AN ACT to amend and reenact sections 12.1-17-07 and 12.1-17-07.1 of the North Dakota Century Code, relating to harassment and stalking with a robot; and to provide a penalty.
House Bill 1429 updates North Dakota's laws concerning harassment and stalking. It specifically amends existing statutes to include acts committed "with a robot." This means that using a robot to harass or stalk another person would now be explicitly covered under these laws, making such actions illegal. The bill also specifies that a penalty would apply to individuals found guilty of these offenses.
Bill status
signed
all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Jan 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
Apr 2025
Senate Passage
Apr 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Jan 13, 2025
Signed Apr 23, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons
What changed between versions
FIRST ENGROSSMENT
→
Enrollment
·
4 edits
MODERATE
The bill was reorganized from a standalone chapter creating new laws about robot surveillance and animal harassment into amendments of existing harassment and stalking statutes. This change integrates robot-related offenses into current harassment and stalking laws rather than creating separate categories, making enforcement more straightforward under existing legal frameworks.
Scope change
The bill's scope shifted from creating entirely new chapters on robot surveillance and animal harassment to amending existing harassment and stalking laws to include robot use as a method of committing those offenses.
DEFINITION
Added a definition of 'robot' to both harassment and stalking sections, explicitly including remotely piloted aircraft and artificial intelligence systems.
REQUIREMENT
Added a new offense where using a robot to engage in offensive conduct with no legitimate purpose constitutes harassment.
SCOPE
Removed provisions that created separate crimes for robot surveillance of individuals and robot harassment of livestock and wildlife, which are now covered under existing harassment and stalking laws.
ENFORCEMENT
Updated stalking penalties to include prior convictions for harassment and stalking as aggravating factors that increase penalties from class A misdemeanor to class C felony.
Floor votes · Senate Apr 4, 2025 · House Apr 15, 2025
How they voted
45–0
Passed · 2 other
Total votes 47
Apr 4, 2025
D
Democratic5
100% Yea
R
Republican42
95% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea
All Nay
Mixed
No data
Full legislative history
Actions timeline
Total actions
19
Key actions
11
Committee
4
Apr 24, 2025
Introduced
Filed with Secretary Of State 04/22
legislature
Apr 23, 2025
Signed into law
Signed by Governor 04/21
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Second reading, passed, yeas 91 nays 0
lower
Apr 15, 2025
Lower · Passed
Concurred
lower
Apr 4, 2025
Upper · Passed
Second reading, passed as amended, yeas 45 nays 0
upper
Apr 2, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amendment adopted, placed on calendar
upper
Apr 1, 2025
Upper · Passed
Reported back amended, do pass, amendment placed on calendar 6 0 0
upper
Mar 20, 2025
Upper · Passed
Committee Hearing 11:15
upper
Mar 7, 2025
Introduced
Introduced, first reading, referred Agriculture and Veterans Affairs Committee
upper
Feb 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
Second reading, passed, yeas 91 nays 0
lower
Feb 21, 2025
Lower · Passed
Amendment adopted, placed on calendar
lower
Feb 20, 2025
Lower · Passed
Reported back amended, do pass, amendment placed on calendar 13 0 1
lower
Jan 24, 2025
Lower · Passed
Committee Hearing 08:30
lower
Jan 13, 2025
Introduced
Introduced, first reading, referred Agriculture Committee
lower
1 primary · 8 co-sponsors
Sponsors
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