The North Dakota House Human Services Committee voted to remove a proposed subpoena power from House Bill 1049 and approved the bill as amended.

Lawmakers said they were reluctant to expand the investigatory powers of professional licensing boards. Representative Figley told the committee, “I do have a little concern with the subpoena power. That's not an overly common thing that we give to boards.” After discussion and a review of existing boards that have similar authority, members voted to remove the section that would have added subpoena language to the bill.

Representative Dolorovich moved to remove section 3 of the bill (the subsection that included subpoena authority); Representative Anderson seconded the motion to strip that section. The committee carried the change by voice vote and then took up the amended bill. Representative Warren moved a do-pass recommendation for the bill as amended; Representative Belinski seconded. On the roll call, the committee approved House Bill 1049 as amended with a recorded tally of 12 yes, 1 no.

Committee members who spoke during the discussion noted that a small number of existing boards contain subpoena language, and some members preferred to avoid widening those powers at this stage. The committee also clarified that removing section 3 from the bill did not change existing Century Code provisions; it removed only the newly proposed addition.

The amended bill will advance to the next legislative stage with the committee’s recommendation.