[NFBMT] From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle

Mon Nov 20 06:12:32 UTC 2017

>From the Bozeman Daily Chronicle four days ago.  Probably from Associated Press Montana.  Joy 

The Latest: Montana Legislature ends special session  

Nov 16, 2017 Updated Nov 16, 2017 

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Latest on the special session of the Montana Legislature (all times local):

1:40 a.m.

Montana lawmakers wrapped up a special session to patch a projected $227 million budget deficit without increasing taxes.

Gov. Steve Bullock made $76.6 million in cuts while lawmakers and the administration recommended $94 million in transfers and other savings or income, including temporarily suspending payments into the state employee health care plan and the judge’s retirement fund and auctioning new liquor licenses.

Part of the package includes temporarily charging a 3 percent management fee on Montana State Fund investments over $1 billion to raise nearly $30 million. Lawmakers also approved $15 million in state employee furloughs.

While the governor had recommended some temporary tax increases, Republicans passed legislation that essentially forces him to extend the contract for CoreCivic to manage a private prison in Shelby to access $30 million or make additional cuts.

The House adjourned just after 1 a.m. Thursday.

11 p.m.

A House committee voted unanimously late Wednesday to transfer just over $48 million from several funds to the state general fund as part of an effort to patch a budget deficit caused by decreasing revenues and a devastating fire season.

The bill now goes to the House floor as lawmakers look to wrap up the special session. It also would face a vote in the Senate.

The governor called the special session to address a projected $227 million budget deficit.

The House bill proposed nearly $25 million more in transfers than the governor suggested in calling the session. The Republican majority said it would look for ways to avoid raising taxes.

House Appropriations Chairwoman Nancy Ballance of Hamilton said legislative leaders and the administration worked much of the day Wednesday to negotiate the transfers and make sure they were reasonable.

6:50 p.m.

Montana lawmakers continue to work on a package of bills to account for a projected $227 million state budget deficit, with provisions for further cuts if the governor rejects some of the terms.

The Senate passed a bill that seeks to essentially force Gov. Steve Bullock to extend for 10 years CoreCivic’s contract to operate a private prison in Shelby in exchange for tapping about $32 million in funding. It gives him until June to put $15 million of the money into the state fire fund. It still must go to the House.

Lawmakers passed a bill that calls for $15 million in employee cuts that can be made by furloughing workers who make more than $50,000 annually.

The House Appropriations Committee was still working Wednesday evening on a bill to transfer funds from numerous agencies into the state general fund.

3:30 p.m.

The Montana Senate passed five bills that would temporarily raise money for the state or prevent spending that total $65 million.

Nearly $30 million would come from temporarily charging the Montana State Fund a 3 percent management fee for its investments above $1 billion. The fund expects to invest about $1.5 billion with the Montana Board of Investments.

The Senate also passed bills to save $10.4 million by not paying into the state employee health care plan for two months; $2.7 million by not paying into the judge’s retirement program through June 2019 and $14.9 million by ending block grants for schools.

Another bill would take $7.5 million in funding from the Montana Developmental Center and put it in the state fire fund.

Those bills, which passed Wednesday afternoon, now go to the House.

3:05 p.m.

Republican members of the Montana Senate joined their counterparts in the House to make permanent $76.6 million in budget cuts the governor intended to be temporary as part of an effort to offset a projected $227 million budget deficit.

A bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Nancy Balance of Hamilton amended the state budget that was passed during the regular session earlier this year to include the governor’s cuts.

It passed 59-41 in the House on Wednesday and 30-18 in the Senate. It now goes to Gov. Steve Bullock for his signature.

Democrats argued putting the cuts into law wasn’t necessary and would make them permanent by including them in the base budget for the 2019 legislative session. Republicans argued they wanted to keep control of the state’s spending and that the base budget can be modified in 2019.

12:58 p.m.

Republican members of the Montana House voted Wednesday to make permanent $76.6 million in budget cuts the governor intended to be temporary as part of an effort to offset a projected $227 million budget deficit.

A bill sponsored by Republican Rep. Nancy Balance of Hamilton amended the state budget that was passed during the regular session earlier this year to include the governor’s cuts.

It passed 59-41 on both second and third readings Wednesday. It now goes to the Senate.

Democratic Rep. Jenny Eck of Helena and others argued the effect of the bill is to make the cuts permanent by including them in the base budget that will be presented to the legislature in 2019.

9:35 a.m.

Montana lawmakers are moving toward approving a mix of budget transfers and tax increases that, combined with the governor’s $76.6 million in cuts, seeks to balance the state’s budget in the face of a projected $227 million deficit.

Republican lawmakers have proposed more transfers and fewer tax increases than Gov. Steve Bullock did in calling the special session that continues Wednesday.

A key to holding down tax increases is tapping $30 million the state has deposited in a fund in the event it decided to purchase a private prison in Shelby.

Republicans have included contingencies to prevent the governor from vetoing them.

Tax increases still on the table are an increase in hotel and rental car taxes and requiring two health insurance companies to pay a tax on premiums.

Joy Breslauer, President

National Federation of the Blind of Montana 

Web Site: http://www.nfbofmt.org

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