Page 11 - Flathead Beacon // 5.27.2015

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MAY 27, 2015 | 11
Sens. Bruce Tutvedt, left, and Mark Blasdel laugh at a joke by Rep. Frank Garner during a panel discussion with Rep. Keith Regier at the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon on May 19.
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Flathead Lawmakers Recall ‘Mixed Bag’ of Successes, Disappointments
With Democratic Gov. Bullock in town, Repub- lican legislators convene to appraise session
By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Beacon
A quorum of Republican Flathead lawmakers delivered an assessment of the 2015 Legislature May 19 at a Ka- lispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon, describing the session’s mix of pluses and pitfalls, while just down the road at an unfinished section of the Kalispell bypass, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock expressed disappointment that the Re- publican party couldn’t come together during the session’s waning days to pass an infrastructure bill.
Neither Bullock nor the lawmakers could predict whether the Legislature might reconvene for a special session to tackle the $150 million infrastructure bill, but with both sides entrenched in their resolve not to make major conces- sions, the prospect is unlikely.
On hand at the chamber event were Reps. Keith Regier and Frank Gar- ner and Sens. Mark Blasdel and Bruce Tutvedt, who mostly agreed that the session produced a sound budget, but clashed over passage of a Medicaid ex- pansion measure and approval of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ water compact.
The lawmakers’ sharp divide over some of the session’s most significant policies reveals the textured ideology that gave rise to disputes not just among the Flathead contingent of Republican lawmakers, but the party as a whole.
“We’re a diverse group,” Blasdel said.
Republican leaders said they’re pleased they held the state budget to in-
creases of just 3 percent this year and next, passed an increase in state funding for public schools with no controversy and approved expansions of communi- ty-based mental health programs.
“We came in with a goal of a 3 percent budget increase and we tried to keep it at that,” Blasdel said. “One of the things you have to do is negotiate with the gov- ernor and make some compromises, not all of which I was pleased with. But at the end of the day I think we put together a pretty good budget.”
“I’m really proud of the job we did with House Bill 2 (the budget bill),” Gar- ner said. “We are responsible about those kinds of fiscal issues and we are definite- ly keeping the folks back home in mind.”
In an interview with the Beacon during the governor’s trip to Kalispell, Bullock pointed to the passage of three major bills in addition to the budget as successes: expansion of Medicaid health coverage to thousands of low-income Montanans, ratification of the Flathead tribal water rights compact, and a land- mark campaign finance bill to crack down on and require public reporting of “dark money” spent by independent political groups.
On Medicaid expansion, the Flat- head lawmakers were divided down the middle, with Regier, who served as ma- jority leader, and Blasdel, serving his first term in the Senate, calling the mea- sure a disappointment.
“I think all of us need to take a step back and look at the big picture,” Regi- er said. “We need to focus on building the private sector and increasing jobs rather than accepting hundreds of mil- lions of dollars from a government that is deep in debt.”
The bill, called the Montana HELP (Health and Economic Livelihood) Plan and crafted by Republican Sen. Ed But- trey, a businessman from Great Falls, in-
cludes provisions to make Medicaid as- sistance temporary with the goal of re- moving recipients from social programs.
Blasdel commended Buttrey for bringing a “business mind” to the mea- sure, but said it didn’t go far enough.
“At the end of the day, it’s still Medic- aid expansion,” Blasdel said.
Garner and Tutvedt both supported the expansion bill, which was seen as a compromise to Bullock’s earlier propos- al to cover 70,000 Montanans.
Buttrey’s bill, which was backed by Republican leadership, expands health care to roughly 40,000 low- income Montanans.
Tutvedt said Kalispell Regional Med- ical Center is a major employer in the re- gion. When the hospital provides health care to uninsured patients, they eat the costs, which isn’t good for business.
“We are going to be the experiment of the nation. Let’s be serious, when peo- ple show up at a hospital they get care and they get the most expensive care possible. Nobody is not getting health care, we are talking about doing it in a more efficient manner,” he said.
Chamber President Joe Unterreiner said the chamber supported both Med- icaid expansion measures because it was good for the local health care industry.
The session’s final bone of conten- tion was Senate Bill 416, the public works bill that requires at least $150 million in cash, bonding and borrow- ing authority to finance a slate of local public-works projects and construction of new state buildings on college cam- puses and elsewhere.
Some Republicans, including Regier, wanted less borrowing and more cash, while Democrats who worked to craft the bill said it struck a balance that dem- onstrated sound fiscal responsibility.
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