Page 16 - Flathead Beacon // 4.29.15

16 | APRIL 29, 2015
COVER
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Final Days of Legislature Distill Essence of Session
Having been dealt a series of defeats in 2015 session, GOP lawmakers cling to one last bill
Reps. Keith Regier, left, and Mike Cuffe discuss a bill on the House floor during the 64th Montana Legislative Session in Helena.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
driven by emotion and passion now. It’s no longer about the data. It’s no longer about discussion. It’s about emotion, arm twisting and expediency.”
Regier accused the governor of sup- porting a surfeit of bonds as a means to close the session with a $300 million surplus, and of investing in “Capitol projects” while foregoing spending on rural schools.
“The governor wants to keep bor- rowing money through bonds,” Regier said from his leadership office last week. “If we have the cash, why borrow when we don’t need to?”
He said he wanted to see “pet proj- ects” like a new gym at Montana State University and a new building for the Montana Historical Society stripped from the spending bill, with more em- phasis on new roofs and boilers for local schools.
“I stand behind the members of my caucus who have dedicated long hours to try to come to a compromise that meets the needs of our state. For many of us the thought of telling our constituents that a university needs a nicer gym or the His- torical Society needs a new building be- fore the local school can get a new boiler is beyond what we’re willing to do,” he said. “The governor is allowing these wants to be funded before the needs of his state.”
Saying he was pleased that his cau- cus had stood firm in opposition to SB416, Regier noted that moderate Re- publicans had defected from the conser- vative bloc to pass major legislation on issues like Medicaid expansion and the Flathead tribal water compact between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and the state of Montana.
In its final bill requiring a two-thirds vote, the conservative bloc of legislators stymied the moderates from mustering the 67 required votes.
“The Republican caucus has a few members who have more liberal lean- ings than the majority, and that has cer- tainly come out on issues like Medicaid expansion and the CSKT water com- pact,” Regier said. “I think for the most part the Flathead has been well repre- sented, but there are a few issues that should disappoint people. Time will tell.”
Check for updates on the 64th Leg- islature’s final days at flatheadbeacon.
com.
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
HELENA – As if the 2015 Montana Legislature needed a more succinct metaphor to sum up the last four months of spirited public policy debate, one emerged in the waning days of the 64th session in the form of the state’s sprawl- ing budget-and-infrastructure package.
Actually, it had been there all along, steeping in the diverse ideological pool of 150 citizen lawmakers who converged on the Capitol Jan. 5 with a single consti- tutional obligation – to pass a two-year state budget. But on days 83 and 84 of the 90-day session, it reared its head as legislators went to work with the over- riding goal of passing the budget and closing out the session a week early.
The final bone of contention was Senate Bill 416, the public works bill that requires at least $150 million in cash, bonding and borrowing authority to fi- nance a slate of local public-works proj- ects and construction of new state build- ings on college campuses and elsewhere.
Some Republicans wanted less bor- rowing and more cash, while Democrats who worked to craft the bill said it struck a balance that demonstrated sound fis- cal responsibility.
The bipartisan bill appeared on the cusp of passing the House on April 23 when the body endorsed it in a 70-30
vote. Because the bill creates state debt, it requires approval by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, or 67 votes in the House.
In the course of late-night talks, however, six legislators had a change of heart, and when SB416 came before the House for a third reading and final vote on the morning of April 24, it went down 64-36, three votes shy of what was need- ed.
Gov. Steve Bullock, whose earlier $400 million infrastructure bill was re- jected, called the compromise proposal a good plan, and refused to yield to hard- line conservatives as a number of Re- publicans came around to support it, in- cluding House Speaker Austin Knudsen, who helped negotiate the final product and encouraged his caucus to approve it.
“I have said all throughout this ses- sion that I am willing to work with both parties to do what’s right for Montana,” Bullock said. “I’m hopeful that over the weekend legislators will put politics aside, recognize that this bill will create jobs, and come back on Monday ready to finish their work.”
But over the weekend, a bloc of con- servative Republicans, many of them from Flathead County, tightened its grip on the last vestige of the caucus’ core mission, which it had set out to accom- plish when the session convened, and
which by all accounts had been a failure. “From a conservative standpoint, it may be the only thing we get in the ses- sion,” Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, said over the weekend as the caucus debated the infrastructure spending bill. “We have virtually lost everything we came here to accomplish, including truly compro-
mise legislation.”
House Majority Leader Keith Regier,
R-Kalispell, led the charge against ac- cepting the bill and stood by his caucus, calling Bullock’s definition of compro- mise narrow.
“The idea that there has ever been a true compromise is fantasy. What we have come to learn is that as long as the Governor has the ability to veto infra- structure, or threatens to line item veto in exchange for votes, that the choice is either his way or no critical infrastruc- ture funding at all,” Regier said.
On Monday morning, the House re- jected SB416 in a final 66-33 vote, one shy of the required two-thirds. Follow- ing the vote, the House voted to adjourn for the session. The Senate later ex- tended the session for another day, with plans to reconvene April 28, after the Beacon went to print.
“It’s a different game at this point in the session,” said freshman Rep. Al Oszewski, R-Kalispell, who opposed the infrastructure bill at every turn. “It’s
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