A Republican governor made what one insider called an "extraordinary" error this week, mistakenly vetoing his state's $35 million housing budget.
The Associated Press reported Thursday that Gov. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) took up an agency budget bill approved by the legislature. He planned to veto a couple of line items on Monday, but instead accidentally vetoed $35 million for the state’s housing budget. He had meant to ax a $150,000 grant to fund a Native American homelessness liaison position.
The state now must regroup and figure out how to work around the veto flub.
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“I have no recollection of anything like this happening in the 37 years I’ve been here,” John Bjornson, legislative council director, said Thursday, according to AP. “So, yeah, I’d say it’s a little extraordinary.”
“This was an honest mistake, and we will fix it,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
Armstrong wasn't the only GOP governor to veto in error, according to the report. In Nebraska, Gov. Jim Pillen said he would strike about $47 million in funding and cash transfers over the next two years from budget bills passed by the state Legislature. Those cuts included about $12 million over two years for the Nebraska Supreme Court.
On Thursday afternoon, the state's Republican Speaker of the Legislature said they planned to notify Pillen that he missed a five-day deadline to properly file the vetoes, and that the line items became law. Pillen’s office insisted it properly issued vetoes, however, and would confer with the state attorney general on how to proceed.
