Senate panel revises Attorney General budget: adds cybercrime agents, restores salary equity and keeps vaping registry language with higher fee

The Senate Government Operations Division on March 28 amended House Bill 1003, the Attorney General’s budget bill, to add law-enforcement positions for cybercrime work, restore a proposed attorney salary-equity package and keep language establishing an electronic vaping registry while increasing the application fee to $2,000.

The committee’s change package, presented by budget analyst Levi and discussed with Chief Deputy Attorney General Claire Ness, adds two Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) cybercrime agents and $161,000 in one-time equipment money to support them. The amendment specifies those agents would be based in the Grand Forks area; the city of Grand Forks has pledged about $148,000 in equipment, training, travel and office space for the two positions, committee members said.

Committee leaders also restored an attorney-equity request the House did not include. The equity package totals about $291,000: roughly $254,317 from the general fund and $37,460 from other funds (about $16,000 federal, $16,000 from the Attorney General Refund Fund and roughly $4,500 from the lottery operating fund). Claire Ness told the committee the increases would primarily target junior and mid-level attorneys using the office’s tiering system and that the request was intended to reduce turnover.

Why it matters: the changes alter several funding sources and personnel authorizations that affect how the Attorney General’s Office provides victim services, cyber investigations and litigation support. Committee…