Legislative update - Week 16
The 66th Legislative Session has come to an end. Out of all the Legislative Sessions I have seen, this has been the most productive. When I first got involved in politics, the State Budget was growing on average between 8-12 percent per biennium. For the second session in a row, we were able to pass a conservative budget that repaired the damage from the special session, taking care of our essential services without necessitating tax increases.
In 2017, the budget grew by 0.6 percent over the 2015 budget. The 2019 budget will end up being a 1.6 percent increase compared to the 2017 budget. That is pretty remarkable considering we have split government with a Republican majority in the Legislature and a Democratic Governor.
We had not been able to pass a complete infrastructure package in 11 years. Chairing the state's infrastructure committee, we passed the largest investment in state infrastructure in 20 years. All told, our infrastructure package will support over 800 projects all across Montana. That's safer roads and bridges, safer schools, clean drinking water in rural Montana, irrigators being able to irrigate, better wastewater systems and cleaner streams, rivers and lakes not to mention the jobs that come with it.
We also passed one of the most important pieces of conservative fiscal policy in my time in politics, setting (for the first time in state history) actual limits on the amount of debt that the state can have. All of this without a single tax increase to support the programs.
We also passed the most important piece of public lands legislation that I have seen, protecting people's property rights and opening up more access to our public lands.
From rural teacher recruitment/retention, to proficiency learning/workforce development, from reducing regulations strangling small businesses to reforming the property tax/appraisal process, from reducing pharmacy costs to increasing Veteran services, the 66th Legislature got an awful lot of good work done on behalf of the people of Montana. There honestly isn't enough room in a single letter to the editor to describe all of the problems we tackled this session. I am still in Helena wrapping some post-session work up. When I come back home, I look forward to hosting some townhalls to talk about all the work in more detail.
That isn't to say that there weren't any losses this session. The Governor vetoed our bill to exempt social security income from taxation was rough. We lost our bill to deliver property tax relief to Montana seniors. We also have a lot of bills still on the Governor's desk, including three of mine. It remains to be seen what he will do with those. I am holding out hope that the Governor will sign HB441 which would repeal the Timber Conservation License, which is a big deal for us.
Even with our losses, this session was extremely productive, and the State of Montana will be better off for all the hard work that folks put in during it.
Thank you for allowing me to represent you in the State Legislature!
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