Despite protests, House passes stimulus spending

By MOLLY PRIDDY
Community News Service
UM School of Journalism

HELENA – The House today approved a plan to spend millions in federal stimulus dollars, despite numerous attempts from Bozeman-area legislators to change or reject the bill. The vote was 64-33.

The hearing for House Bill 645, which appropriates the state’s $870 million share of federal stimulus money, lasted over two and a half hours, most of which was spent on debating the merits of particular uses for the money.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jon Sesso, D-Butte, said the bill was imperfect but as close as Montana would get to getting immediate financial relief.

“For everyone that is disappointed, don’t think you’re alone,” Sesso said. “But I can just tell you that the piece that is before you, the elements that are included in this bill are going to do a lot of good work in this state; it’s going to help a lot of people.”

Despite Sesso’s assertions, a delegation of Bozeman-area lawmakers tried to rearrange funding to help their districts.

Rep. Brady Wiseman, D-Bozeman, tried unsuccessfully four times to get $400,000 for Bozeman to aid in rubble and debris removal from the site of the natural gas explosion downtown.

“We’ve got a big problem in the city of Bozeman,” Wiseman said. “We have a city block lying in rubble and we can’t afford to clean it up.”

Rep. JP Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman, supported Wiseman’s amendments saying the city could start as soon as possible on the clean up and could pay the money back.

But Rep. Bill McChesney, D-Miles City, opposed the amendments. He said his city had suffered similar destruction in the recent downtown fire, but the stimulus bill was already strapped.

“In the end, the help that Miles City, Whitehall and Bozeman need is going to be there,” McChesney said. “The funding and the resources need to be found outside of the stimulus bill.”

Each of Wiseman’s attempts was rejected by the House by at least 70 votes. The one amendment to pass on the stimulus bill came from Sesso. His amendment allowed cities struck by disaster, including Bozeman, Whitehall and Miles City, to use their share of stimulus money for debris removal. It passed 90-13.

No other amendments were proposed on the bill, but several Republican lawmakers from Gallatin County expressed their distain for the stimulus package in general.

“I have a sense that we are presiding over the demise of the American republic,” said Rep. Joel Boniek, R-Livingston. “My problem with receiving fed dollars is that these dollars are fraudulent.”

Boniek also told lawmakers they were “posturing” by pretending to know how the bill would affect Montana, something he called a “poorly disguised attempt to give legitimacy” to stimulus money.

Tensions broke after Rep. Michael More, R-Gallatin Gateway, accused lawmakers of succumbing to the “call of money.”

“What god do you serve?” More asked the House. “Is this all pretense, the Pledge of Allegiance?”

More continued his speech against HB645, calling it “manna from Heaven” for the lawmakers. When asked by Rep. Dennis Himmelberger, R-Billings, if his comments were pertinent to the bill, More said they were, “If you can grasp that, Mr. Chairman.”

More was gaveled down for being out of order. He later apologized, saying he did not intend to offend anyone.

On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Committee reallocated $75 million of Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s original proposal, leaving much of HB645 intact. The bill works in coordination with the state budget bill, which is currently being considered in the Senate.

House rejects GOP cuts, endorses budget bill

By MOLLY PRIDDY
Community News Service
UM School of Journalism

HELENA – After only a day’s debate, Montana’s House of Representatives passed a budget today, rejecting every Republican effort to whittle it down.

The House voted 65-34 to give its initial approval to House Bill 2, which would fund state government over the next biennium. The budget totals $8.1 billion in spending, a $474 million increase from the current budget.

Democrats praised the day’s work as a model of bipartisanship, while disappointed Republican leaders predicted the GOP-controlled Senate would have a better chance of making cuts.

House Speaker Bob Bergren, D-Havre, called the budgeting debate, which began on the floor at 9:30 a.m. and ended at 5:45 p.m., an unprecedented success.

“All 100 people in this chamber want what’s best for Montana,” Bergren said. “We just have a little bit different philosophies.”

A handful of Republicans joined all 50 House Democrats in beating back every proposed cut, despite forecasts late last week of another $41 million drop in projected revenues. In all, analyists have predicted revenue shortages of $290 million since just before this session begain.

The biggest sections of the budget - human services, corrections and public education - all received increases. Human services, accounting for $3.2 billion of the budget, saw a 9.4 percent increase from the last biennium. Public education, at $1.6 billion of the budget, will increase by over 3 percent. The prison system would see a 3 percent increase of $11 million.

The only budget area that saw an reduction was higher education, which will decrease by $5 million.

House Minority Leader Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, offered 21 of the 22 unsuccessful amendments to cut what he considered to be a too-fat budget. He also warned that the state can expect plenty of revenue drops in the future.

“Our nation and our state face serious times ahead,” Sales said. “You cannot spend your way into prosperity.”

Sales’ amendments included removing salary increases for attorneys in the Department of Justice, cutting $175,000 from the Montana Board of Crime Control, and cutting $250,000 from the Office of Public Instruction.

He also proposed cutting $1,300 over the next two years from the Board of Public Education budget for the per diem payments for board members.

“This would just prevent them from having a ham sandwich while they’re on the road,” Sales said. “They can pack a lunch.”

When that amendment failed 36-63, Sales expressed his disappointment. “We couldn’t find the resolve as a group of individuals to remove $1,300,” he said.

But House Appropriations Chairman Jon Sesso, D-Butte, said his committee put together a sound budget that prepares the state for lean times ahead.

“Montana is in the black, we’re not in the red,” Sesso said. “We’re not mortgaging our future to anyone.”

House Democrats held steady in opposing any cuts, while a handful of Republicans joined them for a variety of reasons.

Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad, said he didn’t support floor amendments out of respect for the Appropriations Committee, and because it can be dangerous to change a large budget bill without first researching repercussions.

Rep. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said he voted to pass HB 2 and send it to the Senate, where Republicans have the votes to make cuts.

“This bill will go to the Senate where all your concerns will be addressed,” Ankney told fellow Republicans. “This is not the place to do that.”

But Rep. Tom McGillvray, R-Billings, compared state spending to that of General Motors, the auto maker now seeking a government bailout.

“You can’t continue to spend money you don’t have forever,” McGillvray said. “We’re running ourselves into a hole.”

The most heavily debated section of the budget concerned the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, with issues ranging from children’s health care to state-funded contraception.

McGillvray tried but failed to cut funding for the Healthy Montana Kids Plan, the program approved by voters last fall to provide heath insurance to nearly 30,000 uninsured children from low- and moderate-income families.

The coverage would be paid for through the CHIP and Medicaid programs, in which the federal government matches state funding.

“Certainly, most voters out there that I talked to had no idea what was really happening there,” McGillvray said. “This is not poverty at all. We’ve gone way beyond poverty and those who ran that initiative knew it wasn’t about kids in poverty, it was about socializing medicine.”

The amendment failed 33-65.

Rep. Ken Peterson, R-Helena, said the federal government uses matching dollars in these programs to suck states into the same debt it faces.

“Many of the things that come into the health services I’d class as charity,” Peterson said. “Pure charity.”

But Rep. Sue Dickenson, D-Great Falls, said health-care spending reflected humanity in hard times.

“We’re not talking about charity,” she said. “We’re talking about justice, we’re talking about investments.”

The next step for HB 2 is the Senate Finance and Claims Committee, where it will be considered and amended before going to the Senate floor for debate.

House Republicans cry foul over unheard bills

HELENA – As lawmakers head into their halftime break, House GOP leaders accused Democratic Speaker Bob Bergren (pictured) today of unfair and unequal treatment in the handling of Republican bills.

House Minority Floor Leader Scott Mendenhall, R-Clancy, said Bergren broke House rules in a “blatant and brazen way” by opting not to schedule late Republican-sponsored bills for a hearing.

“Is it just coincidence they happened to be all Republican bills?” Mendenhall asked.

Mendenhall also said Bergren, of Havre, showed his partisan bias by splitting up the previous day’s floor agendas by party, with Democrat bills in the morning and Republican bills in the afternoon.

“That’s patently unfair,” Mendenhall said. “Can we look forward to more of this in the second half?”

Mendenhall’s speech was met with some Republican applause, which Bergren quickly stifled from the speaker’s chair.

Bergren said he has been fair, equal and in control for the first half of the session. “I believe you just helped set the tone for the next 45 days,” Bergren told Mendenhall.

Bergren admitted that he decided not to schedule hearing on one late Republican bill and a few resolutions because he didn't think the House had enough time to hear them. He said he should not have "desk-drawer vetoed" the bills.

“One minor violation that upset you, I apologize,” Bergren said.

In an interview later, Bergren said Republicans were bringing up “petty” issues and should be talking instead about heavy-hitting issues like the economy and health care.

“Republican leadership is once again out of touch with Montana,” Bergren said.

But Republican leaders said their concerns were valid. "It is a big deal,” said Minority Leader Scott Sales, R-Bozeman. He said these kinds of insider moves lead to partisan discord.

Despite the tiff, both sides said they looked forward to fostering bipartisanship after the halftime break that runs from Feb. 27-March 2.

Renters seek help with deposits, leases and heat

By MOLLY PRIDDY
Community News Service
UM School of Journalism

HELENA – Montana renters are asking lawmakers for help against landlords who unfairly withhold security deposits, fail to provide copies of leases and don't turn up the heat.

Such complaints moved Rep. Deborah Kottel, D-Great Falls (pictured), to introduce two bills, House bills 188 and 189, which came before the House Business and Labor Committee Thursday.

House Bill 188, would grant greater damages to renters who successfully sue landlords who wrongfully withhold security deposits. The bill would allow damages of three times the amount of the deposit. Current law limits damages to legal costs and the amount of the deposit. -MORE-