North Dakota sets aside money for veterans’ services and transportation

The department receives $5,007,966 for its work, including $2,999,804 from the state general fund. The funding is for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs. The funding includes money for transportation grants, vans, service dogs, and cemetery work, as well as one-time funding for homeless veterans’ services and the cemetery. The department may not spend the new and vacant job pool directly. It may ask the Office of Management and Budget to transfer money from that pool to department funding lines under the rules in House Bill 1015. This funding covers July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027, except the separate federal transportation grant described below.

The governor supervises the veterans’ home and appoints its administrator and the department commissioner. These provisions cover the North Dakota veterans’ home, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, their administrator and commissioner, and the committee and advisory groups described in the bill. A seven-member board advises the governor on the veterans’ home and a subcommittee advises the governor on the department. The administrator must be an honorably discharged veteran only if designated as commandant. The commissioner must be a state resident and qualify as a veteran. The commissioner serves at the governor’s pleasure.

The Office of Management and Budget must transfer $500,000 to the Veterans’ Postwar Trust Fund. The transfer is to the Veterans’ Postwar Trust Fund. The money comes from general fund money not otherwise appropriated. The bill identifies the funding as one-time. The appropriation is for the two-year period from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.

The department may use up to $200,000 in federal funds for the highly rural transportation grants program. The funding is for the department’s highly rural transportation grants program. The amount is limited to the sum needed, up to $200,000. The bill declares this section an emergency measure. The funding period begins when this section takes effect and ends June 30, 2025.

Five listed unspent appropriations may carry into the 2025–27 budget period. The carryover provision applies to the five specific appropriations listed in the bill. The listed funds include two grants for the Fisher House at the Fargo veterans’ affairs medical center, veterans’ medical transportation, retiring staff leave, and document scanning. The listed appropriations are exempt from the usual limit on carrying unspent funds into the next budget period. Unspent funds may continue into the period from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.