Appropriations Committee trims treasurer budget, adds emergency IT spending authority
April 25, 2025 | Appropriations, Senate, Legislative, North Dakota
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Bismarck ' The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday amended and voted to advance House Bill 1005, the budget for the State Treasurer, removing a House-funded transfer of unclaimed property to the treasurer's office, adding a small salary-equity appropriation and approving an emergency clause to allow one-time information-technology spending to be accessed sooner.
The committee's action cleared three separate votes: approval of the amendment to the treasurer's engrossed bill, passage of a further amendment adding an emergency clause for one-time IT dollars, and a do-pass recommendation on the bill as amended. Chairman Beckettall presided; Senator Burkhart led the bill presentation and moved the primary amendment.
Why it matters: The changes affect how certain revenues and one-time funds are handled across agencies and seek to give the treasurer's office authority to implement IT changes before the next distribution cycle. The emergency clause was requested to accelerate work needed to map recent formula and tax changes into the treasurer's payment systems.
Senator Burkhart told the committee the Senate version of the bill removes several House additions related to moving unclaimed property from the Department of Trust Lands to the State Treasurer, and recited the footnote changes. Among the adjustments: removal of $1,600,000 in special funds and four FTE positions connected to the proposed unclaimed-property transfer; addition of $100,000 from the general fund for salary-equity increases; a $1,000,000 reduction in a carbon-dioxide (CO2) pipeline payment estimate (from $2,000,000 to $1,000,000); and an increase in one-time strategic investment fund (SIF) IT operating support from $110,000 to $295,000 (an increase of $185,000).
Thomas Beetle, North Dakota State Treasurer, told the committee the treasurer's office asked for an emergency clause limited to the one-time IT appropriation. He said mapping recent formula and oil-and-gas adjustments into the treasurer's databases will take time and the office does not have sufficient unobligated dollars in the current biennium to complete the work before the first distributions of the new biennium. Beetle asked for access to the one-time SIF dollars earlier so the systems can be updated in time.
Committee members discussed the salary-equity addition and whether such increases should be handled centrally. Senator Deavor and others asked for clarification on which positions and whether employees had been moved from other agencies; the committee was told the House language had included the transfer but the Senate removed it. Members also asked for detail on the CO2 payment line; Treasurer Beetle explained the payments are for CO2 pipelines certified by the tax department under the North Dakota Century Code provisions cited in committee and that the current requests tie to projects that have been certified in Bowman and Slope counties and an anticipated certification tied to a Dakota Gasification project.
Votes at a glance: The committee approved the primary amendment (the engrossment amendment 2002) and later approved the emergency-clause amendment. The do-pass motion for House Bill 1005 as amended passed in committee. The roll calls recorded in the transcript show the amendment vote recorded as "Motion passed 15 0 1" and the final do-pass recommendation recorded as "Motion passed 14 1 1." (Clerks read the roll for each vote; the transcript contains the detailed aye/no responses.)
The committee sent the amended bill forward with Senator Burkhart to carry it in conference committee; the treasurer's emergency clause was approved to give the office the temporary appropriation authority to accelerate its IT work before first distributions are made.
Less-critical detail: Treasurer Beetle said the office previously received an emergency appropriation in the current biennium for a western project and requested $175,000 of emergency commission dollars to cover a prior certified project; the one-time SIF increase and the emergency clause are intended to address implementation timing rather than a recurring operating need.
The committee moved on to other agenda items after the votes.
The committee's action cleared three separate votes: approval of the amendment to the treasurer's engrossed bill, passage of a further amendment adding an emergency clause for one-time IT dollars, and a do-pass recommendation on the bill as amended. Chairman Beckettall presided; Senator Burkhart led the bill presentation and moved the primary amendment.
Why it matters: The changes affect how certain revenues and one-time funds are handled across agencies and seek to give the treasurer's office authority to implement IT changes before the next distribution cycle. The emergency clause was requested to accelerate work needed to map recent formula and tax changes into the treasurer's payment systems.
Senator Burkhart told the committee the Senate version of the bill removes several House additions related to moving unclaimed property from the Department of Trust Lands to the State Treasurer, and recited the footnote changes. Among the adjustments: removal of $1,600,000 in special funds and four FTE positions connected to the proposed unclaimed-property transfer; addition of $100,000 from the general fund for salary-equity increases; a $1,000,000 reduction in a carbon-dioxide (CO2) pipeline payment estimate (from $2,000,000 to $1,000,000); and an increase in one-time strategic investment fund (SIF) IT operating support from $110,000 to $295,000 (an increase of $185,000).
Thomas Beetle, North Dakota State Treasurer, told the committee the treasurer's office asked for an emergency clause limited to the one-time IT appropriation. He said mapping recent formula and oil-and-gas adjustments into the treasurer's databases will take time and the office does not have sufficient unobligated dollars in the current biennium to complete the work before the first distributions of the new biennium. Beetle asked for access to the one-time SIF dollars earlier so the systems can be updated in time.
Committee members discussed the salary-equity addition and whether such increases should be handled centrally. Senator Deavor and others asked for clarification on which positions and whether employees had been moved from other agencies; the committee was told the House language had included the transfer but the Senate removed it. Members also asked for detail on the CO2 payment line; Treasurer Beetle explained the payments are for CO2 pipelines certified by the tax department under the North Dakota Century Code provisions cited in committee and that the current requests tie to projects that have been certified in Bowman and Slope counties and an anticipated certification tied to a Dakota Gasification project.
Votes at a glance: The committee approved the primary amendment (the engrossment amendment 2002) and later approved the emergency-clause amendment. The do-pass motion for House Bill 1005 as amended passed in committee. The roll calls recorded in the transcript show the amendment vote recorded as "Motion passed 15 0 1" and the final do-pass recommendation recorded as "Motion passed 14 1 1." (Clerks read the roll for each vote; the transcript contains the detailed aye/no responses.)
The committee sent the amended bill forward with Senator Burkhart to carry it in conference committee; the treasurer's emergency clause was approved to give the office the temporary appropriation authority to accelerate its IT work before first distributions are made.
Less-critical detail: Treasurer Beetle said the office previously received an emergency appropriation in the current biennium for a western project and requested $175,000 of emergency commission dollars to cover a prior certified project; the one-time SIF increase and the emergency clause are intended to address implementation timing rather than a recurring operating need.
The committee moved on to other agenda items after the votes.
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