House Appropriations reviews Adjutant General budget, weighing maintenance, disaster and construction requests

Bismarck — The House Appropriations - Government Operations Division spent its Wednesday morning reviewing the Adjutant General's budget request, focusing on maintenance needs, disaster-response funding and construction projects that state officials said would leverage federal matching dollars.

The committee heard an overview from Brig. Gen. Mitch Johnson, Adjutant General of the North Dakota National Guard, who outlined multiple requests including a proposed base maintenance appropriation and one-time funds to match federal construction and mitigation grants. Committee members emphasized the need to understand accounting changes on the long worksheet but generally signaled support for several items while marking others with a question mark for follow-up.

Why it matters: The department manages about $900 million in land and facilities and officials told lawmakers a $6 million state commitment could unlock roughly $24 million in federal funds, producing about $30 million in projects to repair and…