Thursday, the budget included a mandate for the Ethics Commission to dismiss complaints after 180 days. It was added as part of an amendment brought by Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, who said it is needed to make sure the commission's investigations don't drag on indefinitely.
'It's just a matter of fairness to the accused,' Nathe said previously. 'They shouldn't have to sit there with this hanging over their head for years at a time.'
The Ethics Commission opposed the six-month window as a threat to its work, arguing that many complaints cannot be effectively probed within that timeframe and that it would incentivize people accused of ethics violations to obstruct investigations to run out the clock.
In place of the deadline, the conference committee added a clause that states an individual accused of a violation may petition the commission at any time to dismiss the complaint against them. The Ethics Commission will have to draft a policy implementing this language.
Some lawmakers said the root of the commission's backlog of complaints stems from a lack of resources, and that the budget does not address this problem.
Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, unsuccessfully brought a budget amendment to more than double the commission's staff, arguing that the funding is necessary for the body to do its job effectively.
'I think the activity thus far indicates that we have a lack in that we don't have another staff person,' Mathern said on the floor Friday. 'However, we've made some progress, and hopefully by the next time we meet next session, we can get that other staff person to help us all do a great job.'
Voters created an ethics commission in North Dakota. Then the Legislature limited its power.
A separate amendment brought by Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, D-Fargo, requires the commission to publish an annual report providing details about its work, including the number of complaints filed and what the commission has done to resolve them.
The bill also allows people accused of violations to discuss complaints against them.
Another section protects lawmakers from being prosecuted with a conflict of interest crime for voting on bills so long as they observe the proper legislative conflict of interest rules or heed the informal advice of an Ethics Commission staff member.
The bill advances to Gov. Kelly Armstrong for his consideration.
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