Armstrong Signs Suite Of Bills Addressing Safety & Recidivism

On Tuesday, Governor Kelly Armstrong signed three laws addressing reintegration policies to help keep North Dakota safer.

The new rules put funds toward initiatives aimed at deterring crime, advancing rehabilitation, and supporting those who have been released from jail or prison to successfully reenter society.

"We cannot build our way out of North Dakota's jail overcrowding dilemma, as I said at my first State of the State address in January. "We must be wise about crime, not soft on crime," Armstrong said. "We appreciate the legislature and the many partners involved in developing this legislation for providing North Dakotans with a practical approach to public safety, which centers on accountability, recovery, and reentry."

Co-sponsored by Sen. Kyle Davison, Sen. Diane Larson, Greg Stemen, and Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, House Bills 1425 and 1417 were introduced by Rep. Larry Klemin. The legislation's multifarious approach to public safety concerns won broad support in both chambers. Both Lt. Gov. Michelle Strinden and state Commissioner of Recovery and Reentry Jonathan Holth testified in support of the measure.

Klemin said to reporters, "Given the volume of support from prosecutors, public safety officers, community partners, and several state agencies throughout the legislative process, it's clear that these policies move our criminal justice system in the right direction."

The legislation deal with reintegration from several points within North Dakota's criminal justice system. Policies call for the elimination of some criminal justice fees with declining returns; funding for public safety partners to run programs guiding persons in need of treatment or other services to the proper care setting; and more robust state agency collaboration to secure state identification and medical coverage for persons leaving correctional facilities.

The package also provides the structure for further initiatives to upgrade programming and housing, streamline criminal justice data collecting, and bring forth other developments.

Hanson said to the audience, "This legislation is another example of our state's longstanding commitment to using data, research, and collaboration to make meaningful changes to improve the lives of all North Dakotans." "This next phase in criminal justice reform epitomizes the smart-on-crime approach supported by the state legislature and Gov. Armstrong."

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The Office of the Governor issued the following as an explanation of the three bills:

• HB 1425 establishes a pilot program in three counties to support State’s Attorney’s offices that operate diversion programs. The pilot provides supervision services to oversee the programs, better ensuring that participants complete program requirements successfully. It also provides clarity around the use of deflection practices, which is when law enforcement or other first responders bring someone who is not a danger to the public but needs services to a care setting instead of jail. Finally, the bill calls for an updated evaluation of outcomes and cost savings from the DOCR’s Pretrial Services Program.
• HB 1417 adds and updates key criminal justice definitions to help criminal justice agencies improve cross-system collaboration and data collection practices. The bill also eliminates certain criminal fees that have little return on investment and proposes examining additional criminal justice fees to determine their collection rate and impact on state revenue.
• HB 1549 aims to better prepare people leaving jails and prisons to return to their communities and stay there safely, instead of cycling back into the criminal justice system. The policies included will help expand evidence-based programming in local jails, improve cross-agency collaborations, and streamline processes for providing identification and Medicaid access to people exiting prison. The bill also includes three elements for continued study: the creation of a task force to address housing barriers, an examination of criminal justice system data collection and sharing, and a legislative management study on record sealing and expungement.