Montana Legislature rejects changes to session spending bill

HELENA – The Montana Legislature voted Friday to send back a spending bill to Gov. Steve Bullock without any changes, a day after the Democratic governor criticized the measure’s disproportional spending increase compared with budget cuts being considered across the rest of state government.

The House and Senate rejected the Democratic governor’s recommendation that lawmakers trim an additional $1.3 million from the so-called “feed bill,” which pays for the operations of the 90-day legislative session. Bullock’s recommendation came Thursday in an amendatory veto, which allows the Legislature to vote for or against the governor’s changes and send the bill back to him for reconsideration.

Bullock can now sign the bill into law, veto it or let it become law without his signature. Bullock spokeswoman Ronja Abel said he is considering his options.

If the governor vetoes the bill, the Legislature won’t be able to pay for operations and the salaries of staff, and would have to adjourn about a third of the way through the session, said House Appropriations Chairwoman Nancy Ballance, R-Hamilton. The cash-flow problem already has begun, with the Legislature having to find money from another budget source for lawmakers’ per diem payments this week, she said.

Bullock said during a news conference Thursday announcing the amendatory veto that lawmakers increased their own funding by nearly 15 percent while planning deep spending cuts elsewhere to fix the state’s budget shortfall caused by a drop in energy production.

Republicans bristled at the idea that they are exempting themselves from the planned cuts, saying the Legislature already has pledged to return $1.2 million of unspent money to lessen the budget shortfall. Many of the increases in the feed bill are because of laws that were passed during the 2015 legislative session, they said.

In the end, the governor’s amendatory veto was a political stunt, a distraction from the larger issue of fixing the budget, Ballance said.

“This is so minor because it was so blatantly obviously what was going on,” Ballance said. “He’s not going to send us home, because what’s he going to do, send us back to a special session?”

Bullock said in a statement he is disappointed the Legislature did not agree to his recommended changes.

“I will continue to stand with Montanans across the state as we look for ways to fund the services they expect, trim back unnecessary government spending, create jobs and grow the economy,” he said. “I hope the Republican-led legislature decides to join me.”