---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT to amend and reenact section 40-18-05 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to municipal judges."
description: "Relating to municipal judges."
jurisdiction: "us/states/nd"
legislature: "North Dakota Legislative Assembly"
session: "68"
identifier: "SB 2138"
citation: "North Dakota SB 2138 (68)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Dean Rummel"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 16
vote_count: 2
first_action: "2023-01-03"
last_action: "2023-03-24"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/b8026b2c-bcdd-4a20-9be0-2ff867758b3f"
source_url: "https://ndlegis.gov/api/assembly/68-2023/data/bills.json"
source_hash: "6a2449b38eb7a8ec7bb0a41b98f7392ad85124a4cf6eb0124332536eb96306be"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-nd"]
---

# North Dakota SB 2138 (68) — AN ACT to amend and reenact section 40-18-05 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to municipal judges.

Relating to municipal judges.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **INTRODUCED** (filed) — [source](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0486-01000.pdf)
2. **Enrollment** (committee substitute) — [source](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0486-03000.pdf)
3. **FIRST ENGROSSMENT** (committee substitute) — [source](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0486-02000.pdf)

## Votes

- Motion for Final Passage on SB 2138 — **47–0** (pass) · upper
- Motion for Final Passage on SB 2138 — **90–2** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Dean Rummel — primary (person)
- Jonathan Sickler — cosponsor (person)
- Mike Lefor — cosponsor (person)
- Vicky Steiner — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-01-03** Introduced, first reading, referred Judiciary Committee `introduction`
- **2023-01-17** Committee Hearing 09:00
- **2023-01-18** Reported back amended, do pass, amendment placed on calendar 7 0 0 `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-01-19** Amendment adopted, placed on calendar
- **2023-01-20** Second reading, passed, yeas 47 nays 0 `passage, reading-2`
- **2023-01-23** Received from Senate
- **2023-02-16** Introduced, first reading, referred Judiciary Committee `introduction`
- **2023-03-06** Committee Hearing 10:30
- **2023-03-06** Reported back, do pass, place on calendar 13 0 0 `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-07** Second reading, passed, yeas 90 nays 2 `passage, reading-2`
- **2023-03-08** Returned to Senate
- **2023-03-09** Signed by Speaker
- **2023-03-09** Signed by President
- **2023-03-14** Sent to Governor `executive-receipt`
- **2023-03-15** Signed by Governor 03/14 `executive-signature`
- **2023-03-24** Filed with Secretary Of State 03/15 `introduction`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/b8026b2c-bcdd-4a20-9be0-2ff867758b3f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official North Dakota legislature records).