Governor’s office seeks funding for Fargo branch, internships, AI tools in HB1001 hearing

BISMARCK — The Appropriations - Education and Environment Division opened a hearing on House Bill 1001 as Ross Layton, chief of staff for the governor, asked lawmakers to approve several budget changes for the Office of the Governor, including funding to establish a Fargo presence, expand internships and pay for AI tools.

Layton said the governor’s request would “continue funding our office at current compensation levels” and add $20,000 in temporary salaries for a total of $50,000 to expand the office’s internship program. He asked lawmakers to approve $272,000 to fund salary and benefits for a Fargo-based employee — $192,000 for salary and $80,000 for fringe benefits — and said the request uses an open FTE that currently lacks funding.

The Fargo position, Layton said, would give the governor “a presence at events and meetings on the eastern side of the state” and reduce travel costs by avoiding frequent trips from Bismarck to eastern communities. “It is one thing that I think would be beneficial … show that the governor’s office is not just focused on Bismarck,” he said.

Nut graf: The requests are a mix of one-time and ongoing increases tied to staffing, office presence and technology. Committee members probed how the new line items would be used, whether the internships and Fargo office were justified by workload, and how the governor’s compensation is accounted for in the budget.

Layton also sought a $112,085 increase tied to moving the governor’s fringe benefits onto the governor’s salary line to consolidate the compensation package “for efficiencies and transparency.” He asked for a $35,000 increase in travel (to a total of $100,000), $30,000 for Fargo rent (based on an estimate from the Office of Management and Budget), $21,000 for NDIT licensing and monthly user fees for Copilot and ChatGPT, and $15,000 for professional development, among other items. He described no change to the contingency line from the 2023–25 base level.

On the proposed internship expansion, Layton said the office historically spends about $30,000 and that the requested temporary-salary increase would let the governor’s office leverage a $500,000 matching pool administered by the Office of Management and Budget. “Depending on how much … positions would be funded … you could probably get several, four to five people during a biennium,” he said. He gave an example: “we have an absolute rock star legal intern right now … his salary, I believe, is $35100 a month.”

Representative Lausser asked whether the office was already using publicly available AI tools to summarize legislation. “So we personally, I have used ChatGPT … the free version,” Layton said, adding the office does not yet have licensed access to the full capabilities they are requesting. Representative Lausser urged the governor’s office to demonstrate best practices to other branches of government if licensing is approved.

The governor’s office requested that the North Dakota Children’s Cabinet — established in 2019 by Senate Bill 2313, Layton said — be administered from the governor’s office pending proposed legislation, Senate Bill 2176. Layton requested a one-time $65,000 appropriation for facilitation experts to move and establish administration and $35,000 in ongoing appropriations for cabinet-member travel and reimbursements, for a total of $100,000 in the biennium. He said no new FTEs were requested and that the governor’s office would absorb the duties.

Layton also asked that the budget for the Rough Rider awards be increased $4,200 to $15,000 per biennium to cover portraits, framing and travel costs; the program had been funded at $10,800 per biennium prior to the request.

Committee members pressed for further detail. Representative Swiatek repeatedly urged that the governor’s salary and fringe be consolidated into the salaries-and-wages line as it was historically, and committee members asked for more detail on how many interns the $50,000 in temporary salaries would support and on the projected occupancy and ongoing costs for a Fargo office. Steph from the Office of Management and Budget told the committee she used a “salary similar to a policy level position” to estimate the Fargo salary and that the rent estimate came from OMB leasing staff.

The committee did not vote during the hearing. Chairman Nathy told members the panel would take a deeper look at budgets in a scheduled round of hearings later in the week and that Representative Swiatek would lead follow-up questions on the governor’s budget. The hearing record on HB1001 was closed later in the session.

Ending: Committee members asked the governor’s office to return with clarifying information on intern counts, precise cost estimates for the Fargo space, and the specifics of AI licensing before final action; no appropriation was approved during the hearing.