The House axed the North Dakota Heritage Center from a bill Wednesday that originally had $5.5 million designated for an expansion of storage space.

Instead of providing bonding authority for the project, the House included $150,000 in the bill to study future construction for the Heritage Center.

Rep. Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said further study is needed to look into the possibility of building a new building in a different location and converting the existing building into office space.

Merl Paaverud, director of the North Dakota State Historical Society, said expansions have been studied for years. The Legislature approved $50,000 in the last session to commission a study which resulted in plans for an expansion.

In all, plans are for expansions totaling $30 million to be done in three phases.

Although the expansion has been shot down by the House by a vote of 74-18, it is still intact in the Senate's version of Senate Bill 2023.

A committee made up of members of each house will have to resolve the differences between the two versions.

Paaverud said he is hoping that a committee will decide on keeping as much of the $5.5 million as possible for the 32,500-square-foot addition.

"We are going to try to preserve the square footage as much as we can," Paaverud said.

Rep. Jeff Delzer, R-Underwood, was opposed to bonding for any projects.

Delzer said the state is paying $18 million in bond payments this biennium, will be paying $20 million next biennium and $22 million after that.

"Eventually, if we worked at it hard enough, we could get to the point where we could actually be spending the 18 or 20 million dollars cash for these buildings and not have to bond for them."

The House's action came a few hours before the Heritage Center unveiled a new issue of the Journal of the Northern Plains, which chronicles the life of former Gov. William Guy and his wife, Jean.

Guy, Gov. John Hoeven and former Gov. Art Link attended the event.

Guy said the state will lose precious time and money from tourists by studying the issue more.

"The Heritage Center, along with its archives and interpretive displays, is not a cost, it's an investment," Guy said.

Link said it's just not practical to continue studying an expansion.

"That's the most preposterous recommendation that I could imagine," Link said.