Capitol Consumed by Negotiations on State Budget

April 22, 2023

Capitol Consumed by Negotiations on State Budget

State Director Ronda Wiggers reports from Helena on the small-business agenda for the legislative week ending April 21.

We have reached the two most difficult weeks of the Montana Legislature. There are a few bills that are making their way through the last steps of the process, most of which are procedural and not all that newsworthy. Many of the bills in the active debate process are also caught up in final negotiations on the budget. They may look like they are passing, such as Senate Bill 95, the retail theft bill we have been supporting, but they are actually held up waiting on the final budget – in this case, Department of Corrections – to determine if they become law. Other bills are being held to encourage their sponsor’s support of larger policy or budget issues. While all of this work is being done to get to the finish line, we also stay vigilante to ensure that bad bills that have been tabled stay on the table. This is a descriptive way of explaining that although there has been little legislative action on remaining bills, they will all now pretty much sit in place until we have a final agreement on the state budget. Thus, there is very little to report this week. In Montana, our citizen’s Legislature meets for 90 days every other year. Everyone, from elected officials to temporary staff, is ready for it to be done. As work is piling up at home, budget negotiations are requiring many proposals to be rejected and tempers are flaring. When the budget, House Bill 2, crossed over from the House to the Senate, many were estimating that we would finish up about April 21. After the Senate Finance & Claims Committee finished its work on HB 2, we were aiming at April 28. Now, disagreements over the remaining budget items, often referred to as ‘cat and dog’ bills, are making it look like we may not finish until the 90th day on May 6! Once the dust has settled, I will create a full report of all the good bills we helped pass, the bad ideas we helped to stop, and a few items of interest that may affect the daily activities of our members. In case you have lost it, this link will take you to the NFIB Legislative Preference list and allow you to track bills in real time: Previous Weekly Reports and Related Information