{"id":20298,"date":"2017-11-17T23:07:46","date_gmt":"2017-11-18T06:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lastbestnews.com\/site\/?p=20298"},"modified":"2017-11-18T09:14:59","modified_gmt":"2017-11-18T16:14:59","slug":"in-special-sessions-wake-picking-winners-and-losers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/2017\/11\/in-special-sessions-wake-picking-winners-and-losers\/","title":{"rendered":"In special session’s wake, picking winners and losers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Capitol\"<\/a>

Veteran Capitol reporter Chuck Johnson takes a look at the winners and losers in this past week\u2019s special session of the Montana Legislature, and at least one yet-to-be-determined outcome.<\/p><\/div>\n

HELENA\u2014After a whirlwind, two-day special legislative session this week, it\u2019s time to assess the winners and losers.<\/p>\n

Winners<\/strong>:<\/h4>\n

\u2666 Gov. Steve Bullock<\/strong>. The Democratic governor scored a partial but major victory. Instead of having to make $237 million worth of general-fund budget cuts to close a projected budget shortfall, Bullock now will have to reduce spending by one-third of that \u2014 by $76 million \u2014 because of actions taken by the special session.<\/p>\n

Some Democrats are saying that is hardly a victory, but given the current legislative makeup, it probably was the best they could do. Republicans have a 59-41 majority over Democrats in the House and 32-18 in the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Republicans legislators<\/strong>. They kept their pledge and successfully blocked any tax increases. Some GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, questioned the need for the special session on grounds that Bullock legally could have cut the entire $227 million himself under state law.<\/p>\n

\u2666 Rep. Kelly Flynn<\/strong>, R-Townsend. The rancher, outfitter and author had the honor of making the motion to adjourn the House \u201csine die\u201d or without a set date for a future meeting. Flynn gave a speech that left few dry eyes in the chamber. Since the Legislature adjourned in April, Flynn said he had been diagnosed with cancer in his kidneys, lungs and near his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cCancer may take my body, but it will never take my heart and soul,\u201d Flynn said. He passed on to lawmakers his philosophy for dealing with the disease: \u201cI hope you will live for today, plan for tomorrow and remember yesterday. God willing and even if the creek does rise and if this is the last roundup, I look forward to seeing every one of you again.\u201d

\"CapreAir_Variable\"<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n

Losers:<\/h4>\n

\u2666 The workers\u2019 compensation State Fund<\/strong>. Out of the blue, the Bullock administration targeted the quasi-public insurance company as a cash cow. Lawmakers approved, and Bullock is certain to sign into law a bill imposing a new temporary administrative fee on certain State Fund assets invested with the state Board of Investments.<\/p>\n

This fee will raise $30 million over the next two years, or 13 percent of the total $227 million budget shortfall. The State Fund is prohibited from raising its premiums to make up the fee.<\/p>\n

\u2666 State human service programs<\/strong> that help the neediest Montanans<\/strong>. The lion\u2019s share of the state budget cuts will come from the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. That department will absorb $49 million of the $76 million in total budget cuts under Bullock\u2019s proposal that was adopted by the Legislature.<\/p>\n

\u2666 The Montana Legislature\u2019s flawed way of estimating revenue<\/strong>. Last winter, the Legislature \u2014 or at least the 12 Republicans on the 20-member House Taxation Committee \u2014 badly overestimated the projected revenue the state would collect. That is a major reason the special session was called.<\/p>\n

Estimating revenues is extremely difficult. Under Montana\u2019s system, there is no requirement that both the House and Senate\u00a0debate and approve the revenue estimate, as must be done with the state budget. The last vote on the revenue estimate becomes the official revenue estimate, even if it is just a committee vote.<\/p>\n

So the House Taxation Committee majority set the estimate. The full House, the Senate Taxation Committee and the full Senate never had a chance to even debate the estimate. That is not the first time this has happened.<\/p>\n

To be determined:<\/h4>\n

\u2666 Extension of the Shelby prison contract in exchange for cash<\/strong>. CoreCivic, the Nashville corporation that owns the private prison in Shelby, offered the state $30 million in cash it had accumulated from state payments in exchange for Bullock extending the state\u2019s contract with the prison for 10 years.<\/p>\n

Bullock hasn\u2019t said what he will do, but two Conrad Republicans, Sen. Llew Jones and Rep. Rob Cook, crafted bills linked together by \u201ccontingent voidness\u201d clauses aimed at boxing in Bullock. The governor can either extend the state contact for the prison, which is in Jones\u2019 and Cook\u2019s legislative districts, or Bullock would have to make additional cuts.<\/p>\n

The move outraged many Democratic legislators, who philosophically oppose private corporations making a profit for incarcerating Montana prisoners and who have heard human rights complaints about the private prison. Some Republicans said it was an easy call and Bullock should extend the contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELENA\u2014After a whirlwind, two-day special legislative session this week, it\u2019s time to assess the winners and losers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":17920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,14],"tags":[6449,6475,1122,6442,782],"class_list":["post-20298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-montana","category-news","tag-corecivic","tag-kelly-flynn","tag-montana-legislature","tag-special-session","tag-steve-bullock","prominence-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20298"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20298\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20305,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20298\/revisions\/20305"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/montana-mint.com\/lastbestnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}