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Senate Appropriations Chair outlines committee schedule, membership and procedures
Summary
Senate Appropriations Chair Senator Bechtel opened the committee, confirmed a quorum, introduced staff and outlined a two‑week orientation and hearing schedule including joint revenue and governor budget updates.
Senator Bechtel, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, called the committee to order, confirmed a quorum and reviewed the committee’s schedule and staffing for the start of the 2025 session.
Bechtel told members the committee would hold a morning orientation with fiscal staff and return in the afternoon as a full committee for presentations from higher education and the university system office. He said the larger budget presentations in the coming days will include North Dakota Transportation, Higher Education, the Department of Corrections and an update from the Department of Mineral Resources on oil revenue and activity to inform revenue projections.
Bechtel read the committee roster aloud to ensure members who were online were recognized and introduced returning and new members. He also introduced committee staff by name and asked division chairs to coordinate scheduling with committee staff so weekly division hearing schedules could be publicly published by Friday each week.
He explained the committee room assignments for full committee and divisions, reminded members of a joint revenue forecast meeting with the House Appropriations Committee on Jan. 14, and said a second updated revenue forecast would occur after March 10 to set final spending authority limits.
Bechtel asked division chairs to work with their staff to set next‑week schedules by Thursday morning and said division chairs will hold weekly updates Wednesday mornings at 7 a.m. He closed by thanking members for their service and promising a written handout summarizing his remarks.
Several senators asked procedural questions during the orientation: Senator Sorvaugh asked about the long sheets and the new blue/purple/green sheet system; Senator Mathern asked whether members should go directly to Legislative Council staff for amendment preparation; Senator Dwyer and others praised the new “blue sheet” base‑budget summaries for making base funding clearer during agency presentations.
The orientation closed with staff assignments and a transition to fiscal staff presentations scheduled for the remainder of the morning.
