North Dakota Gov. Dalrymple outlines $13.4B budget proposal

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The $13.4 billion proposed two-year spending plan that North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple presented Wednesday includes trimming the number of state employees and cutting higher education funding to shore up the state's budget and grow its reserves as tax collections shrink.

The outgoing governor's spending plan is about $2 billion less than what he proposed two years ago — and that was eventually was whittled down to $14.2 billion for the current budget cycle due to slumping oil and crop prices he said are "best described not as a correction but rather as a collapse."

For several years, the state rode a wave of unprecedented growth — and spending — due to generally healthy commodity prices and rapid oil development in western North Dakota to the point that it became the No. 2 oil producer behind Texas.

Democrats in the Legislature, who are heavily outnumbered by GOP lawmakers, disputed some of Dalrymple's spending choices, such as employee cuts and meager pay raises, but said they supported some of his general themes to cut spending.