# North Dakota

North Dakota has no forensic science commission, no lab accreditation statute and no analyst license. The state crime laboratory is a division of the attorney general’s office, and its director approves chemical-test methods and certifies operators. DNA is collected from adults arrested or summoned for a felony, and since 2023 peace officers, and since 2025 correctional officers, may take saliva samples. Since July 1, 2025, convicted defendants pay up to $100 toward digital forensic examinations.

Source: https://uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/north-dakota

## At a glance

- **Oversight body:** No forensic science commission. “A state crime laboratory is created as a division of the office of the attorney general.” It has a director, the state toxicologist and other staff, and “must be administratively separated from the bureau of criminal investigation” ([NDCC 54-12-24(1)](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t54c12.pdf)). The lab director or designee approves chemical-test methods and devices and certifies operators ([39-20-07](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t39c20.pdf)). The lab runs the DNA database (31-13-05) and the statewide sexual assault kit tracking system (54-12-24.1).
- **Lab accreditation:** No statute found. “Accredit” does not appear in a lab or forensic context in the Century Code titles searched (11, 12, 12.1, 15.1, 19, 23, 26.1, 29, 31, 39, 43, 44, 50, 54, 62.1 and 65). The only near-forensic use is reimbursement to an “accredited children’s advocacy center” for forensic interviews ([12.1-34-07](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12-1c34.pdf)). The North Dakota Administrative Code was not searched.
- **Analyst licensing:** None. Chemical test results “must be received in evidence” if the test used methods and devices approved by the crime lab director or designee and was given “by an individual possessing a certificate of qualification to administer the test issued by” the director or designee. The lab posts registers of approved devices and certified operators on the attorney general’s website, and certified copies are prima facie evidence ([NDCC 39-20-07](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t39c20.pdf)).
- **Admissibility standard:** N.D.R.Ev. 702 (effective March 1, 2014) has no reliability prongs: an expert may testify if specialized knowledge “will help the trier of fact” ([Rule 702](https://www.ndcourts.gov/legal-resources/rules/ndrev/702)). The Supreme Court “has never explicitly adopted Daubert and Kumho Tire” and declined to adopt Daubert “by judicial decision” (State v. Hernandez, 2005 ND 214, ¶6, read from a [CourtListener copy](https://storage.courtlistener.com/wpd/2005/12/20/smith_v._hall.wpd) because the court site blocked access; the file is misnamed “smith_v._hall” but contains Hernandez). By statute, DNA testing “is deemed to be a reliable scientific technique” (31-13-02). North Dakota has not adopted the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702.
- **Post-conviction forensic relief:** No. A motion for forensic DNA testing that “was not available at the time of the trial” is allowed if identity was at issue and the method is “generally accepted within the relevant scientific community” ([NDCC 29-32.1-15](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t29c32-1.pdf)). The two-year limit has an exception for “newly discovered evidence, including DNA evidence” (29-32.1-01(3)). No statute addresses changed forensic science generally.
- **DNA database scope:** Arrestees and convictions. Anyone 18 or older “arrested or summoned to appear before a magistrate for the commission of a felony” must give a sample ([NDCC 31-13-03(1)](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t31c13.pdf)). Courts must also order samples from people convicted of listed sexual offenses since August 1, 1995; of felonies under chapters 12.1-16, 12.1-17, 12.1-18, 12.1-27.2 and section 12.1-22-01 after July 31, 2001; of any felony after July 31, 2005; and from people arrested for a felony after July 31, 2009. Samples are blood, other body fluids or saliva (31-13-04). A profile may be removed by petition if no felony charge is filed within a year, or the case ends in dismissal, acquittal or a misdemeanor conviction (31-13-07).
- **Facial recognition:** No statute regulating government or police use was found. “Facial recognition” appears only in the definition of biometric data for criminal history records ([NDCC 12-60-16.1(1)](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t12c60.pdf)).

## Changes, 2023 to 2026

- Aug 1, 2025 — **Crime lab director no longer “serves at the pleasure of the attorney general”** — SB 2050 (2025), NDCC 54-12-24(1) · Signed and filed March 14, 2025; effective August 1, 2025 (Legislative Council effective-dates list) — The act deleted “serves at the pleasure of the attorney general and” from the sentence on the director’s salary, which the attorney general still sets within appropriations. The lab remains a division of the attorney general’s office, administratively separate from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. The Attorney General requested the bill. — **For practitioners:** The statute no longer calls the director an at-will appointee, but it sets no term, removal standard or appointing authority. — [SB 2050 enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-8020-02000.pdf)[NDCC ch. 54-12](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t54c12.pdf)
- Jul 1, 2025 — **Convicted defendants pay up to $100 for digital forensic examinations** — SB 2167 (2025), NDCC 29-26-22.4, 54-12-37 · Signed and filed March 20, 2025; effective July 1, 2025 (Legislative Council effective-dates list) — A person convicted of a felony or misdemeanor “shall, as part of the sentence imposed by the court, pay for the reimbursement of the cost of any digital forensic examination performed on any personal electronic device in the investigation and prosecution of the crime,” up to $100 per defendant. Personal electronic devices include phones, tablets, laptops and computers. Fees go to a new internet crimes investigation fund, continuously appropriated to the attorney general for equipment, software, “digital forensic training” and internet safety presentations. — **For practitioners:** Expect this fee at sentencing when a device was examined; it is capped at $100 per defendant. — [SB 2167 enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-0823-03000.pdf)[NDCC ch. 29-26](https://ndlegis.gov/cencode/t29c26.pdf)
- Mar 18, 2025 — **Correctional officers may also collect saliva DNA samples** — HB 1044 (2025), NDCC 31-13-04(2) · Signed March 17, 2025; emergency measure, effective March 18, 2025 (Legislative Council effective-dates list) — Saliva samples for DNA testing “may be obtained by a licensed peace officer or a correctional officer.” The words “or a correctional officer” are new. The Attorney General requested the bill. — **For practitioners:** Database samples may now be taken by jail and prison staff; check that a lab-approved kit was used. — [HB 1044 enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/documents/25-8017-03000.pdf)[HB 1044 actions](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/bill-actions/ba1044.html)
- Mar 30, 2023 — **Peace officers may collect saliva DNA samples; blood-draw approval moved to the crime lab director** — HB 1338 (2023), NDCC 31-13-04, 39-20-07(10) · Signed March 29, 2023; filed March 30, 2023; effective March 30, 2023 (computed: emergency measure, effective on filing under N.D. Const. art. IV, §13) — New 31-13-04(2): “Samples of saliva for DNA testing may be obtained by a licensed peace officer,” using lab-approved kits under lab rules. Blood and other body fluid samples may be drawn by listed medical personnel; the catch-all “other qualified personnel approved by the laboratory” was deleted. In 39-20-07(10), a blood draw now follows the approved methods of the “director of the state crime laboratory or the director’s designee” rather than the state toxicologist. — **For practitioners:** For a DUI blood draw, check the verified statement cites methods approved by the crime lab director or designee. For database samples, check who took the sample and that a lab-approved kit was used. — [HB 1338 enrolled](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/documents/23-0895-03000.pdf)[HB 1338 actions](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/bill-actions/ba1338.html)

## Pending bills

No bill on these topics is pending. The regular session adjourned May 3, 2025; special sessions in January and September 2026 took up no forensic, DNA or crime lab measures. The next regular session meets in 2027. Measures that did not become law:

- HB 1370 (2025), onsite screening tests and hearings for refusing a chemical test, failed in the House, 16 to 74 ([HB 1370](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/69-2025/regular/bill-overview/bo1370.html)).
- SB 2131 (2023), an appropriation for the crime laboratory, failed in the Senate, 2 to 44 ([SB 2131](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/bill-overview/bo2131.html)).
- HB 1518 (2023), rights of sexual assault survivors, failed in the House, 28 to 66 ([HB 1518](https://ndlegis.gov/assembly/68-2023/regular/bill-overview/bo1518.html)).

## Checked and unchanged

- NDCC 29-32.1-15 (DNA testing motion) and 31-13-02 (DNA admissibility): not amended by any 2023 bill; no 2025 bill touching them was found. HB 1087 (2023) changed only summary-disposition procedure in ch. 29-32.1.
- NDCC 54-12-24.1 (kit tracking system) and 39-20-07(5)-(8) (approved methods and certified operators): no 2023 to 2026 amendments found.
- N.D.R.Ev. 702: effective March 1, 2014; no later amendment shown.
- HB 1003 (2025) includes $321,000 for crime laboratory equipment and supplies. This is funding, not a law change.
- The Century Code PDFs carry no history notes, and no 2025 sections-affected table is posted, so “unchanged” findings rest on the 2023 sections-affected table and the 2025 topic index. No 2023 to 2026 Supreme Court opinion on Rule 702 was reviewed because the court site blocked access.