North Dakota
Bills seek to add protections for North Dakota renters • North Dakota Monitor
Lobbyists for the ACLU and North Dakota Apartment Association clashed over three bills that would provide North Dakota renters with more protections.
Three bills heard by the Senate Industry and Business Committee this week would provide renters protection from snowballing late fees, and empower the Department of Labor and Human Rights to investigate complaints against landlords. The department would also be able to take disciplinary action against a landlord for violations of North Dakota Century Code involving the leasing of property and eviction.
Cody Schuler, advocacy manager for ACLU of North Dakota, said 40% of renters in North Dakota are “cost burdened,” meaning those tenants tend to live paycheck-to-paycheck, spending more than 30% of their income on rent. He testified in support of all three bills.
“Individuals who are living on those margins, they live on the cusp of possibly becoming homeless,” Schuler said in an interview. “And when we look at the sheer volume of the cost of homelessness, and how to correct homelessness, it’s so much more financially responsible for everyone involved … to be able to prevent homelessness.”
Opposing all three bills, Jeremy Petron, lobbyist for the North Dakota Apartment Association, said a lot of the confusion over late fees stems from renters not reading their lease agreements, and landlords not explaining the lease and late fee processes well enough during the lease signing.
“I myself have been in the property management industry for 20 years, and the company that I work for, we communicate with our tenants and let them know … We don’t try to just automatically evict someone for just one late fee,” Petron said. “We’re going to work with them.”
All three bills were introduced by Sen. Ryan Braunberger, D-Fargo.
After the public hearing, Braunberger said he’s concerned that the committee didn’t seem receptive to his three bills.
“I think we need to make sure we’re looking at both sides,” Braunberger said. “We don’t necessarily want to punish good landlords, but we want to make sure we’re protecting good tenants too.”
Late rent payments and fees
Senate Bill 2235 would prioritize processing the payments of late rent first before late fees are processed, Braunberger said. By processing the late rent amount first, renters wouldn’t accrue as many additional late fees.
Schuler shared a story with lawmakers about a Fargo resident who lost his minimum wage job and needed rental assistance to cover a late payment and fees. The renter thought the full amount had been paid but received a three-day eviction notice after the additional late fees were processed before the late rental payment, leaving an unpaid balance.
“The fact of the matter is, he wouldn’t have even needed this assistance had this law been in place,” Schuler said.
Multiple senators on the committee questioned whether the new payment priority changes would incentivize tenants not paying any late fees.
Petron said the payment of late rent and fees is spelled out in the rental agreement, so both the renter and the landlord are on the same page.
The late fees could still be recouped by the landlord through an itemized deduction from the tenant’s security deposit after they move out, he said.
Senate Bill 2236 would cap the amount landlords can charge in late fees at 8% of the rent, Braunberger said.
“This basically will address issues regarding compounded fees,” he said. Landlords wouldn’t be able to keep adding late fees for each day or week that a payment is late unless the total fees are under 8% of the rent for the month.
Another supporter of all three bills, Kaden Felch, a fair housing specialist with the High Plains Fair Housing Center, said late fees can range from $10 to $100 with fees being added until the rent is paid in full.
“Large and accumulating late fees can set renters back for months, leading to eviction or lead to large bills that may stay with them for a long time and prevent renters from finding stable housing in the future,” Felch said. “This cap will just allow more flexibility for North Dakotans who may not have as much expendable income as others.”
Petron said the bill was essentially “price fixing” what landlords can charge for late rent payments.
“A property owner’s costs associated with operating and maintaining a property aren’t fixed and can fluctuate,” Petron said.
Investigations of complaints
Senate Bill 2237 would empower the Department of Labor and Human Rights to be able to investigate complaints against landlords and take disciplinary action against a landlord found to be in violation of state law.
Schuler said North Dakota doesn’t have a clear pathway for a state agency to address landlord-tenant disputes outside of the courtroom. During North Dakota eviction proceedings in 2022, he said landlords retained legal representation in 98% of all eviction cases and tenants were represented by attorneys in only 1% of cases, according to the Legal Services Corp.
“When we get into this place where 40% of North Dakota renters are considered cost-burdened, it’s unlikely that those individuals would have, or be able to afford, legal counsel,” Schuler said.
Zachary Greenberg, interim commissioner for the Department of Labor and Human Rights, asked lawmakers to recommend a “do not pass” on the bill due to the department’s jurisdictional, legal and administrative concerns.
He added the department doesn’t license or register landlords in the state and disciplinary actions needed to address complaints would focus on the license they don’t issue. He said other industries have their own licensing boards that can issue disciplinary actions against their membership.
“This bill grants the labor commissioner enforcement powers that do not align with existing regulatory frameworks, raising legal and procedural concerns,” Greenberg said.
He said the investigative burdens on the department would be large and require “substantial new resources.” Greenberg said the department’s estimate of about $750,000 per biennium needed to implement any sort of landlord-tenant program was very conservative.
After the hearing, Schuler said federal fair housing laws don’t address business practices, which is what the three bills are attempting to address.
No action was taken by the committee on the bills after the public hearing.
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While North Dakota’s workforce shortage is serious, it’s also the kind of problem that UND can and will help solve, as today’s Special Edition of UND Today makes clear
By Tom Dennis
Editor, UND Today
We are so lucky to live in North Dakota.
True, there’s a distinct lack of oceanfront views, and even the state Tourism Department once sponsored a tongue-in-cheek billboard that read, “North Dakota Mountain Removal Project completed.” But while North Dakotans know all about their state’s comparative weaknesses in scenery, they’re also aware — and rightly proud — of its exceptional strengths.
Here’s one:
Problems have solutions here. That very much includes the state’s workforce shortage, the issue that Gov. Kelly Armstrong campaigned on and ranks among the top concerns of the state Legislature.
And with that in mind, this Special Edition of UND Today is dedicated to the proposition expressed in the headline: UND is on the case.
Don’t misunderstand; the workforce shortage is an extremely serious issue. Earlier this year, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce released its Worker Shortage Index, an interactive map that “shows which states are suffering the most.”
In two and only two of the states, the crisis is listed as “Most Severe.” They are North Dakota and South Dakota, and while North Dakota’s index of 0.47 is slightly better than South Dakota’s 0.43, it still means North Dakota has only 47 available workers for every 100 open jobs.
In other words, ours is the second-worst workforce-shortage in America.
But think of it this way: Compared with high crime rates, poorly performing schools, frightful levels of homelessness and similar modern complaints, a workforce shortage is an enviable problem for a state to have. That’s because it’s much less intractable than those other concerns — and smart policymaking can make a difference.
That’s already happening, and UND is proud to be playing a part. For example, and as one of the stories in today’s Special Edition reports, the new STEM Complex and proposed Health Professions Collaborative Facility are designed to not only increase the number of graduates in those essential fields but also boost those graduates’ effectiveness and productivity once the new pros are on the job.
Elsewhere on campus, UND students already are being prepared to meet real-world challenges and bolster North Dakota’s STEM workforce development, as another of today’s stories reports. A third story describes North Dakota 85, the School of Medicine & Health Science’s initiative to raise to 85 percent the number of North Dakota residents enrolled in the school’s physician and physician-assistant programs.
And our story today about UND’s extensive online programs describes how, as the story puts it, “distance learning has long been a strategic tool for strengthening North Dakota’s workforce, extending UND’s reach and generating economic benefits statewide.”
As mentioned, UND is on the case.
In September, we published a Special Edition of UND Today titled, “Ten Years Later: The University’s Road to Record Recovery.” UND is enjoying record enrollment at the moment, the series noted. How did that growth come about?
In particular, what were the decisions — some of them very difficult, involving budget cuts and program closures — during the state’s financial crunch in 2016-17, that helped set UND up for its current enrollment success? How have state support, infrastructure improvements, research spending and other recent trends factored in?
Today, we’re extending that outlook to offer thoughts about the next 10 years. And because the state’s workforce shortage is top-of-mind for the elected leaders of North Dakota, it’s top-of-mind at the University of North Dakota, too.
The stories in today’s Special Edition explain how.
Thank you for reading UND Today, and your interest in and support of UND! Feel free to contact me at tom.dennis@UND.edu with any comments or questions.
Don’t miss the full series …
>> UND is on the case. While North Dakota’s workforce shortage is serious, it’s also the kind of problem that UND can and will help solve.
>> The North Dakota magnet of online education. UND’s online programs keep North Dakotans rooted and thriving in-state, while drawing people and positive attention from far and wide.
>> STEM U: New buildings promise to engineer student success. How UND’s STEM Complex and proposed Health Professions Collaborative Facility will grow key components of the state’s workforce.
>> STEM U: How UND educates the workforce of the future. Workforce preparation takes place in labs, classrooms and the Alaskan Arctic, among other locations across UND and beyond.
>> Growing our own physicians and physician assistants. With ND85, UND hopes to raise the number of North Dakota residents enrolled in M.D., P.A. programs at its School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
>> VIDEO: How UND is leading the way in STEM. The deans of UND’s College of Engineering & Mines and College of Arts & Sciences join President Andy Armacost for a conversation about STEM training.
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North Dakota
North Dakota widow with disabilities fears November SNAP halt amid ongoing government shutdown
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – Federal food assistance for low-income persons is set to freeze on Saturday because of the gridlock in Washington.
Terry Hornbuckle is a 65-year-old disabled widow, and she wonders how she will be able to make up for SNAP payments if they are paused in November due to the government shutdown.
“Any penny that comes into this house is absolutely pinched until it screams,” said Hornbuckle.
The government shutdown started almost a month ago. Democrats want a resolution on expiring health care tax credits. But Republicans demand that Democrats end the shutdown before they negotiate anything.
“Well, we’re going to get it done. The Democrats have caused the problem on food stamps,” said President Donald Trump.
Hornbuckle is just living off her late husband’s Social Security. She finds it unfathomable that the shutdown is hurting society’s most vulnerable.
“I’m being used as a weapon. I’m marginalized. I’m collateral damage,” said Hornbuckle.
The state Department of Health and Human Services has funds it could use to resume SNAP, but federal rules prevent this.
On Thursday, Governor Kelly Armstrong will announce a plan that could help North Dakotans bridge a possible gap in food assistance after Nov. 1.
Hornbuckle said this would be a meaningful step in the right direction.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz recently announced that he is sending $4 million in emergency funding to food shelves in advance of the SNAP benefits pausing.
Governor Armstrong’s office has not elaborated on what he is planning to announce on Thursday afternoon. We’ll be at the press conference and let you know the details as soon as we hear them.
Copyright 2025 KFYR. All rights reserved.
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