State lawmakers gather in Bismarck tomorrow for a projected three day special session.
The session was called to tackle a projected $310 million state budget shortfall. And Legislative leaders say that will be the only subject of the session.
"There are lots of important issues facing North Dakota," Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider (D-Grand Forks) said. "We don't have the capacity to deal with those issues in a three-day session."
"A lot of the things that people bring up need to be debated," Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner (R-Dickinson) said. "We don't have enough days."
Earlier this year, Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered state general fund agencies to cut spending by 4.05 percent. That’s through the allotment process. Dalrymple also dipped into the budget stabilization fund to prevent further reductions. He also used the foundation aid stabilization fund – so that schools would suffer no reductions.
Wardner said Dalrymple will impose another small allotment – so that the foundation aid fund could be accessed again. And he said in some key budget areas, lawmakers will be using other “rainy day” funds to off-set those allotments.
"The 4.05 percent has made some deep cuts into human service programs and stuff like that," Wardner said. "We don't want to cut any more."
Nursing home operators have expressed concerns about what the allotments will do to them. But Wardner said those cuts won’t take effect until the end of the calendar year.
"They're still fine," Wardner said. "They have full funding until January. By then, we're going to be in the regular session, and we can do a deficiency appropriation if we can, and if it's needed."
Wardner said the special session will provide a bridge to the regular 2017 session.
