North Dakota lawmakers plan to refill rainy day fund but not by governor's formula

Gov. Doug Burgum sought to refill the state's emergency fund to its highest ever, but North Dakota lawmakers went a different route.

In his executive budget proposal, Burgum laid out a plan to fill the Budget Stabilization Fund to $741 million, in part using a $315 million transfer from a government fund filled from oil and gas tax revenue. Lawmakers didn’t go for that one.

“The governor wanted to fill it all at once,” said Sen. Ray Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, the top Senate budget writer. “We felt that was too aggressive because of other needs that we felt we had.”

Lawmakers helped balance their next two-year budget with more than $764 million transferred from the Strategic Investment and Improvements Fund, the same fund from which Burgum proposed the $315 million emergency fund transfer. The governor called lawmakers' transfer "last-minute."

Read more: https://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/north-dakota-lawmakers-plan-to-refill-rainy-day-fund-but/article_2b2768cc-928b-5c25-915f-a5cf018b8fdd.html