Facts about HB 2

This past Tuesday, the Montana House of Representatives passed House Bill 2, which will eventually serve as the state’s budget for the next two years. Creation of a balanced budget is the one constitutional duty of the Legislature and it is a responsibility my Republican colleagues and I take very seriously.

When the Legislature first convened back in January, the budget proposed by the Governor was not balanced and would have spent more than the state is projected to take in. Raiding our savings account to increase the size of government is not a responsible course of action when Montana’s economy has just begun to shift out of neutral. Put simply, state government needs to tighten its belt, just like Montana families are doing.

Rather than support the lean budget proposed by the Appropriations Committee, the minority chose instead to try and increase government spending. In fact, when HB2 came to the floor for full debate, they attempted to add more than $200,000,000 to the budget in additional spending. Working together, Republicans were able to prevent these amendments from passing.

I voted for amendments that would have further reduced government spending by $122,716,859. As a whole, Republicans managed to find and pass $33 million in additional savings during floor debate. In the end, the budget that overwhelmingly passed the House is more than $136 million below the Governor’s proposal and six percent less than the one which passed in 2009.

The bill will now be sent to the Senate where we will continue to look for ways to make government more efficient and effective. There is still much work to be done and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on ways to make state government more accountable to taxpayers. 

One bill that I have introduced in House Taxation is HB 472, a bill creating a tax reform study committee to examine the state’s existing tax system and to consider alternative forms of taxation that protect the constitutional right of Montana citizens to acquire, possess and protect property.  It was brought to me by Dick Wells from Sanders County and it received a lot of interest. 

HB 119, the Volunteer Fire Fighters Compensation Act, that I also sponsored which clarifies language and makes it consistent with the rest of the retirement systems, has passed both the House and Senate and is waiting for final approval. 

The Natural Resource Committee, which hasn’t met during the HB 2 floor debates, is backed up with bills and hearings will start again on March 16th.  We have a full agenda to be heard and I’m hoping that we will be able to get legislation passed that will help get projects permitted and people back to work. 

Prior to HB 2 debate on Saturday, the House took a moment to enjoy the singing Zylawy brothers, Roman, Kenley and Wyatt.  It was my privilege to introduce this group of talented brothers and were they ever a hit!  Everyone was anticipating a grueling floor session and their singing made everyone’s job a little easier to endure that day.  As a matter of fact, when one representative saw their instruments, he thought they were going to be performing chamber music and was grumbling that we had important work to get done and needed to get to it and when the boys started singing and playing those instruments he said it changed his whole mood.  They sold all the copies of their premiere CD, Hiawatha, they brought with them and received several offers to perform for other functions. 

Other locals I was happy to see at the Capital this past week were Terry and Roman Zylway, Martha Lauterbach, Denley Loge and Caroline Phillips.  It’s always good to see friendly faces from home.