BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) - Republican North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum won his first veto fight with the GOP-led Legislature Thursday, after the Senate sustained his veto of a bill that limits a governor’s ability to set salary bonuses for staff.
Only 13 of 47 senators voted to override the first-term governor, well short of the 32 necessary. The vote came after the GOP-led House voted 84-7 to override Burgum on Wednesday.
Burgum has argued the legislation improperly infringes on the executive branch.
Legislators passed the measure after then-Gov. Jack Dalrymple approved nearly $100,000 in retention bonuses for five staffers in 2015. It was the first time a governor had used the bonus program.
Leaders of both parties criticized the bonuses, and the president of the union that represents more than 11,500 public employees said the bonuses to Dalrymple’s inner circle hurt state employees’ morale.
The new legislation would have limited bonuses to not more than 10 percent of an employee’s annual salary or $5,000, whichever is less. It sailed through the Legislature this session, winning House approval by a 91-1 vote, while the Senate tally was 36-10.
Burgum called and sent messages to several senators ahead of the vote Thursday. Burgum, who is rarely seen in the halls of the Capitol, stood outside the Senate chambers making his last-minute pitch to lawmakers to kill the legislation.
“I’m just making sure people understand the policy aspect of it,” Burgum told The Associated Press. “This is not good policy. It may be good politics to rail on what a former governor did. But it is not good policy.”
Republican House Majority Leader Al Carlson and Democratic House Minority Leader Corey Mock displayed rare solidarity Wednesday in urging the chamber to reject Burgum’s veto.
Mock said it’s not fair that the governor could potentially reward his staff with bonuses while public employees are facing cutbacks and no pay increases due to tough spending decisions with a downturn in the state’s energy economy. Carlson agreed.
Republican Kyle Davison was the only senator to speak to the veto on the floor Thursday. He urged the chamber to kill the legislation, calling it “an overreach to an unpopular decision made by a previous administration.”
Davison said the bill unfairly singles out the governor’s office, while other state agencies could provide bonuses to their workers.
Burgum, in an interview, said the bonuses are a tool that can be used by any governor to attract and retain staff. He said many in his staff could earn “two to three times” what they are paid working for the state.
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