Session Laws
SESSION LAWS
Session Laws, officially known as the Laws of North Dakota, is the complete set of laws passed during a particular legislative session. These are available in print and online, from 1862 to 1888 for the Dakota Territory and from 1889 to the present on the North Dakota Legislature website. Each Chapter represents a piece of legislation, the final version of each bill passed into law during the session, including new law and modifications of laws in effect prior to the beginning of the session. References to the origin of the bill (House or Senate) and sponsors are listed at the beginning of each chapter. Language added to the law during that session are underlined while language removed from a previous version of the statute are represented by a strike-through.
Example - Step 2 - Session Laws
Near the top fo the left-hand side bar of this page is the link to Session Laws -- 1862 - 2021.
In our example, we are searching for S.L. 2007, ch. 388 § 5
S.L. (session law) 2007, ch. 388 (Chapter 388 of that year's Session Laws) § (section) 5
Go to the link and click on the 2007 session. You will be directed to a page that lists that session's Chapter Categories.
Since we know we are looking for chapter 388, we need to click on that range of chapters.
After opening the pdf containing several chapters from that session, scroll down until you locate the information for Chapter 388.
At the top you will find important information. The names of the bill sponsors and the bill number (in this case it's Senate Bill No. 2265) abbreviated as SB 2265. If the bill originated in the House side of the legislature it would be listed as House Bill or HB. You need the bill number to move forward.
The two following images show how the pdf will appear in the downloaded pdf for Chapter 388 section 5. All of the language in section 5 is underlined. That means that language was added that session. Language that is removed from the statutes during a session is stricken through
