The buck stops where, exactly?

An attempt to delete a small, one-time grant from the budget in North Dakota has caused a statewide crisis, as the errant pen-stroke accidentally eliminated a $35 million housing fund for lower-income families and the homeless. 

The governor of North Dakota, Kelly Armstrong, tried to veto some line items from a budget bill, Senate Bill 2014, but an “error” is leading to major issues for lawmakers. Earlier this month, the governor said he vetoed a one-time, $150,000 grant for a Native American-focused organization to hire a homelessness liaison. 

However, on Thursday, Mr. Armstrong said that a “staff markup error” resulted in the accidental veto of $25 million for housing projects and another $10 million to combat homelessness. 

A photo of the mistake shows a red X over the portion that allocated the $150,000 for the liaison position. The X also extends over language in the bill that allocates $35 million for the housing development fund.

On Thursday, Mr. Armstrong offered a “full-throated” endorsement of the fund his office erroneously wiped out. The mistake has set off a scramble, as officials are trying to figure out a solution. 

In a statement Thursday, the governor said his staff is working with the Legislative Council to resolve the issue. However, the error is raising procedural questions, as there is no existing mechanism for lawmakers to override part of a veto. 

“We are talking to whoever, everybody we can — Legislative Council, lawmakers, everybody — to figure out if there is a legal way we can solve this without calling them back into a special session and costing taxpayer dollars,” Mr. Armstrong said. “However, if that is the only alternative, that would be exactly what I will be doing.”

The director of the Legislative Council, John Bjornson, said his staff would work with the governor and the legislature to provide a solution to the error. He said, though, that a special legislative session appears to be the only solution.

Mr. Bjornson said lawmakers could override the entire veto, which he estimated would take about half a day. He also said the legislature could pass a bill that would restore the $35 million housing fund, which the Legislative Council estimates would take about three days. 

If a special session is called to resolve the mistake, it would cost about $65,000 a day, Mr. Bjornson said. 

The state senate majority leader, David Hogue, told reporters that lawmakers are going to “pick the best course of action.”