State budget occupies House of Representatives
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Last week was dominated by two days of debate on the House Floor with the many amendments added to the state spending bill. This bill is traditionally HB 2. All the parts of it were heard in the Appropriations sub-committees and then the full committee. It was then passed out to be debated on the floor. It took two days and although I never heard the exact number of amendments proposed, rumor has it at over 100, none were successful. This is the start of the budgeting process. The bill now moves on to the Senate where is will get more study. Once the Senate agrees and votes on this Bill, it comes back to the House where we must agree with the changes. That usually doesn’t happen so the bill is sent to a conference committee that negotiates on the changes. If no agreement can be reached, then usually a Free Conference Committee is appointed by both the Senate and the House. They have free reign to negotiate with each other and also the governor’s office. This is generally what happens. Basically by passing HB 2 last week, the House just started defining our bargaining position for the end game.
The other big part of the budgeting formula that the state must follow is the revenue estimate for the next biennium. This estimate comes from the House Tax committee. There was a hearing on this amount on Friday and a tremendous amount of information from a wide variety of sources was presented. This figure is extremely important as it is what the state of Montana must balance its budget to for the next biennium.
The dark money bill (SB 289) was heard last Thursday. It basically says that if an organization wants to participate in informing voters about different issues, the donors to these organizations have to be of public record. These would be the same rules that I follow when I receive a candidate donation. Those folks are listed on my campaign financing reports that anyone can have access too.
The Medicaid Expansion bill (SB 405) had a hearing on Friday and should move through the senate this week. It is the only Medicaid bill left as several on the house side, that didn’t cover very much and were very expensive, were killed on Friday.
We will be hearing from several elementary school students on Tuesday in the House Agriculture committee about naming a state soil. After a lot of research, the students have brought forth “Scobey Loam” as their nominee.
Thank you for your messages and input. I can be reached at dansalomon12@gmail.com
