Bill Deadline Looms
The past week of the Montana Legislature was mostly centered on getting the non-revenue bills out of committees and over to the other house … or tabled.
The week coming up will be mostly floor voting the House of Representatives and the Senate, as the week ending on Friday, February 27, completes the first half of the 64th session. This is called transmittal week.
The lawmakers will be taking a break from the 27th of February until the 5th of March. Any non-revenue bill that has not been transmitted to the other house is dead. Only revenue bills can still be considered in committees.
State Budget
The focus will now shift to the state budget. The Republican majority in both houses of the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock remain worlds apart on spending, taxes and how much money will be left in the ending fund balance for 2016 and 2017. The governor wants $300 million. The legislative majority wants something less than that figure.
Republican-controlled budget committees have pared back the governor’s budget proposals. It wants a growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent in the budget, to come more in line with the rate of inflation. The governor wants to increase spending by 14 percent.
The budgeting days are ahead, moving into March, when the two sides will need to begin flexing political muscle to reach a compromise. By law, Montana must leave the session with a balanced budget against anticipated revenues or there would have to be a special session called after the 90-day session limit.
Some of the major changes made so far by the Republican-majority budget proposal include:
- Cutting $600,000 from the governor’s proposed budget for the state-owned, governor’s airplane.
- Dividing up the governor’s infrastructure bill of $391 million plan into several individual bills to fund needed infrastructure throughout the state.
- Lowering growth rates for Medicaid, the state-federal program that funds health insurance for the poor. That saves $60 million.
- Cutting 45 full-time employees from the Department of Labor.
- Putting off decisions on other major governor plans, like a state-employee pay increase, expansion of Medicaid to conform to the federal Affordable Care Act, and the governor’s big proposal to fund a $37 million, state-funded pre-kindergarten education for all four-year-olds in Montana.
For most of the week it was slow for NFIB/Montana, as it has most of its interest in bills that involve taxes, revenue, spending, and budgeting.
NFIB Victories
House Bill 396 was a victory, however. This is the bill that takes the sunset clause off a bill from the 2013 session that requires state agencies to consider affects administrative rules might have on small businesses under 50 employees. The bill roared out of the House 98-1 and rests in the Senate awaiting action.
NFIB/Montana achieved another victory with Senate Bill 103 that would have made a laundry list of diseases “presumptive” for professional firefighters. Opponents argued this would open up the costs to workers’ compensation insurers. The bill was tabled on Friday in committee.
Business Equipment Tax
Also awaiting action in the House Tax Committee is House Bill 213 that would increase the exempt equipment from the business equipment tax from $100,000 to $500,000. Unfortunately, this bill was amended to backfill local governments and schools from the expense of this bill and raised the fiscal note from some $4 million to $20 million; thus this bill is part of the budgeting game because of its impact.
OSHA
The OSHA bill, House Bill 430, which would give the state rights to administer the federal OSHA safety program in Montana, passed out of House Business Committee 10-9. Its future, however, looks dim when it goes next week to the floor of the House, because of the close committee vote.
Tax Credits
The tax credit bills for employers to help students with their loans, and the bill to give a tax credit for employing apprentices, both are revenue bills and are awaiting action in March.
Workers’ Compensation Fund
And finally, SB 254 that would take $50 million out of the Montana State Fund to pay for the unfunded liability of the Old Fund tied in a 5-5 vote in Senate Business Committee, and it is now sitting in committee awaiting further action.
The Week Ahead
Coming next week will be Rep. Keith Reiger’s House Bill 166 that would cut income taxes. It will be heard on Monday in the Senate Tax Committee. A new “Build Montana” program, to offset the governor’s infrastructure proposal, will be heard Monday in Senate Natural Resources Committee.
That is all the committee action to be taken next week for NFIB/Montana. Both houses have a huge list of bills to be voted on twice each and moved to the next house before Friday. One of which will be Senate Bill 270 that would exempt seasonal entities from having to pay minimum wage. It came out of committee Thursday on a 6-to-4 vote.
Getting Involved
Getting involved in the 2015 Legislature is easy. The best way to have your voice heard quickly is to phone 406-444-4800. Operators are on hand in the Capitol Building to take messages up to five legislators on each call, and delivery is within a half an hour. For those wanting more information on locating legislators, getting an e-mail address, looking to view committee meetings and floor sessions on television or over computers, and just to review all hearings and reading of the actual bills can go to www.leg.mt.gov and access everything electronically.
Past Reports
