The North Dakota House approved Senate Bill 20-15, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DOCR) budget, which includes significant ongoing general-fund increases and large one-time expenditures intended to address prison overcrowding, deferred maintenance and reentry programs.

Representative Steeman, the bill carrier, said the appropriation represents a 28.6% ongoing general-fund increase from base and a total general-fund increase of 40.4% driven in part by one-time projects. He described one-time items that include roughly $35.6 million to finish the women's prison (completing prior intent language and earlier appropriations), $8 million for a 72-bed addition to the Missouri River Correctional Center and nearly $29 million in other one-time costs tied to county contract beds. He also cited approximately $20 million for design and planning of a medium-security facility adjacent to the state penitentiary to preserve operational efficiencies.

The bill includes a new and vacant FTE pool, funding requests for body cameras, tasers and vests for correctional officers (funded via grants), and a $5 million one-time Community Health Trust Fund allocation to be matched two-to-one by the City of Fargo for a diversion and deflection center aimed at directing at-risk populations to treatment and behavioral-health services.

Steeman said the package includes a $100 million one-time funding component from SIF and a total of $150 million in one-time funds across items in the bill. Section language ties the budget to Native American reentry program provisions in other legislation and establishes a steering committee and legislative study to examine sentencing, release timing and terminology across the system. The House passed the bill on a recorded vote of 64 yeas and 29 nays; Senate Bill 20-15 was declared passed.

Votes at a glance: Final passage of Senate Bill 20-15 — 64 yea, 29 nay.

The committee directed planning and reporting steps, and lawmakers noted the package is intended to be responsive to overcrowding and to pursue a mixture of immediate capacity and longer-term planning.