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Appropriators weigh changing NDIT spending authority to a continuing appropriation to avoid double counting
Summary
Lawmakers and NDIT staff discussed converting several NDIT spending authorities to continuing appropriations to eliminate double accounting of vendor and infrastructure costs that now appear both in agency budgets and in NDIT's chargeback authority.
Members of the House Appropriations Government Operations Division spent an extended portion of the hearing examining whether the Information Technology Department’s current "spending authority" accounting model should be replaced with a continuing appropriation that would remove duplicate line‑item authority on NDIT’s long sheet.
Representative Bosch and NDIT staff framed the problem as double accounting: many agencies appropriate money for IT services and NDIT has authority to bill those agencies for vendor costs and infrastructure; the same dollars appear on two agency long‑sheet totals. NDIT officials argued the change would mostly remove accounting duplication rather than create new cash. "We have no ability beyond the cash we recover to spend," NDIT staff summarized, describing the agency’s current reliance on chargebacks to accumulate cash for vendor payments.
Mark Dayton (NDIT presentation) walked the committee through diagrams showing how vendor payments, staffing and chargebacks flow. Representative Fisher expressed concerns about how a continuing appropriation would change transparency for agencies and legislators: under the current model there is an explicit number on the long sheet that members can point to each session. NDIT, OMB and committee members agreed that reporting requirements could address that concern; NDIT proposed quarterly reporting of revenues and expenditures to Budget Section to increase visibility.
OMB‑affiliated staff said the continuing appropriation would reduce NDIT’s appropriation authority but not the overall bottom line of state IT spending; it would remove one of the two places the authority appears while preserving budget section visibility and federal grant rules. Several committee members voiced concern about timing: changing the accounting approach will need consistent treatment across other agency budgets and might require coordinated amendments.
Committee direction included drafting long‑sheet amendments so capital asset authority and several special fund lines would be rolled into a single continuing appropriation for NDIT operational vendor costs. Staff were asked to produce an updated long sheet and draft bill language for later committee review.
Ending
The committee asked staff to prepare amended language that creates a continuing appropriation for NDIT operational vendor and infrastructure costs, coupled with required quarterly reporting to Budget Section; members asked staff to confirm impacts on other agency budgets before finalizing changes.
