A conference committee reconciling House and Senate language approved amendments to a bill that change how the state attorney general may handle alleged violations, including a new 30‑day automatic stay of a final order while an entity pursues an appeal.

The changes, presented by Representative Schneider, add an "informal" step allowing the attorney general to discuss, educate, negotiate or attempt remediation with an individual or organization and to levy fines under a cited North Dakota Century Code provision. The amendment also makes the decision to call a hearing discretionary and inserts a 30‑day stay of an attorney general order while the time to appeal to district court runs.

The amendments were framed as an effort to harmonize House and Senate language and to protect businesses and charities from immediate enforcement while an appeal is filed. "We tried to address some of the concerns that we heard from our senate colleagues, and we hope we did that," Representative Schneider said as she explained the written changes. She described the 30‑day stay as "shortened" relative to an earlier, longer stay that would have continued through multiple levels of appeal.

Courtney Titus, a representative of the Office of the Attorney General, told the committee the 30‑day automatic stay provision would deviate from the Administrative Agencies Practices Act. "The amendment . . . suggests there would be a 30 day stay of a final order of the Attorney General . . . Right now, in the Administrative Agencies Practices Act, there is no stay during that time period," Titus said, adding the change was one of the concerns raised by Senate members at an earlier meeting.

Representative Lawrence Killeen (Dist. 47) flagged a related statutory text, quoting language about stays on appeal and noting that one section says a stay is not automatic unless another statute requires it. "The one that is being proposed is the automatic stay provided by another statute," Killeen said, citing the committee discussion of statutory cross‑references.

Committee discussion also touched on process details: the amendment references existing administrative procedures for conducting hearings; members debated whether to keep, modify or remove the 30‑day stay language; and staff from the attorney general's office said they had only recently received the proposed language and would seek clarifications with counsel.

Representative Henderson moved to adopt the amendments as presented and the motion was seconded. A roll‑call on the amendment recorded votes for Representative McCloud (yes), Representative Henderson (yes), Representative Schneider (yes), Senator Larson (no) and the committee chair (recorded as an aye). After an initial tally and a brief procedural clarification the motion was recorded as passed.

The committee noted the amendment package must next be put in proper form by the Legislative Council before being carried forward. Representative Schneider said she would carry the measure on the Senate side.

The committee also discussed quorum and procedural timing during the meeting; members agreed to brief pauses while they sought clarification from the attorney general's office and to let Legislative Council review final language before the bill advances.