North Dakota governor vetoes the housing budget -- by mistake

When North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong took up an agency budget bill approved by the legislature, he vetoed a couple of line items. At least, that was his intention Monday. Instead, he accidentally vetoed $35 million for the state’s housing budget.

Now the state is figuring out how to deal with the unusual problem of a mistaken veto.

“I have no recollection of anything like this happening in the 37 years I’ve been here,” John Bjornson, legislative council director, said Thursday. “So, yeah, I’d say it’s a little extraordinary.”

Armstrong wasn’t the only governor to possibly flub a line-item veto this week. Late Wednesday, Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen announced that he would be striking about $47 million in funding and cash transfers over the next two years from budget bills passed last week by the Nebraska Legislature. Those cuts included about $12 million over two years for the Nebraska Supreme Court.

But on Thursday afternoon, the Speaker of the Legislature John Arch announced the body would be sending a letter to Pillen, a fellow Republican, informing him he had missed a 5-day deadline, which came at midnight Wednesday, to properly file the line-item vetoes and that the line items are now law. Pillen’s office responded that it handled the veto properly and would consult with the state attorney general about next steps.

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In North Dakota, the governor’s staff called his veto of the housing budget in Senate Bill 2014 a markup error. Armstrong’s staff met with the legislative council Thursday morning to discuss options.

“This was an honest mistake, and we will fix it,” a statement from the governor’s office read.

Armstrong, a Republican who served three terms in Congress, was elected governor in 2024. The legislative session that adjourned earlier in the month was his first as governor.

In a message accompanying the veto, Armstrong wrote he had intended to veto a $150,000 grant to fund a Native American homelessness liaison position. The budget veto would take effect July 1.

What happens next is largely up to the governor, Bjornson said, but it is likely that the legislature will need to reconvene in Bismarck for a special session. The governor’s office said it will call a special session if needed but hopes to “avoid the expense.”

If the legislature overrides the veto, that would include funding for the grant Armstrong had wanted to strike. If the legislature wants to only fund the $35 million housing budget, lawmakers may need to pass a new bill, which could take as long as three days, Bjornson said.

The Legislature has six days available to use of its 80-day session limit, and a special session could open the opportunity to override other vetoes by the governor. The governor vetoed all or parts of four bills this session.

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Associated Press writer Margery A. Beck contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.