2012 North Dakota Century Code Title 37 Military Chapter 37-18 Department of Veterans' Affairs
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CHAPTER 37-18
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS' AFFAIRS
37-18-01. Department established - Commissioner.
There is hereby established a department of veterans' affairs under the supervision and
control of a commissioner known as commissioner of veterans' affairs, hereinafter referred to as
the commissioner.
37-18-02. Qualifications and appointment of commissioner.
Repealed by S.L. 1971, ch. 344, § 25.
37-18-03. Advisory committee.
Repealed by S.L. 1971, ch. 344, § 25.
37-18-04. Duties of commissioner.
It is the duty of the commissioner to coordinate agencies or instrumentalities of the state set
up to render service and benefits to returning veterans; to have charge of and implement
programs and benefits authorized by statute; to assist or represent veterans or their widows,
administrators, executors, guardians, or heirs, in processing claims; to advise and assist
veterans in taking advantage of the provisions of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944
[Pub. L. 78-346; 58 Stat. 291], or any similar or related measures afforded by the federal
government; to provide counties with recommended qualifications and standards for county
veterans' service officers; to assist counties with training of county veterans' service officers; to
provide county veterans' service officers with educational materials; to assist county veterans'
service officers in the performance of their duties; to disseminate information; and to do any and
all things necessary and proper for the purpose of carrying out the intent and purposes of this
chapter.
37-18-05. Seal of commissioner - Power to administer oaths and make certifications.
The commissioner shall have a seal of office and may administer oaths and take
acknowledgments in connection with the prosecution of any claim for compensation,
hospitalization, insurance, or other aid or benefits. The commissioner may certify to the
correctness of any document or documents which may be submitted in connection with any
such application.
37-18-06. Establishment of divisions - Assistants.
The commissioner is hereby authorized and empowered to establish within the department
a claims division, a loan division, a field division, and such other divisions as from time to time
may become necessary to carry out the purposes of the chapter; to appoint such assistants as
may be necessary; and to prescribe regulations and rules of procedure.
37-18-07. Commissioner - Appointment - Qualifications - Term - Salary.
The appointment, qualifications, term of office, and salary of the commissioner must be as
prescribed in section 37-18.1-03. The commissioner must be allowed such amounts for travel,
clerkhire, and expenses as may be prescribed from time to time by legislative appropriations.
37-18-08. Office of commissioner - Where located.
The office of the commissioner shall be located in the same city as the principal office of the
veterans' administrator for this state. If the veterans' administrator is removed from the state,
such commissioner's office must be located in the state capitol.
37-18-09. Department a continuation of veterans' service commissioner.
Repealed by S.L. 1971, ch. 344, § 25.
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37-18-10. Unexpended funds transferred.
Repealed by omission from this code.
37-18-11. Release of information and records - Confidential nature.
All records and papers pertaining or relating to veterans which are transmitted by the United
States government to the department of veterans' affairs must be kept and maintained by said
department under the following provisions and conditions:
1. All records and papers of the department are to be utilized in the manner to best serve
the public interest, but the veteran's right of privacy as to information pertaining to the
veteran's military or naval service and to confidential information contained in the
veteran's application for benefits will be respected.
2. All reports of investigation made by employees of the department or at the direction of
the department for official departmental purposes are for the use of the commissioner
and the commissioner's staff only. Materials and information which disclose the
investigative techniques of the department or the identity of confidential informants and
material received in confidence by representatives of the department will not be
released.
3. Records pertaining to any application for benefits, whether pending or adjudicated, will
be deemed confidential and no disclosure therefrom will be made except in the
circumstances and under the conditions set forth in this chapter, and any person
making application for benefits must hereinafter be referred to as the applicant.
4. An applicant may not have access to official department records concerning the
applicant, but information from official records may be disclosed to an applicant or the
applicant's duly authorized representative as to matters concerning the applicant.
5. "Duly authorized representative" is defined as any person authorized in writing by the
applicant to act for the applicant, or the applicant's legally constituted representative if
the applicant is incompetent or deceased. If for proper reason no such representative
has been or will be appointed, the applicant's spouse, an adult child, or if the applicant
is unmarried, either of the applicant's parents shall be recognized as the duly
authorized representative of the applicant.
6. Medical information may be disclosed as follows:
a. Except as otherwise required by law, information contained in medical records on
file shall be disclosed to the resident on request.
b. Information contained in medical records of residents and beneficiaries pertaining
to medical history, diagnosis, findings, or treatment may be disclosed directly to
physicians and hospitals for treatment, payment, and health care operations, and
as otherwise authorized by law. This information is to be treated as confidential
information. This information also may be disclosed without the consent of the
resident or the resident's personal representative when a request for the
information is received from the veterans' administration, the United States public
health service, the superintendent of a state hospital, a commissioner or head of
a state department of mental hygiene, or head of a state, county, or city health
department and the disclosure is required by law, or for the purpose of treatment,
payment, or health care operations.
7. Information contained in loan files may be made available to any party having an
interest in such loan transaction upon approval by the director or pursuant to rules and
regulations promulgated by the director.
8. Information contained in department files required for official purposes by any agency
of the United States government or by any agency of the state of North Dakota, or by
any law enforcement or public welfare agency of any North Dakota county or
municipality may be furnished in response to an official request, written or oral, from
such agency. The requesting agency must be asked to specify the purpose for which
such information is to be used.
9. Subject to the limitations of any other law, members of the legislative assembly may be
furnished such information contained in department files as may be requested for
official use.
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10.
11.
12.
13.
A county veterans' service officer may be permitted to inspect records pertaining to
any application for benefits in which the officer's office may be directly involved upon
the condition that only such information contained therein as may be properly
disclosed will be disclosed by the officer only to the applicant or if the applicant is
incompetent, to the applicant's legally constituted representative.
When records pertaining to any application for benefits are requested for use in any
judicial proceedings, they will be released only upon service of a proper subpoena and
upon the condition that they will be returned upon conclusion of such proceedings.
Addresses of applicants from department records will not be furnished, except as
provided in subsections 5 through 10. When an address is requested by a person to
whom it may not be furnished, the person making the request will be informed that
correspondence enclosed in an unsealed envelope showing no return address, with
the name of the addressee thereon, and bearing sufficient postage to cover mailing
costs will be forwarded by the department. At the time the correspondence is
forwarded, the department's return address will be placed on the envelope. If
undelivered mail is returned to the department, the original sender will be notified
thereof, but the envelope will be retained by the department. In no event will letters be
forwarded for the purposes of debt collection, canvassing, or harassment.
Separation documents evidencing service in the armed forces of the United States will
be considered confidential and privileged, anything contained in subsections 4 through
10 notwithstanding. Examination of such records will be limited to authorized
employees of the department and information entered thereon will be disclosed only to
interested governmental agencies for the purpose of assisting veterans and their
dependents to obtain the rights and benefits to which they may be entitled.
37-18-12. Funding authority - Continuing appropriation.
The department of veterans' affairs may accept and expend funds from any source,
including federal or private sources, to be used to assist veterans or qualified veterans' spouses
in obtaining assistance and to pay other expenses authorized by law incurred in carrying out
programs of benefit and service for resident North Dakota veterans as authorized by the
administrative committee on veterans' affairs with the approval of the emergency commission.
However, all interest earnings from the veterans' postwar trust fund received by the department
of veterans' affairs from the administrative committee on veterans' affairs are appropriated to the
department on a continuing basis.
37-18-13. Records.
The department of veterans' affairs may receive from the United States such records of
veterans as the United States may wish to turn over to the department of veterans' affairs and
same shall keep and maintain the records as provided in this chapter.
37-18-14. Department of veterans' affairs employees - Conservatorship activities
prohibited.
An employee of the department of veterans' affairs may not serve as a conservator for an
individual who is receiving benefits or services from the department, except if the individual is
the spouse or an immediate family member of the employee.
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