The Legislative Management Committee is preparing to take Gov. Doug Burgum to court.
The issue is whether or not Burgum can veto conditions placed on certain appropriations without vetoing the expenditure. In a few of the bills he used his line-item veto on, Burgum took out some language – and left the money in the bill.
The Committee vote was unanimous.
"We are going to proceed with litigation over a couple of issues that strike right at the core of teh ability of the Legislature to do its job," said Sen. Ray Holmberg (R-Grand Forks), the chairman of the Management Committee. "They relate to the vetoes, but they are bigger issues than whether or not he (Burgum) removed $300,000 from a budget, etcetera.'
House Majority Leader Al Carlson (R-Fargo) said it is the Legislature's job to spend money and craft laws.
"When the Executive Branch is allowed to selectively pick words and change meanings of legislation, then he is legislating from his branch (of government)," Carlson said. "That is wrong."
Carlson said he would have liked the Legislature to come back in a special session to try and override those vetoes. But he said legislators want to keep at least three days for any kind of special session,
"When the bell has been rung, you can't un-ring it," Carlson said. "There's really no recourse for the Governor to change his mind. Our only recourse is to try and correct this wrong."
The Management Committee has instructed the Legislative Council to prepare a lawsuit based on that issue. It will be filed with the state Supreme Court. The Committee will likely meet via conference call in the next several weeks to give a go-ahead to file that lawsuit.
Burgum spokesman Mike Nowatzki released the following statement:
“The governor stands behind his previous statement regarding the attorney general’s opinion and its support for the separation of powers.”
