Concluding its $1 million price tag was too rich, the North Dakota Senate dumped a proposal to set up computer kiosks in police stations for sex offenders to use to notify authorities of their whereabouts.

Even with an ample budget surplus, the state has considerably more spending demands than it can accommodate, said Sen. Raymon Holmberg, R-Grand Forks, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"We had to prioritize," Holmberg said.

Senators decided Wednesday to revamp the legislation into a two-year study of the kiosk system. They then voted 46-0 to endorse the study legislation and send it to the North Dakota House, which will review it further.

Sen. Larry Robinson, D-Valley City, who sponsored the kiosk legislation, argued for keeping the program intact. The bill sought to establish computer kiosks in 10 North Dakota cities, at a two-year cost of $1.05 million.

The kiosk system has been used in other states to give registered sex offenders an easy way to tell authorities where they were living and working, Robinson said. The kiosks use retinal and fingerprint scans to verify a person's identity.

"Surveys in states where this technology has been used - a very high percentage (check in)," Robinson said in a Senate floor speech.

North Dakota law enforcement officers already spend a great deal of time making sure sex offenders' registration information is current, Robinson said.

"Under the present system, we're running those folks down," he said. "Under this system, they come to us."

The bill is SB2161.