North Dakota’s House Minority Leader says he doesn’t like the current allotment process – giving the Governor power to order cuts when revenues fall below expectations.
"I would like to have the Legislature involved," said State Rep. Kenton Onstad (D-Parshall). "The people there were elected to make those decisions."
Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered state general fund agencies to cut their spending by 4.05 percent, as the state faces a $1 billion decline in tax collections.
Onstad says an across-the-board allotment -- which is currently in state law -- is not fair to state agencies.
"When we look at agency-to-agency, some could probably handle 6 to 7 percent cut, and some a 1 percent cut," Onstad said. "The statutes put in place in 1980 may be a little antique to modern day programs."
Onstad says legislators recognized there could be budget problems at the beginning of the 2015 session.
"We knew the revenue forecast was going to be iffy," said Onstad. "In January, Legislative leadership said 5 days might be needed for a special session to deal with it. But at the end of the session, a power struggle happened between the HOuse and Senate, and we lost those days. That was really too bad."
Onstad says he and his colleagues have talked about legislation for the 2017 session.
