Bill
SB 2319
authorizes periodic reconvened legislative sessions (monthly three-day blocks plus up to seven extra days annually) within constitutional day limits, starting 2027.
Status (as provided)
- Introduced: Feb 10 / Mar 11, 2025 (documents show both dates)
- Sponsor(s): Senators Magrum, Gerhardt (ND version)
- Legislative action: Second reading — failed to pass (yeas 21, nays 26) on 2025-02-12 (per provided history)
- Effective date if enacted (text of amended bill): January 1, 2027
- Related note: Included materials also contained an unrelated Illinois “SB 2319” (Digital/Virtual Currency Kiosk law) that progressed to Public Act 104‑0429 — those provisions are not part of the North Dakota measure summarized below.
Purpose and intent
- To authorize and define a framework for the legislative assembly to be periodically reconvened in short sessions (monthly and limited annual additional days) and to give the Legislative Management authority to call such reconvened sessions. The measure also directs Legislative Management to study and report on periodically reconvened sessions (in an earlier/alternate version).
Key provisions (North Dakota text)
- Amends North Dakota Century Code sections 54‑03‑02 and 54‑35‑16.
- Organizational meeting: retains requirement that the Legislative Assembly meet at the seat of government in December following an election for organizational and orientation purposes, with recess thereafter until the regular session.
- Timing of reconvening: requires reconvening at 12:00 noon on the first Friday after the third day in January of the year following the organizational session — or on a date selected by Legislative Management between January 2 and January 11.
- Periodic reconvening schedule (as drafted):
- Legislative Management may schedule reconvening for three consecutive natural days each month (except December), specifically Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
- In addition to those monthly reconvened days, up to seven consecutive natural days per year may be used.
- Constitutional day limit: Any reconvened session(s) may not exceed the total number of natural days available under the state constitution that have not already been used by that Legislative Assembly in its regular session.
- Legislative Management authority: explicitly authorizes Legislative Management to issue a call for the Assembly to convene after adjournment (including after an adjournment sine die); such sessions are subject to the constitutional day limits.
- Effective date for statutory changes: January 1, 2027 (per the amendment text).
- Alternate/earlier version: a “first engrossment” of the bill instead directed Legislative Management to study the use of periodically reconvened sessions during the 2025–26 interim and report recommendations (and any implementing legislation) to the 70th Legislative Assembly.
Who would be affected
- State legislators and legislative staff (scheduling, workload, travel, compensation/expenses implications).
- Executive branch and state agencies (responding to periodic sessions, possible impacts on rulemaking and administrative timelines).
- Constituents (access to lawmakers may change; frequency and timing of sessions could affect constituent services).
- State budget/operations: potential costs for additional session days (staffing, per diem, facility use); but the bill limits reconvened days and adheres to constitutional caps.
Procedural/timeline considerations
- The version imposing statutory reconvening rules sets an effective date of Jan 1, 2027.
- The earlier-study version required Legislative Management to consider the reconvening model during the 2025–26 interim and report to the 70th Legislative Assembly — meaning recommendations could lead to future statutory changes.
- Constitutional constraint: all reconvened days must fit within the Assembly’s remaining constitutionally permitted natural days.
Notes / caveats
- The provided packet mixed two distinct SB 2319s (North Dakota procedural bill and an Illinois Digital/Virtual Currency Kiosk Act). This summary focuses on the North Dakota reconvening measure (sections 54‑03‑02 and 54‑35‑16). The Illinois measure (also labeled SB 2319 in the packet) is a separate, detailed consumer‑protection/regulatory statute for digital asset kiosks that was reported as enacted (Public Act 104‑0429); it is not part of the North Dakota proposal summarized above.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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