Some laws are contradictory
The time is flying by. Mid-session break begins Thursday, Feb. 24, and I am looking forward to getting home. Please meet me during lunch for a House District 11 meeting at the Polson Senior Citizens Center, Thursday Feb. 24. Senator John Brueggeman and I should be there by noon or 12:30. That evening we will be at the Polson Library Community Room from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Bring your questions and comments. Hopefully we can discuss the difficulties with HB 240, the hate crimes bill.
The first reading of bills happens in a committee. The second reading is when the House floor debate takes place. Last Saturday we debated 46 bills on second reading. Then we heard three bills for the third and final reading and six motions to move bills to another committee or out on the floor if they are stalled in committee.
Usually when a bill is tied or tabled in committee, we can all trust the committee's action. This is more difficult when our committees are evenly divided between the two parties. Often the vote is on straight party lines. I worry that too many decisions are being based on party affiliation and not on logic.
Here's an interesting contradiction. HB 245 passed final reading last Saturday. It requires that minors, anyone under 18, must have parental notification to have any body piercing. In contrast, in our state any minor can obtain an abortion with no parental notification. Does that seem logical?
I would like everyone to understand that there are many reasons to vote against a bill. Here's one example: HB 640 is titled "An act to encourage the use of in-state information technology businesses." That sounds great. The Department of Administration will establish an inventory of existing IT businesses in Montana. They can charge a fee to the businesses to cover the costs of the inventory, and I'm sure they will.
So, why did I vote against this? As you know, I sit on the House Appropriations Committee and in my sub-committee we heard from many agencies and departments about their computer problems. We are still paying to get rid of the old system, POINTS, and millions to purchase new systems IRIS, CAMAS, and FASTCOURT. And we are one of only two states that still have a tax system called SABRES.
Every time we had to appropriate money for a computer system, we asked, "Is it in use in other states? If so, how many? Does the system interface with our other instate, county and municipal systems? Can we buy the programs off the shelf? What are the maintenance costs?"
These programs are administered and updated from their home offices. So, although it is wonderful to promote local businesses, we need to first be efficient. The bill does have many exceptions, but our Chief Information Officer, Jeff Brandt, spoke against passing this out of committee. I trust his judgment.
We are watching the money disappear. The attempt to backfill, that is put spending into the current biennium to use in the next biennium, will not work because the money has to be counted in the year that it is spent. That only makes sense. But this has major consequences because of our spending caps. By law, no yearly increase can be more than the average increase in Montana income.
I will work hard to prevent the removal or exceptions from the spending caps. This is one of the best ways we have to hold down state spending.
Of course, I vote against many bills because of the fiscal note attached. It's too easy for legislators to spend tax money like it's other people's money. And many legislators do not realize that every resolution costs us, the taxpayers, between $3,000 and $5,000. We've passed 13 of these already.
Here are a few:
? urge physical education to enhance health,
? urge the use of wood bats in American Legion baseball,
? commemorate the Lewis and Clark bicentennial
? encourage the construction of roundabouts for traffic.
A resolution might be a great idea and make us feel good, but they don't really accomplish much.
Due to technical problems my website address is temporarily changed to jannataylorhd11.com. Email me at jannataylor@montana.com, call and leave me a message at 406-444-4800 or write:
Representative Janna Taylor
Capitol Station
PO Box 200400
Helena, MT 59620-0400