By: Mary Steurer
The North Dakota House on Monday voted to give the Ethics Commission a six-month deadline to resolve ethics complaints while also removing a new position approved by the Senate.
The amended bill, which passed by a 65-29 vote, will head to the Senate for a concurrence vote before it can go to Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s desk for a signature.
Supporters of the bill say its policy changes would address the Ethics Commission’s growing backlog of ethics complaints. The commission has received more than 60 complaints since the beginning of this year.
Under amendments adopted Monday, Senate Bill 2004 would require the commission to dismiss complaints 180 days after they are filed.
Rep. Mike Nathe, who brought the amendments, said that he believes some North Dakotans are “weaponizing” the Ethics Commission to lodge frivolous complaints against public officials that can drag on indefinitely. The commission has some complaints that are more than two years old.
“It’s just a matter of fairness to the accused,” the Bismarck Republican said. “They shouldn’t have to sit there with this hanging over their head for years at a time.”
House Minority Leader Zac Ista, D-Grand Forks, spoke against the bill. He said a 180-day deadline would prevent the commission from properly probing cases. It may encourage people accused of ethics violations to not cooperate with investigations in an attempt to run out the clock.
Ista noted the constitutional amendment that created the commission says the Legislature may not do anything to impede its implementation.
“We’re literally tying their hands,” Ista said.
If the bill is signed into law, it would take effect immediately. Lawmakers indicated their intent is for the clock to start ticking on all the commission’s pending complaints.
The Ethics Commission last week called the changes “a roadblock intended to hamper the commission’s work.”
The House amendments also removed roughly $250,000 for an additional staff member the Senate previously approved. That employee would have focused on education and communications. The funding would have covered a two-year salary, benefits and other costs.
Some House committee members said in hearings they weren’t convinced an additional employee is necessary. The commission has three staff members.
Ista urged the floor to add the education and communications employee back in. He said an employee dedicated to teaching the public about government ethics would help reduce the commission’s caseload by preventing violations from happening in the first place.
“Our Ethics Commission does not want to play ‘gotcha’ games,” Ista said. “What they want to do is help us learn to do what’s right.”
The budget does include $50,000 for a new case management system that would track filings with the commission, which staff have said will help streamline its workload.
Some other amendments were lifted from bills that died earlier in the House, including House Bill 1360 — which the Ethics Commission supported — and House Bill 1505.
One new provision gives the board more power to dismiss complaints, for example. Commission staff have said that under current law, the person who submits the complaint wields outsize power over when a complaint may be thrown out, which is partly why some complaints have gone unresolved for extended periods of time.
The amendments also allow people accused of violations to discuss complaints against them.
Another section would protect lawmakers from being prosecuted with a conflict of interest crime for voting on legislation if they adhere to legislative conflict of interest rules or the informal advice of an Ethics Commission staff member.
Additionally, the bill contains a new requirement for the commission to publish an annual report detailing its work.
