Elections; provisional ballots; absentee voter; effective date.

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Andy Fugate

HB 1300 would reset the term-limit clock so only service after the cutoff date (Jan 1, 2023) counts toward North Dakota constitutional term limits.

Referred to Elections and Ethics

Purpose

HB 1300 would add a new statutory section to chapter 54‑03 of the North Dakota Century Code to clarify when the clock for calculating legislative term‑limit service begins under Article XV, Section 1 of the North Dakota Constitution. The bill’s intent is to exclude service that occurred before a specified cutoff date from counting toward the constitutional term‑limit calculation.

Key provision

Creates a new section in NDCC chapter 54‑03 titled “Term limits — Calculation of years of service.”

Provides that the time used to calculate a member’s years of service under Article XV, Section 1 of the North Dakota Constitution “does not begin to run until the date on which an individual is first elected or appointed to serve as a member of the legislative assembly after” a specified date.

Original draft used the date: November 7, 2022.
A Senate amendment revised the reference date to: January 1, 2023.

(Exact statutory text is brief and limited to resetting the start date for counting service.)

Who would be affected

Current and former members of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly whose service began before the cutoff date (Nov. 7, 2022 or, as amended, Jan. 1, 2023). Under the bill, prior service occurring on or before that cutoff would not be counted when applying the constitutional term limits.

Prospective candidates and political parties, because the effective calculation of allowable service terms could change eligibility and re‑run possibilities for incumbents.

State officials responsible for maintaining service records and enforcing term limits (e.g., Secretary of State, legislative administrative offices), which would need to apply the new statutory rule when determining eligibility.

Fiscal and administrative impact

The bill text itself contains no fiscal figures. Administrative tasks (record review and eligibility determinations) would fall to existing state election and legislative administrative offices; any workload increase is likely modest.

Because the change affects how a constitutional provision is applied, implementation would depend on coordination with constitutional authorities and recordkeeping.

Legal and procedural notes

The statute would not amend the North Dakota Constitution; it directs how years of service are calculated under an existing constitutional provision. That could prompt judicial review if the statutory interpretation is disputed.

Procedural timeline (key dates):

Introduced: November 13, 2024.
Read first time: March 10, 2025; referred to Defense & Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee.
Senate amendment changed the cutoff date to January 1, 2023.
Status: Second reading — failed to pass (yeas 28, nays 61).

Practical effect

If enacted as written, HB 1300 would effectively “reset” the term‑limit clock so that only service beginning after the specified cutoff date counts toward the constitutional limit. That would allow some legislators whose service began before the cutoff to serve additional terms that otherwise would have been barred under a straight application of prior service counting.

Bill