North Dakota’s House Majority Leader says legislators should be more involved in revenue forecasting.
"There's only one branch of government that can spend money," said Rep. Al Carlson (R-Fargo). "That's the Legislature."
Moody's Analytics is the consultant to the state's Office of Management and Budget for revenue forecasts. Carlson told reporters other state legislatures have hired their own forecasting consultants, separate from their Governors'.
"I'm not sure anybody would have gotten it right, when during the last biennium, we had oil prices from $34 a barrel to $114 a barrel," Carlson said. "I'm not sure which prognosticator would have gotten that correct. But the point is, we need to be as accurate as possible."
Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider (D-Grand Forks) said he hasn’t talked with Carlson about his thoughts. He said he’s always appreciated the work – and the sharing of information – from the state’s Budget Office.
"If there's a cooperative relationship to be hard there, I think that's good," Schneider said. "If it's legislative micro-managing. that could be counter-productive."
There already is a budget forecast advisory group that works with Moody’s and OMB. That group is made up of business and industry representatives, state agencies – and legislators.
Meanwhile, Democratic Legislative leaders say they will be looking at potential budget reforms – to be introduced in the 2017 session. They say state revenue is volatile – because of the commodity-based economy that is subject to ups and downs in oil and agriculture.
Before calling a special session, Governor Dalrymple had to order across-the-board allotments to help balance the budget.
"That is a 1960s solution to a 2016 problem," Schneider said. "I don't know if you repeal the allotment process entirely. We were willing to allow the vast majority of the allotments to go into effect. But we feel very strongly that some of the allotments made no strategic sense. They were very cold, and removed from the lives of North Dakotans. We can defintely do better."
The minority caucus is also again talking about annual sessions – or having a way for leaders to call lawmakers back to Bismarck to deal with budget situations.
"I don't think we need to turn the Legislature into a professional outfit," Schneider said. "That would be against the best interests of the people of North Dakota. But there has to be a middle ground, where we could make budget adjustments if the revenue projections are off during the interim."
House Minority Leader Kenton Onstad (D-Parshall) said he would keep the number of days per biennium at 80 – but split them, with a short budget session in the even-numbered years.
