Word from Helena: 2,293 bills already in legislative hopper

One week into the 60th legislative session and I'm already swamped. Even before we were sworn in, the Senate Finance and the House Appropriations Committees met in a joint session. We review the revenue estimates and the governor's budget and make recommendations to the joint sub-committees.

This year I am vice chair of the House Appropriations Committee. It was an unusual experience for me, sitting in front of the joint committee. I chair the Local Government and Transportation Sub-committee. Too bad this promotion doesn't make my reading and budget study easier.

We made some changes to the way that agencies will present their budgets to our committees. We now ask that they start with their goals and measurable objectives. Also, each sub-committee can build a companion bill to HB 2, the funding bill, that can require reports on the success of objectives and accountability.

This is a great tool for the legislators to keep track of an agency's performance. I know you've heard me say this before, but term limits have given the bureaucrats more and more power. I voted for term limits way back when, but I did not realize the effect of the loss of knowledge in the legislative branch.

It is a good thing I like working with numbers because that's how I spend most of my day. My sub-committee meets every morning from 8 to noon deciding budgets for agencies. Then the floor session starts at 1 p.m. After that, the House Appropriations Committee meets to hear any bill that costs us money.

There are already 2,293 bills or bill drafts in the hopper. I have a few, but often several legislators have very similar bills. I have no problem giving up a bill or supporting another one that is similar. It's amazing what you can get done if you don't care who gets the credit.

Here's an interesting number: Right now, you have 11,651.72 state employees on the payroll. That is not the actual number, but the number you pay the salary for. The actual number is lower, but agencies can keep vacant positions open to pay others more. Yes, it is a difficult system to follow.

The governor's budget will add 481.32 positions in the next two years, bringing the total to 12,133.04. This total does not count Department of Administration, Department of Commerce, or Secretary of State employees.

That brings the number up another 600 or so. University employees and teachers are also not included.

In other words, the people of Montana are by far the largest employer in the state. Salaries and benefits continue to increase — some 80 percent of state employees are on a pay plan called "broadband" that I have reported on in previous columns.

Broadband allows each agency to establish a range of salaries based on comparison with other western states and the private sector. Many private sector jobs do not have benefits that are even closely comparable to ours. And the cost of living in most of Montana is less than other states.

The bad part is that the broadband pay plan costs you more. The good part is that agencies can give raises on merit. There is a major effort to put the last 20 percent of our employees on this plan.

The legislator that is carrying this bill thought that only 69 percent of our employees were on this plan. Some lawmakers don't know how to research the numbers, so I gave him a bit of assistance.

What do we do with the surplus, or as I like to say, the over tax, of nearly a billion dollars? We need to be careful because the legislative revenue estimates indicate that this type of surplus will not continue into the 2009 biennium. These number crunchers call the current surplus a bubble.

We rely on federal funds and the federal deficit reduction acts can seriously impact Montana. Already in this budget there is $12 million set aside to pay for what we were getting from the feds. Also, the governor wants to use some of the surplus for one time expenditures. If this is a building, the maintenance and operation costs continue.

I work for you. Please contact me anytime at 406-444-4800 and leave me a message, or email me at jannataylor@montana.com

My mailing address is P.O. Box 200400, Helena, MT 59620-0400.