Members of the North Dakota House of Representatives participate in a special session of the Legislature on Jan. 22, 2026. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)
BISMARCK, N.D. (North Dakota Monitor) – Six North Dakota lawmakers failed to submit a financial disclosure form this year despite a new law requiring it be filed annually by Jan. 31.
The legislators with missing disclosures as of April 20, identified by a North Dakota Monitor review, were: Sen. Scott Meyer, R-Grand Forks, Rep. TJ Brown, R-Fargo, Rep. Gretchen Dobervich, D-Fargo, Rep. Lisa Finley-DeVille, D-Mandaree, Rep. Karen Grindberg, R-Fargo, and Rep. Nico Rios, R-Williston. The Secretary of State’s Office confirmed April 20 the documents had not been received.
However, all lawmakers reached for comment by the Monitor last week either promptly submitted the forms or said they planned to submit them.
Meyer and Finley-DeVille were last elected in 2024 and their terms of office do not expire until 2028. The other four lawmakers’ terms expire this year and they are not running for reelection. Grindberg and Brown are serving partial terms to fill legislative vacancies.
Dobervich, Grindberg and Rios submitted statements of interests last week after being contacted by the North Dakota Monitor for comment. Meyer and Finley-DeVille said they planned to file disclosures after being alerted to their requirement but had not done so as of 5 p.m. Friday. Brown said it was an oversight and he planned to file one “at some point.”
Meyer said the Monitor’s inquiry was the first time he’d heard his statement of interests had not been filed. No state agency had contacted him, 79 days after the deadline.
“This is the first I’m hearing of it,” Meyer said.
Meyer and Dobervich said they thought they had submitted their disclosures at the same time they submitted their campaign finance reports in January.
The North Dakota Secretary of State’s office is a filing agency, not a compliance agency, and does not maintain a list of officials who have failed to file a statement of interests, said Sandy McMerty, deputy secretary of state. The office checks that candidates for elected office submit the form, but does not verify the accuracy of the disclosures or monitor forms from other officials, McMerty said.
Grindberg and Rios said they were unaware they were required to file a financial disclosure and had not intended to submit one because they are not running for reelection.
Lawmakers in 2025 approved House Bill 1469, which required for the first time that statements of interests be filed annually and made available online. The disclosures were previously required only when filing to run for office or after being appointed.
Five of the six lawmakers who missed the filing deadline voted in favor of the bill. Brown is listed as absent for the bill’s final vote in the House.
McMerty said the Secretary of State’s Office sent two emails, on Dec. 30 and Jan. 9, notifying all officials of the change to state law requiring financial disclosures be filed annually and the procedure to submit the document through the agency’s new website.
A reminder was emailed on Jan. 22 to all officials who had not yet filed a statement of interests, nine days before the deadline, McMerty said.
The documents ask officials to list their employer and organizations they and their spouse are associated with, any businesses they have a financial interest in, and whether those businesses have sold more than $5,000 in goods or services to a government agency.
If the Secretary of State’s Office is notified that an official has not met the requirements, McMerty said her office will typically reach out and remind the official to file the relevant documentation. The secretary of state can refer the matter to the Attorney General’s Office if those reminders do not prompt a response.
Intentional violations of the statement of interests state law are a Class B misdemeanor, according to North Dakota Century Code, and could result in penalties up to declaring an election void.
That state law charges the attorney general and the appropriate state’s attorney to investigate alleged violations of the statute, on their own initiative or after receiving a signed complaint.
The Secretary of State’s Office is directed by state law to collect late fees for statements of interests filed after the deadline. The statute authorizes a late fee of $25 if the document is filed within six days of the deadline, $50 if between six and 11 days, and $100 if filed more than 11 days late.
The agency has waived all late fees for 2026, “as this was a new annual requirement for filers,” McMerty said in an email. Late filers will be subject to fees beginning in 2027.
Brown said he found it interesting that nobody from the state reached out to remind him to file given that there is a penalty for not doing so on time.
“I haven’t got any emails from the state reminding me to file that,” Brown said. “Especially if there’s any kind of punitive action tied to it, the state would have a responsibility to reach out and say ‘Hey, this is overdue.’”
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