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Bullock Vetoes First Bill

By Beacon Staff

HELENA — Gov. Steve Bullock is vetoing his first bill.

House Bill 18 was billed as an internal accounting fix dealing with the way the state uses a small share of coal tax money for a special research fund. That account aims to commercialize research done in the Montana university system.

But Bullock says that the way the measure changed the diversion of coal tax money inadvertently interferes with his proposed fix of the pension systems.

Bullock says funding for the research account is not disturbed in his budget proposal.

The fate of Bullock’s proposed pension fix is still being debated at the Legislature. It asks both employees and their public employers to pay more to fund the shortfall with the help of some natural resource money.