Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Commerce Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Appropriations panel reviews Commerce budget; staff explain 'long', 'purple' and 'green' budget sheets
Summary
The Government Operations appropriations subcommittee reviewed the Department of Commerce budget comparison between Governor Burgum's and Governor Armstrong's recommendations, with staff explaining the committee materials and how proposed transfers and continuing appropriations appear in bill language.
Chairman Wanzeck convened the Appropriations — Government Operations Division committee to begin detailed review of the Department of Commerce budget, asking staff to walk members through the department's comparison materials and the differences between the two governors' recommendations.
Levi, a Commerce/appropriations staff presenter, told the committee members they should have a "long sheet" and a "purple sheet" that summarize agency base levels and differences between Governor Burgum's and Governor Armstrong's proposals. He said the long sheet shows Burgum and Armstrong columns side-by-side and the far-right columns show differences; the purple sheet summarizes Armstrong's recommended changes and highlights items that differ from Burgum.
Levi said Governor Armstrong recommended about $7 million less in total Commerce appropriations than Governor Burgum, with roughly $31.7 million fewer general fund dollars and about $24.8 million more in other funds, driven largely by items switched to Special Infrastructure Funds (SIF).
Staff emphasized that some items are continuing appropriations or transfers and therefore do not show as a section-1 appropriation on the face of the agency's section-1 numbers. For example, transfers into the North Dakota Development Fund and other SIF transfers are made in later bill sections or in transfer sections rather than the appropriation line-item.
Committee members asked for supplemental reports and ledgers to show cash balances, project-level expenditures and carryover for off-budget or continuing-appropriation funds. Levi and Rich (Commerce economic development staff) agreed to produce detailed reports on the North Dakota Development Fund and the LIFT fund, including recent project lists, deposits/expenditures and default/repayment history.
The committee paused to request additional briefings from Commerce division directors on items that will recur across the budget, and planned to hold those for subsequent work sessions.
Ending: Committee members agreed to hold on formal action while staff produce the requested ledger and program reports; the hearing continued with topic-specific presentations later in the session.
