Senate Injects Money Into Budget Bill

A Montana Senate panel put about $50 million into the state budget bill last week, after Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock said the budget crafted by House Republicans was unacceptable.

The panel added about $25 million in amendments to House Bill 2, the $4 billion state general fund budget for the next two years. The amendments injected some of the money the governor asked for in his budget proposal.

The committee also added another $25 million in what’s known as a supplemental appropriation, which covers some debts for the remainder of this fiscal year. That money would have been included in another bill, House Bill 3, but the House killed that bill last month.

After that bill was killed, furlough notices were sent out to some state employees and schools were told they would have budget shortfalls.

Dan Villa, the governor’s budget director, said the governor and Senate members made a deal on the budget to include the supplemental appropriations, and that some of the state agencies that faced a shortfall could “breathe a sigh of relief.”

House Bill 2 moves on to the full Senate next.

House Votes Down Bill

To Allow Concealed Carry

On Campus

A proposal that would have allowed people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses went down on a narrow vote in the House last week.

Senate Bill 143, sponsored by Sen. Cary Smith, R-Billings, failed 51-49. It would have nullified existing rules set by the Board of Regents governing where students can have firearms on a college campus.

Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, carried the bill in the House, and he said the university system has denied students their constitutional rights by barring concealed weapons on campus. He added that because people would still be required to get a permit, mostly responsible people would be carrying guns on campus.

“The type of people who generally get concealed carry permits are extremely responsible,” Berglee said.

House Speaker Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, said he was a law student at the University of Montana during the Virginia Tech shooting that killed more than 30 people, and that because of “an arbitrary line in the soil” he wasn’t allowed to carry a gun to school.

“I was denied my right to defend myself,” Knudsen said.

He listed off a number of shootings at college campuses, and said they all happened in places where people weren’t allowed to carry guns, and that it gave shooters access to “unarmed victims.”

“That is unacceptable to me,” he said.

Opponents of the measure said college students aren’t in a good position to be carrying guns.

Rep. Tom Woods, D-Bozeman, who has worked as an adjunct instructor at Montana State University, said college students could be dealing with mental health issues, experimenting with drugs or alcohol for the first time, and might make poor decisions if guns are around.

“Some are responsible, some not so much,” Woods said. “All of them are in a high pressure environment.”

Rep. Nate McConnell, D-Missoula, said the Board of Regents has the power to make those rules because of the state constitution, and that they should keep that power.

“We don’t tell the Board of Regents what rules to set,” McConnell said.

The bill passed the Senate on a tight vote last month. Similar bills have failed in previous sessions, including on a veto in 2013.

Infrastructure bill clears Senate

The Senate passed a bill to fund building projects in Montana, including a crime lab and updates to university buildings.

Senate Bill 416, carried by Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, would use $50 million in cash and $50 million in bonds for a number of building projects around the state.

This bill passed the Senate as the House advanced its own Republican-sponsored infrastructure package of bills – House Bills 6, 7, 8 and 11. Three passed the House on near party line votes, but House Bill 8 remains in limbo because it needs the support of 3/4s of each house.

Those bills are a response to Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s House Bill 5, a $400 million infrastructure bill funded with a combination of cash and bonding that is tabled. House Republicans said the governor’s bill was too big, and decided to put some of the projects into separate bills and cut out most of the bonding.

Brenden said his bill is a compromise between the two parties. He said Republicans want to pay for projects in cash and Democrats want to borrow money, and his bill combines those two ideas to bankroll the important building needs across the state.

“It was apparent that perhaps cash and bonding were never going to get done on their own,” Brenden said. “To get something done for infrastructure we’re going to have to compromise.”

The bill funds an Eastern Montana crime lab, as well as building updates at Montana State University and the University of Montana.

To pass, it needs the support of 2/3 of each house. It got the votes it needed in the Senate, and now moves on to the House.

- Michael Wright is a reporter for the Community News Service at the University of Montana School of Journalism. He can be reached at [email protected].  Follow him on Twitter @mj_wright1.