Bill advances to change caps of North Dakota spending panel

The governor-led, six-member Emergency Fee on Tuesday authorized a raft of state company requests, a lot of them for federal cash, leaving little remaining spending authority for the panel.

A invoice is ready to go earlier than state lawmakers subsequent yr to treatment the issue that resulted when the 2021 Legislature imposed the spending caps for the fee of $50 million of federal funds and $5 million of particular funds in a two-year funds cycle, with some exemptions. Any quantity over the authorized combination would want the OK of the Legislature, which meets each two years.

The Legislature later elevated the particular funds restrict to a stopgap $20 million. Particular funds are cash that is not from the state’s normal fund or the federal authorities.

The spending caps got here following frustration with the panel deciding spend over $1 billion of federal coronavirus help, with little enter from lawmakers. 

Gov. Doug Burgum has bristled on the “arbitrarily low” spending caps born from the invoice he unsuccessfully vetoed final yr.

“I can inform you what issues it is created for the businesses, however I can not inform you what downside it solved in any respect, actually,” the governor stated.

He stated the spending caps have slowed the state’s capability to place cash to make use of. 

“We’re in a unique world proper now with the extent of federal spending. Whether or not you prefer it or do not prefer it, it is a only a completely different degree, and there is a whole lot of packages and grants coming,” Burgum stated.

The panel on Tuesday did not go over the caps, however it did amend the greenback quantity of 1 merchandise from $5.75 million of particular funds to $4.5 million. The fee couldn’t have authorized all requests as made for particular funding on Tuesday.

The fee has authority remaining to approve about $1.3 million of federal funds and roughly $300,000 of particular funds, based on Workplace of Administration and Price range Director Joe Morrissette. 

In 2020, the panel largely determined spend North Dakota’s $1.25 billion of federal CARES Act coronavirus help. Sen. David Hogue, R-Minot, introduced the invoice for the spending caps final yr in response to that course of, which gave most lawmakers little enter on spend the cash, irritating some individuals.

The spending caps took impact in April 2021 after the Legislature overrode Burgum’s veto. He stated the spending caps would too simply set off the necessity for a particular session.

Gadgets over $50,000 authorized by the Emergency Fee go to the Legislature’s Price range Part, which may beforehand solely approve or deny the requests. The legislation handed from Hogue’s invoice permits that group of funds writers and ground leaders to amend objects over $3 million.

The Legislature’s interim Authorities Finance Committee studied the invoice after its points got here to mild, and superior options, together with the stopgap the Legislature authorized in its particular session final yr and a brand new invoice to alter the spending limits to percentages of the state’s normal fund.

The 2023 Legislature will think about that invoice, Senate Invoice 2029.

The federal fund restrict can be modified to 2% of the two-year normal fund funds; the particular fund limits can be 1%. The 2021-23 normal fund funds is about $5 billion. Two % of that may be $100 million; 1% of it might be $50 million.

Morrissette stated a change to percentages “is sensible, moderately than have a inflexible greenback quantity in statute, one thing that is linked to the dimensions of the funds in order that it might regulate because the funds adjusts over time.”