State budget sent to governor. Will there be a record number of study bills for the interim?
NFIB/Montana State Director Riley Johnson reports from Helena on the small-business agenda for the legislative week ending April 21.
The pundits in the halls of Montana’s Capitol this week have been calling the activity of the 65th session of the Legislature the “Jimmy Dean Week.”
Lots of sausage* was being made behind closed doors at every level of the Capitol and every level of the political spectrum, on issues such as the budget, education, infrastructure, taxes, tax cuts, and an assortment of costly but critical social programs.
The action out in the public arena was limited to:
- a few “dog and cat” bills that hadn’t been put to rest
- last-minute confirmation of appointments Gov. Steve Bullock to major state agencies like Labor and Revenue
- attempts to pass study bills of all types for the interim from the end of session 1017 through all of 2018.
Study bills are an interesting class of legislation. Every session comes up with a variety of subjects for study from child abuse to suicide prevention to the workers’ compensation insurance program. This session, however, NFIB/Montana has never seen as many study bills. They have not been tallied yet, but at a glance there must be between 60 and 70 proposals put before the two bodies for studies by the interim committees over the next 18 months.
How this system of study bills works is that at the end of the session, all study bills are grouped together and mailed to all legislators. The lawmakers then rank the study bills by what they judge as important. Then the Legislative Services Division counts the rankings and selects the top studies that will fit within a fixed budget. Bottom line? Each interim sees about 10 of the study bills actually getting to the agendas of interim committees. Why then so many study bills? The likely answer is to allow legislators to publicly voice their concerns about public and private issues to satisfy their constituencies back home. Considering it costs about $3,000 per bill to work its way through all the legislative process, this amounts to a healthy chunk of change for no real results.
State Budget
One good action this past week was the passage of House Bill 2, the biennium budget bill. It passed its final floor action April 21 on a 58-41 House vote. It now goes to the governor’s office for passage, veto, or amendatory veto within the next 10 business days. Of course, Governor Bullock could also let the bill pass without his signature. The two-year spending bill calls for a 0.6 percent increase over the 2015-2017 budget, but it also includes cuts across many state agencies.
Democrat lawmakers say the bill cuts too deep in too many vital areas. The Republicans say it meets the state’s revenue projections for the next two years.
Session Winding Down
The bills of greatest interest to NFIB/Montana have all been either passed or defeated so far in the session. But, remember, that until the gavel slams down to sine die, there is not a single bill of the more than 1,000 offered up that is truly dead.
It is generally the first major sign that the session is ending when the budget bill gets passed to the governor. April 24 will be the 84th day of the session. The maximum allowed for any session is 90, which means that the final official day would be May 1. NFIB/Montana does not think it will go through May 1.
Either the lawmakers will come to terms and end the session with a recess of a few days in case they want to come back into session, or the bodies will adjourn sine die. That will be the question of the coming week.
Stay tuned.
*If you like laws and sausages, you should never watch either one being made.
— Attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck
Previous Legislative Reports
April 14 Report—Infrastructure Deals Sill Not Closed. Adjournment Looms
April 7 Report—Tempers Shortening as Montana Legislature Nears Adjournment
March 31 Report—Attempt to Abolish Montana State Fund Defeated
March 24 Report—“I Get The Picture. Shut The Emails Down.”
March 17 Report—Local Property Tax Levy Coming up for Hearing
March 10 Report—NFIB to Fight 4 Percent Local Options Tax Proposal
March 3 Report—Montana Legislators Getting Down to Dollars and Cents
February 24 Report—Income Tax Proposals Stall; Gas Tax Increase Revving
February 17 Report—Slowest Session in 16 Years Has Not Slowed NFIB
February 10 Report—NFIB Helps Defeat Costly Workers’ Compensation Proposal
February 3 Report—Skirmish Over Funding Montana Legislature
January 27 Report—Montana Legislature Ponders Tax Credits for Startups
January 20 Report—NFIB Helps Defeat Montana Minimum-Wage Bill
January 13 Report—NFIB Readies Opposition to Montana Minimum-Wage Bill
