BISMARCK — The House Industry, Business and Labor Committee took action on several bills during its session, adopting amendments and issuing committee recommendations on a group of measures ranging from agency authority to ethics enforcement and investments.

Among bills that moved forward, the committee adopted amendments and issued due-pass recommendations on a measure clarifying duties and appeal language for the Department of Financial Institutions, a bill removing annual automatic adjustments from a workers’ compensation-related measure, and a bill creating a legislative committee on government efficiency. Committee members also amended a proposal on gold and silver investments to remove an explicit reference to the general fund before approving it as amended.

Lawmakers held over or continued work on other bills. The blockchain/digital-asset-mining bill was revised to remove language that would have exempted mining operations from money-transmitter regulation; the Department of Financial Institutions indicated the revised language resolved its principal regulatory concern but committee members asked that local zoning and noise issues be worked out before further action. An ethics-related bill that would have restricted use of public funds for private organizations’ political activity drew extended debate and ultimately failed to get committee approval.

Key committee actions (votes at a glance):

- House Bill 1127 (DFI duties): Committee adopted an amendment restoring language that allows a previously disciplined officer or employee to seek termination of a final order after a specified period; committee voted to give the bill a due pass as amended. (Motion: due pass as amended; mover: Representative Volmer; second: Representative Bail.)

- Gold and silver investments (state-treasury allocation amendment): Committee adopted an amendment removing “including the general fund” from the bill and voted to give the measure a due pass as amended. (Mover: Representative Koppelman.)

- House Bill 1423 (workers’ compensation-related caps and CPI language): Committee removed automatic CPI indexing language and voted to give the bill a due pass as amended.

- House Bill 1442 (creation of a Committee on Government Efficiency): Committee amended appointments language to give majority leaders appointment authority instead of Legislative Management and adjusted meeting frequency language; committee voted to give the bill a do-pass recommendation. (Mover: Representative Koppelman.)

- House Bill 1239 (blockchain/digital asset mining): Committee and the Department of Financial Institutions worked to neutralize money-transmitter language; committee held the bill over pending finalized drafting on the financial-regulation language and additional local zoning/noise concerns.

- House Bill 1141 (ethics/limits on public funds used for political activity): After extended debate and amendment that set a civil penalty amount at $500, the committee ultimately voted to recommend a do-not-pass on the amended bill.

Committee members asked departments and bill sponsors to prepare clarified bill language where technical or local concerns remain, and several members urged further review of local zoning, noise, and administrative-rule options before moving certain proposals to the floor.

Votes and procedural outcomes recorded in the committee transcript were taken by voice and roll call; where the committee completed a roll-call tally the committee record was appended to the bill file.

Committee clerks assigned floor carriers for several bills that received due-pass recommendations.