House Appropriations panel OKs carryover language, delays several new FTEs in Adjutant General budget

The House Appropriations — Government Operations Division on Wednesday agreed to carry over unexpended funds and preserve authority for multiple projects in the Adjutant General's budget, while deferring decisions on several proposed general‑fund full‑time positions.

The actions affect projects including the Dickinson Readiness Center, the Communication Bridge Training Site, Camp Grafton facility and land‑acquisition efforts, a proposed tuition and recruitment IT upgrade, cyber security and flood‑mitigation grants, and the state’s military gallery fundraising match. Committee members also agreed to use the Bergam green‑sheet language for one tuition line and to add emergency clause language for certain infrastructure items.

Why it matters: the committee’s carryover approvals preserve authority to finish construction and maintenance projects that the agency says will not be fully paid before the end of the current biennium. Several items involve federal matching rules, grant periods, or ongoing procurement cycles that the adjutant general and staff said require funds to roll into the next biennium to avoid interrupting work.

Mitch Johnson, the Adjutant General, told the committee the Guard’s personnel assigned to southern operations “are doing a great job alleviating a lot of the work Customs and Border Patrol would have to do,” and that the Guard is completing several field projects tied to training readiness. Jennifer Sheath, division chief for fiscal and administrative services, walked members through line‑by‑line carryover requests and amounts remaining on major projects.

Key carryover figures and project timing cited by agency staff included: about $7.6 million remaining on the Dickinson Readiness Center (projected to finish payments in fall 2025), roughly $4.6 million left for the Communication Bridge Training Site (expected completion in December 2025), and about $7.5 million remaining for the Camp Grafton fitness facility (expected February 2026). The agency asked to carry roughly $1.6 million from the National Guard trust fund for Camp Grafton range expansion and said it is negotiating purchase or lease agreements with nine landowners as a first step for expansion.

On the tuition, recruiting and retention line, Sheath said the agency wants language that would allow carryover authority and permit spending on an updated information system. She cited work with North Dakota Information Technology (NDIT) and an initial development estimate of “just under a hundred thousand dollars” to replace an Access database that the agency said will not be allowed on the agency’s federal network in the future.

The committee also approved carrying over $77,006.90 of state fiscal recovery funds that the agency previously obligated for a state active‑duty software program; the funds will be used for maintenance through December 2026. On cyber security grants, Sheath said the agency received $314,000 in the current biennium and had spent approximately $183,000 through January, leaving roughly $131,000 across projects that were obligated to local jurisdictions and schools.

The agency described a $225,000 disaster‑relief flood‑mitigation award for the city of Marion to construct a permanent drain on Boom Lake; Sheath said final designs were under FEMA review and the agency had paid out just under $23,000 so far.

Committee members discussed Camp Grafton land use and leases. Colonel Cody Volk said the parcels under consideration are primarily grazing land, and that the Guard intends to lease back grazing and hay rights competitively after acquisition so the land would not be permanently removed from production. “We just have to have that for the ricochet areas and for our machine guns when we’re using them,” he said.

Members also discussed a proposed military gallery project. Sheath said the gallery already has about $7.5 million in pledges and that the legislature previously authorized $40 million for the museum; the agency is working with the State Historical Society and asked continued authority to accept private and federal matching funds.

On emergency clauses and critical infrastructure matching, the committee agreed to include “critical infrastructure” language for one emergency clause and to preserve a state match stream. Sheath described a $6 million total request for critical infrastructure match broken into $1.5 million in the base budget and $4.5 million in one‑time funds; the agency said the state match typically leverages approximately a 4:1 federal match on construction projects.

Personnel and FTE decisions were a point of contention. The committee decided to defer four proposed general‑fund FTEs — two positions in the proposed Next Generation Leader program and two positions for the watch center — pending further review and conference committee action. Committee members stated they wanted to limit new general‑fund FTEs this session. At the same time, members agreed to fund two custodial/maintenance positions previously authorized for the Dickinson Readiness Center and to include the Dickinson custodial position (to be hired next biennium) in the agency’s worksheet.

On federal staffing and grant‑funded positions, Homeland Security officials said the Emergency Management Performance Grant (EMPG) and other federal sources cover multiple watch‑center costs. Debbie Lacombe, preparedness chief for the Department of Emergency Services, explained that “EMPG stands for Emergency Management Performance Grant. It’s a federal grant that we receive from FEMA every year. It does require a 50% non‑federal match.” Darren Hanson, Homeland Security Division director, said available EMPG funds will carry the watch‑center personnel through the end of the biennium and into the next roughly 10 months of burn rate, subject to grant performance periods that run into September 2025.

Committee staff (Grant) will draft an amendment reflecting the agreed carryover language, Bergam green‑sheet language on section 11, the emergency clause additions, and the FTE adjustments; the committee said it will reconvene for final amendment review. The Adjutant General is scheduled to appear before the committee again on Wednesday to finish outstanding items.

The committee did not take a roll‑call vote on an individual motion in the transcript; members registered consensus at multiple points by indicating “okay” or offering verbal agreement.