Committee Hears Bill Requiring NDUS to Pre‑Plan Hires, Adds Reporting to Budget Section

Representative Eric Murphy introduced an amended version of House Bill 11 61 on behalf of the North Dakota University System (NDUS), telling the Appropriations — Education and Environment Division that the bill would require institutions to pre‑identify hires and report use of a dedicated internal hiring pool to the budget section.

The bill would require NDUS, on even‑numbered years, to list the faculty, staff and administrators each institution plans to hire over the upcoming biennium and place funds into an internal account to support those positions; those funds, Murphy said, could be used for operations if necessary and would be reported quarterly to the budget section by the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE). "And so the idea is on even numbered years, they're going to list the faculty, staff, and administrators they plan on hiring over the biennium," Murphy said during his presentation.

Murphy said the amended version preserves the SBHE's constitutional authority as the…