Written by Kim Kuhlmann, External Affairs Manager
The ND Legislative Session adjourned sine die at 4:00 am on Saturday, May 3. A record 1,035 bills were filed and over 600 bills were passed. Six days remain out of the 80 days they are allowed to meet for an emergency session if needed. It was a long session, but we are happy to report on some successes we had.
Aside from the successes we had related to laws, we raised the profile of health centers among state lawmakers, both new and returning. Health centers were mentioned several times during floor debates and in committee meetings. All five health centers made it to the Capitol at least once, four of five health centers testified in person, and four of five health centers attended Health Center Day at the Capitol. We also had several legislators express interest in visiting health centers during the interim.
Legislative Management will meet in June to assign the interim committees and select any of the optional studies that were passed.
Review of CHAD priority bills:
- The FQHC Appropriation of $2 million/biennium passed as part of the HHS budget.
- A bill (HB 1473) passed to provide protection for 340B covered entities from contract pharmacy restrictions imposed by pharmaceutical manufacturers. Pharmaceutical manufacturer AbbVie has filed a lawsuit against the states of ND, SD and NE over their 340B laws passed in 2025. The law goes into effect on August 1, 2025, unless an injunction is filed. CHAD is monitoring the issue.
- Several attempts were made to add reporting requirements to the 340B program. Originally a bill related to insulin, SB 2370 was changed late in the session and if passed would have required 340B transparency reporting by anyone who has a part in the 340B program. The bill was amended to require a study of what should be included in reports to the state as part of the 340B program. FQHC’s and an organization representing FQHCs are both mentioned as stakeholders to participate in the study. The study passed both chambers and will be taken up in the interim.
- SB 2231 to add an adult dental benefit to Medicaid Expansion was defeated in the House after a long battle.
- SB 2280 for prior authorization reform in commercial insurance passed. The bill adds several changes including requiring payors to respond to prior authorization requests within 72 hours for urgent and 7 calendar days for non-urgent requests. If no response is received within 14 days, it is automatically approved. The change also requires prior authorization denials to be reviewed by medical providers who have experience in the area of specialty.
- HB 1283 that would have eliminated cost-sharing for breast diagnostic imaging was defeated by a narrow margin in the Senate.
- Two bills to provide school meals to all children were defeated. The Department of Public Instruction did end up receiving $7.3 million in its budget to make free school lunches available to children within 225% of the FLP.
Through our work with the ND Oral Health Coalition, we also monitored several bills related to oral health:
- A bill (HB 1567) passed for a legislative management study relating to dental and oral health care status among Medicaid recipients and workforce support to improve access for low-income children, Native American children, and individuals with disabilities. The bill initially would have provided $97,000 to help with dental student rotations and dental student recruitment, but the funding was removed early on.
- HB 1605 that would have created a statewide ban on community water fluoridation for the entire state was defeated early on.
We appreciate Courtney Koebele with ND Medical Association as our lobbyist. She worked tirelessly for CHAD and our members almost every day for the past four months at the Capitol.
A huge thank you to health center staff who took time to testify in person:
- From Coal Country Community Health Center: Dr. Aaron Garman, Medical Director and Alyssa Wolden, Pharmacy Director;
- From Family HealthCare Margaret Asheim, CEO;
- From Northland Health Center: Nadine Boe, CEO, Rachel Thomas, CFO, and Jennie Corneel, Behavioral Health Supervisor; and
- From Spectra Health Center: Mara Jiran, CEO.
