Appropriations committee debates Public Service Commission budget increases for rent, inspections and training

Chairman Munson convened the Government Operations section of the House Appropriations committee to review the Public Service Commission (PSC) budget, focusing on three unresolved items: federal intervention funding, increased rent and operating expenses, and $25,000 for staff professional development.

The question before the committee was whether to accept the Armstrong executive budget reductions or to restore amounts from the Burgum executive proposal. Brady, the committee staff, told members the three highlighted items were “the last 3 items that you had visited about,” and summarized that the Armstrong budget reduced a previous Burgum request and that restoring the $62,000 rent/operating difference would still leave the House version below the Burgum level by about $180,000.

Why it matters: the PSC budget supports statewide inspection and regulation work — including weights-and-measures inspections — whose operating costs include travel, motor pool, lodging and meal reimbursements. Committee members said keeping inspection capacity whole matters for regulated industries and consumer protections.

Committee members asked whether PSC can carry forward operating balances between biennia. Randy Christman, from the Public Service Commission, said, “I'm not aware of any carryover authority for any operating expenses for PSC,” and added the commission’s recently created self-funding account may carry a small cash balance but would be “very minimal.” Staff confirmed the agency does not have general carryover authority unless explicitly written into law.

Christman explained the rent and operating request in the long sheet: much of the operating increase ties to the weights-and-measures program and to higher travel-related costs for inspections. “Motor pool, lodging and meal reimbursements have gone up over the years,” he said, noting the PSC has not requested increases for about 10 years and is now “just too cash strapped.”

Members discussed options for each highlighted item. Representative Pyle and other members said they preferred to present a complete proposal to the Senate rather than leaving work undone; others argued for deferring some uncertain items to one-time funding so the Senate could revisit them. Representative Pyle specifically proposed restoring the Burgum level for rent and operating expenses (adding about $62,000), making the federal intervention funding a one-time appropriation of $250,000, and removing the $25,000 professional-development add from the base and instead treating it differently.

There was also discussion of program self-funding. Committee member Representative Brandenburg reviewed a self-funding report for the weights-and-measures program and noted the program was running at a small loss (about $24,000 short), prompting a question about whether fees should be modestly raised. Randy Christman said the statutory fee levels are set by the Legislature and that prior legislatures have often chosen to keep rates low.

Committee direction and next steps: members generally signaled support for increasing the rent and operating line to the Burgum level (the $62,000 addition), moving the federal intervention funding to one-time funding, and excluding the $25,000 professional development increase from the ongoing base. Brady said he would prepare an amendment and revised long sheets for committee review and a later motion.

Ending: committee staff will draft the amendment reflecting the committee’s direction and return it during committee work for a final motion; no formal roll-call vote on these modifications was recorded during the excerpt provided.