Secretary of State, Ethics Commission back annual statements of interest; League of Cities objects to online posting requirement

Secretary of State Michael Howe and the North Dakota Ethics Commission told the House Political Subdivisions Committee they support House Bill 14-69, which would require officials who must file statements of interest to update them annually and would add a reporting threshold for goods and services sold to government by businesses in which the filer or spouse holds a 10% or greater ownership interest.

Howe said the bill sets "year over year transparency for changes candidates may have in their personal or business interests" and would require filings with the appropriate filing officer by January 15 (Howe and the Ethics Commission later said they would support shifting that date to January 31 to align with campaign finance deadlines). He explained that filers would be able to resubmit a statement when there are no changes, analogous to the current year-end campaign finance resubmission process.

Nut graf: Supporters described the bill as aligning North Dakota with the majority of states on annual disclosure and increasing public confidence; the League of Cities testified in opposition or with concerns about online-publication requirements for small jurisdictions and the administrative burden on local offices.

Representatives of the Ethics Commission said annual disclosures reduce information gaps that can feed suspicion and distrust, arguing that 47 states already require similar annual reporting. The secretary of state's office asked for an amendment to limit the online-publication requirement to statements filed with the secretary of state (not all local filing officers) because the state does not receive filings from counties, cities and schools and therefore cannot publish those local filings centrally.

Corey Peterson, appearing for the League of Cities and a former mayor, said many small municipalities do not maintain robust public-facing websites and that forcing online publication could require systems or expense they do not currently bear. He suggested alternative approaches such as allowing filings to remain on local paper records or requiring online posting only when a jurisdiction has the infrastructure.

Ending: The committee closed testimony on House Bill 14-69 after hearing support from state officials and concern from municipal representatives; the secretary of state asked for amendments to narrow the online-publication requirement and to exclude federal officials from an annual state filing requirement.