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Read. Follow. Verify.North Dakota Replaces Campaign Disclosure Laws, Adjusts Reporting Thresholds for Inflation, and Updates Political Advertisement Disclaimers
Last action · May 2, 2025: Second reading, failed to pass, yeas 5 nays 39Sponsors: Dan Ruby and 9 others
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What This Bill Proposed
This bill overhauls North Dakota's campaign finance laws by repealing chapter 16.1-08.1 and enacting a new chapter 16.1-08.2, establishing revised disclosure requirements, reporting deadlines, and penalties starting January 1, 2026. It adjusts contribution and lobbyist disclosure thresholds for inflation beginning in 2028, updates political advertising disclaimer rules, and exempts certain small local jurisdictions from state-level filing.
Campaign committees, political parties, lobbyists, and ballot measure sponsors must navigate a restructured reporting framework, revised dollar thresholds for tracking contributions, and stricter rules on expenditures, while local school and city officials under specific size limits are exempted from state filing.
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Candidates and Candidate Committees
Candidates must register dedicated campaign accounts, adhere to new reporting deadlines and thresholds, and comply with updated disclosure mandates.
Political Committees and Parties
Political committees and statewide parties are subject to restructured pre-election, supplemental, and year-end reporting requirements under the new chapter.
Lobbyists
Lobbyists expending funds to influence state government action must report ultimate and true sources based on updated inflation-adjusted thresholds.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are local school district and city candidates required to file with the secretary of state?
What information must be provided for large contributions?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Failed in the Senate.
Procedural history
25 actions- May 2, 2025SenateSecond reading, failed to pass, yeas 5 nays 39
- May 2, 2025SenateCommitteeConference committee report adopted
- May 2, 2025SenateCommitteeReported back from conference committee, in place of, placed on calendar
- May 2, 2025HouseFloorSecond reading, passed, yeas 64 nays 25
- May 2, 2025HouseCommitteeConference committee report adopted
- May 2, 2025HouseCommitteeReported back from conference committee, in place of, placed on calendar
Show 19 earlier actions
- May 2, 2025HouseCommitteeNew conference committee appointed Steiner Schauer Vetter
- May 2, 2025HouseCommitteeConference committee report rejected
- May 2, 2025HouseCommitteeReported back from conference committee, in place of, placed on calendar
- May 1, 2025HouseAppoint Rep. Hagert to replace Rep. Schauer on conference committee
- Apr 25, 2025SenateCommitteeConference committee appointed Roers Barta Castaneda
- Apr 24, 2025HouseCommitteeConference committee appointed Porter Dockter Schauer
- Apr 24, 2025HouseRefused to concur
- Apr 23, 2025HouseReturned to House (12)
- Apr 23, 2025SenateFloorSecond reading, passed as amended, yeas 46 nays 1
- Apr 23, 2025SenateCommitteeAmendment adopted, placed on calendar
- Apr 23, 2025SenateCommitteeReported back amended, do pass, amendment placed on calendar 6 0 0
- Mar 13, 2025SenateCommitteeCommittee Hearing 09:30
- Feb 13, 2025SenateIntroducedIntroduced, first reading, referred State and Local Government Committee
- Jan 24, 2025SenateReceived from House
- Jan 23, 2025HouseFloorSecond reading, passed, yeas 91 nays 0
- Jan 22, 2025HouseCommitteeAmendment adopted, placed on calendar
- Jan 21, 2025HouseCommitteeReported back amended, do pass, amendment placed on calendar 12 0 2
- Jan 20, 2025HouseCommitteeCommittee Hearing 09:30
- Jan 13, 2025HouseIntroducedIntroduced, first reading, referred Finance and Taxation Committee
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Comprehensive Campaign Finance Restructuring
The bill repeals the existing campaign disclosure chapter and establishes an entirely new chapter with updated definitions, inflation adjustments, and reporting mechanisms.
Connected Entities
Sources
ndlegis.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy40Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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