South Dakota legislators who oversee the budget want Gov. Mike Rounds to explain how he found money for a program to provide more high school students with laptop computers.

Lawmakers rejected a $2.9 million measure earlier this year to pay for the expansion.

The Interim Appropriations Committee has added the issue of laptop funding to its June 23 agenda and will ask Education Department officials to answer questions about it.

Appropriations members are the most knowledgeable on budget matters, and several of them said they didn't think money was available to expand the laptop program.

"We didn't give them money, and they found it for laptops," said Democratic Sen. Alan Hoerth, an Appropriations Committee member from Aberdeen. "I didn't quite come out of my chair when I heard that, but close."

Rep. Jim Putnam, R-Armour, who also is on the Appropriations Committee, said the debate follows word last summer that Rounds took $1.8 million in unspent state aid to schools and transferred it to the laptop initiative.

"There was nothing illegal about that. The governor has the authority to make those transfers," Putnam said. "Did it upset me? That's irrelevant, because he has authority to do it. But it made us aware of state money going into the laptop program."

Lawmakers balked early this year when Rounds asked for more state money to expand laptops for a third year, with the state Senate killing a request for $2.9 million.

"They said no more general (state) funds on laptops, and some of them said, "We don't even like the program, period,"' Putnam said. "Well, after we went home, the governor said: "Guess what? I found some money.' Now, we want to know where he found it, and if it's new money, we want to have a say in how it's spent."

Earlier, a committee that reviews agency operations had put the laptop issue on its July 8 meeting agenda.

So now two legislative committees are asking how Rounds came up with money when they didn't approve any.

The governor started the laptop program two years ago, using money that Citibank paid the state in a legal fight over unclaimed property.

For the program's second year, the transfer of state aid money and other funds were used.

Lawmakers were told that all the money from the Citibank fund had been committed. Many lawmakers assumed that since they killed the proposal to use state money to expand laptops for a third year, the program wouldn't be expanded.

Then in May, Rounds said $770,000 in Citibank money was available. Some lawmakers said they thought he was circumventing the Legislature's will.

"We said, 'No, we don't want you to spend that money there,"' Hoerth said. "When the Senate said 'No,' I had to assume we were not going to be doing that. The administration must have scrounged around, because they came up with more money, and I want to know exactly where they found it. If I'm back next year, that's one line item that's going to be $770,000 short of what they ask."

Putnam said, "Since we were told it was zero, if there is indeed Citibank money, it might well be considered new money, and we as legislators should decide how to spend that. It isn't simply a transfer of existing money, at that point, if in fact it is new or found money."

The state finance and management commissioner, Jason Dilges, said there was no attempt last year to hide the transfer of state-aid money to the technology program. He said a transfer document his office gave the Appropriations Committee a year ago lists a $4.1 million transfer of state aid to other education programs, including almost $1.8 million for technology in schools.

When education officials told the Appropriations Committee in January that Citibank money was committed, that was the case, Dilges said. Since then, bills have come in lower in some instances, expenses originally intended to be paid with Citibank money were covered with available state funds or money from other sources, and a limited amount of so-called Citibank money remained uncommitted and available for the governor's third-year expansion.