12 hours Ago By Grant Coursey / The Bismarck Tribune
BISMARCK — The North Dakota Senate on Friday narrowly passed a bill to create an Office of Guardianship and Conservatorship. Senate Bill 2029 still needs to pass the House and receive the governor’s signature before becoming law. ADVERTISEMENT The bill would create an Office of Guardianship and Conservatorship with broad powers to oversee such matters statewide.
The office would license and maintain a registry of professional guardians and conservators, set regulations and policies, oversee legal and disciplinary actions, and manage state funding for guardianship and conservatorship programs. The North Dakota Supreme Court would create a committee to supervise the office. After amendments in both the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill appropriates just over $15 million to pay for the OGC for the 2025-27 biennium.
The bill was brought forward as the result of an interim committee on the subject and would overhaul the way guardianships and conservatorships are overseen, something supporters say the Judiciary has been working toward for more than a decade. Supporters of the bill say it would address the “lack of accountability and cohesiveness of guardianship programs and funding” in the state and address the state’s shortage of guardians and conservators. Opponents of the bill are concerned that having the Judiciary oversee the OGC, when guardians and conservators are appointed to cases by the courts and their primary function is to work with the courts, would create a conflict of interest.
They say the office would be better placed under the department of Health and Human Services and say the OGC is “overkill” because there are already mechanisms in place to hold guardians and conservators accountable The bill received recommendations to pass from both the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee and passed the floor with a vote of 24-23..
