The state Senate has passed the budget for the North Dakota Department of Commerce - with a bunch of amendments.
Republican Senator Ray Holmberg of Grand Forks detailed the amendments on the Senate Floor. He says the commerce budget had to be reduced, because many of the things funded in the budget didn't relate to commerce.
"We had some good hearings, we had a lot of public support for the program, and we have, over the last two sessions, tried to gleen some of the additional programs that over time had been put into Commerce. We got rid of - and I don't mean we got rid of, we put into the proper agency - the kindergarten program, that should have gone to DPI, but that's my impression."
The Senate passed the bill on a vote of 42 to 4. It will now return to the House to see if that chamber concurs with the Senate amendments.