Bill
HB 1336
HB 1336 strengthens ND no-contact orders: expands issuance/enforcement, requires surrender of firearms when risk exists, and improves victim notification and police enforcement.
Status: Introduced Nov. 14, 2024; Committee Report (Judiciary) adopted Jan. 28, 2025; Second Reading referred to Rules.
Purpose
- Amend North Dakota Century Code provisions governing court-issued orders prohibiting contact (no‑contact orders), strengthen procedures for issuing and enforcing those orders, require surrender of firearms when appropriate, and clarify related sentencing alternatives.
Key provisions and changes
- Sections amended: NDCC 12.1‑31.2‑02 (Order prohibiting contact) and subsection 1 of 12.1‑32‑02 (sentencing alternatives); also amends subdivision h of subsection 5 of 39‑08‑01 (not fully shown in excerpt).
- When courts may issue no‑contact orders: if a person charged, arrested, or subject to a deferred sentence for a crime of violence (or threat of violence), stalking, harassment, or a sex offense is released pre‑arraignment/trial, the court "shall consider and may issue" an order prohibiting contact with the victim. Orders must state directives and warn that violations are criminal.
- Expiration and timing: an order issued before formal charging expires at arraignment or within 72 hours if no charges are filed. At arraignment the court will decide whether to extend the order. If issued at arrest/charge, the order ends on dismissal, acquittal, sentence, or deferred sentence; the court may issue a new order at sentence or deferred sentence.
- Modification/termination: a party or victim may file a written request to modify/terminate an order; the court may hold a hearing if requested.
- Firearm/dangerous‑weapon surrender: if the court has probable cause the individual is likely to use/display/threaten to use a firearm or dangerous weapon in further violence, the court shall require surrender of firearms/weapons in the individual’s possession or control to the sheriff or chief of police.
- Notice to victim/state’s attorney: state’s attorney must provide a copy of the order to the victim.
- Law enforcement entry and electronic transmission: clerks must forward copies to law enforcement within one business day; agencies must enter orders in the central warrant information system and NCIC. The bill anticipates implementation of an electronic transmission method (after consultation with the state court administrator and other officials) that will satisfy some entry/notification requirements and places responsibility on the state bureau to implement NCIC electronic entry when available.
- Enforcement and arrest authority: violation of a no‑contact order is a class A misdemeanor. Officers may arrest without a warrant on probable cause that a violation occurred (even if not in officer’s presence). Officers acting in good faith on probable cause have civil/criminal immunity for such arrests.
- Sentencing alternatives: the bill rearticulates sentencing alternatives (probation, imprisonment, fine, restitution, treatment, drug court, veterans docket, etc.). The bill’s title and legislative intent indicate use of no‑contact orders may be employed as an alternative or component in sentencing, and the statute language allows issuance of new post‑sentence orders (see above).
Who is affected
- Defendants charged with crimes of violence, stalking, harassment, and sex offenses.
- Victims (receive copies and benefit from court‑ordered protections).
- Courts and clerks (new/clarified duties regarding issuing, extending, modifying, forwarding orders).
- Law enforcement (data entry and enforcement duties; obligation to accept surrendered firearms).
- State agencies (state bureau, state court administrator, director of state radio) tasked with implementing electronic transmission and NCIC entry procedures.
Procedural/timeline notes and implementation
- The bill conditions certain electronic notification/entry requirements on the state bureau’s development and implementation of electronic methods (after consultation with the state court administrator and director of state radio).
- Administrative/fiscal impacts may include clerical workload for courts, database implementation costs for the bureau, and law enforcement responsibilities for firearm safekeeping.
Potential impacts (practical effect)
- Strengthens victim protection by clarifying issuance, duration, and enforcement of no‑contact orders and by creating a mandatory firearm surrender requirement when weapon risk exists.
- Streamlines interagency transmission of orders by anticipating electronic methods, while preserving law enforcement responsibilities to maintain and respond to NCIC records.
- Expands law enforcement arrest authority for violations and provides officer immunity for good‑faith arrests.
Sources: Committee Report / First Engrossment text for HB 1336 (NDCC 12.1‑31.2‑02; 12.1‑32‑02) adopted Jan. 28, 2025.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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