HB 1165 Summary

• Restructures North Dakota's health governance by replacing the "state health council" with the "department of health and human services" as the primary administrative body, and changing the "executive director" title to "commissioner" throughout the Century Code.

• Creates three new sections establishing powers and duties for: (1) the public health division, (2) the central public health laboratory, and (3) surge staffing to deploy health care workers to hospitals and care facilities during staff shortages.

• Repeals sections 23-01-01, 23-01-06, and 23-07-07 relating to the health division structure, biennial reporting requirements, and sexually transmitted disease reporting.

• Makes extensive technical amendments across multiple chapters (43, 50, 54, 57) to update references from "state health officer," "health council," and "executive director" to reflect the new departmental structure and titles.

• Implements a surge staffing program allowing the department to employ staff for temporary deployment to health care facilities, with deployed staff considered employees of the receiving facility for liability and indemnification purposes.