Montana budget back in state House’s hands after Senate finalizes its version

HELENA — The Montana Legislature’s 68^th session is shifting into its remaining week, with one huge accountability nonetheless to finish: approving the state funds for the subsequent two years.

On Thursday, the Senate gave its remaining approval to Home Invoice 2, the primary funds invoice, which units out greater than $14 billion in state spending over the approaching biennium.

“Our remaining legislative funds is an effective conservative funds that we will all be happy with, from east to west, from city and rural,” mentioned Sen. John Esp, R-Huge Timber, throughout a Senate ground debate on the invoice Monday.

Esp chaired the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, which did intensive work on HB 2 in latest weeks. He informed MTN the committee largely made adjustments “on the margins” of the funds.

Extra amendments got here on the Senate ground – not like the talk on the Home ground, when each proposed change failed on a close to party-line vote.

The largest change within the Senate was including one other $15 million in state funds to additional enhance Medicaid reimbursement charges for well being care and long-term care suppliers. That will additionally usher in one other $29.5 million in federal particular income. It’s the most recent step in what has been one of many major subjects of dialogue this session.

Since HB 2 was amended within the Senate, it should now return to the Home for consideration. If representatives settle for the Senate’s adjustments, the invoice will go on to Gov. Greg Gianforte for a signature. If the Home rejects the amendments, a convention committee should be appointed to hammer out a remaining model of the invoice. That might push the final votes on HB 2 nearer to the top of subsequent week.

The Montana Structure provides the Legislature a most of 90 working days for every session. Friday marked Day 84, and all enterprise should be accomplished by Day 90 – subsequent Friday, Might 5.

This week on Face the State, Home Speaker Rep. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, informed MTN’s Augusta McDonnell that HB 2 could be again up for consideration within the Home early subsequent week. He mentioned he thought it was “50-50” whether or not it could go to convention committee.

“That most likely relies upon so much on this unprecedented surplus that Montana has, and this one-time-only spending,” he mentioned. “Plenty of legislators had nice concepts on methods to spend that OTO cash, they usually’re nonetheless floating on the market. So it will rely upon, I feel, which sort of faction or group pushing which concept has their funds surplus one-time-only spending payments cross the end line, as to what is going on to occur with Home Invoice 2.”

One different change the Senate made to HB 2 was eradicating $7.9 million that may be used over the subsequent two years to maneuver as much as 120 state inmates to a personal jail facility in Arizona – operated by CoreCivic, the corporate that runs the Crossroads Correctional Heart in Shelby. That contract was proposed as a method to deal with overcrowding in Montana detention amenities.

Nonetheless, that funding for was added to a different invoice, Home Invoice 817, with the particular references to CoreCivic and Arizona eliminated. The invoice now merely says the cash shall be used to “to contract for 120 jail beds.” HB 817 handed the Senate Friday on a 30-18 vote.