State budget projections are over cap
The break last weekend was great. I enjoyed being home and meeting with the citizens of House District 11. You know, the people of our area are concerned with the same issues we face in Helena: education funding, health care, prescription costs, and taxes. I'd like to thank everyone for the questions and comments, and ask that you keep them coming.
Now the House committees hear the Senate bills and vice versa. My appropriations committee really gets down to work building HB 2. That is the bill that spends the general fund. We review the budget plans that come out of the many sub-committees and approve or disapprove the spending requirements in every bill that has a fiscal attachment.
As I have mentioned before, there is a spending cap for our budget based on the average personal income growth for Montanans. This year it's 8.6 percent. Regrettably, the budget projection is somewhere between $70 and $117 million over the cap. Our Governor has stated that he does not want the cap removed and I will work to keep it in place.
HB 745 is a supplemental appropriations act carried by Representative Matthews, D-Miles City, that contains $52.6 million to be spent in 2005, which is part of the past biennium not the one we are working on now. So that would raise the previous budget and with the 8.6 percent cap would allow for even more spending in the next biennium. Since 1980, the supplemental appropriations have averaged just over $11 million per biennium.
SB 177, sponsored by Senator Ryan D-Great Falls, puts close to $80 million into the current school funding formula, which was declared unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court. By the way, the Court still has not issued the final opinion in the school-funding lawsuit.
That makes it more difficult for the legislature to define and fund education.
We have a special select committee on education. Its job is to review all the legislation and come up with a committee bill. I hope it is able to do so. I do not want to end this session without completing our work. There is a lot of special session speculation. Special sessions are costly and history has shown that once a special session starts, all subjects are considered, not just the problem that created the need for the session.
As always leave me a message at 406-444-4800, or email me at
or write Representative Janna Taylor, Capitol Station, P.O. Box 200400, Helena, MT 59620-0400.