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Session reaches halfway point

HELENA - They're calling it the "session of the budget," but as halftime in the 2007 Legislature nears, observers outside the statehouse bubble agree lawmakers are nowhere near consensus on what to do with a projected billion-dollar surplus.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer's plan to expand state spending by nearly 23 percent over the next two years ran into a buzzsaw last week as Republicans broke with tradition and split the main budget bill into six parts.

By doing so, they hope to hold spending down to a 13 percent increase and offer permanent property-tax cuts, as opposed to Schweitzer's proposed one-time, $400-per-household rebate.

Veteran session watchers disagree on the merits of the GOP budget-split, as well as the potential for more partisan rancor in the session's second half. Some also worry that legislators are carrying too many bills, while another says lawmakers are failing to give Montana cities the means they need to keep up with growth.

Former Gov. Tim Babcock, a Republican who led the state from 1962 to 1969, said a surplus can give lawmakers fits.

"They've got a problem which is not a problem, of course, which is an excess of funds," Babcock said. "Sometimes the surplus is more of a problem than a deficit."

Montana is working its way out of the boom-and-bust cycle and the economy looks strong for many years to come, Babcock said, adding that he supports Republican tax-cut proposals and the move to split up the budget.

"Way back in the Legislature I thought it cumbersome the way it was," said Babcock, who served three terms in the House in the 1950s. "I think it was a good idea to have broken the bill down."

Jim Lopach, a political science professor at the University of Montana, agrees.

"I think that it is more rational to tackle spending by category and not in one big package," Lopach said, adding that from a citizen's standpoint, the split "would make it easier to follow watching the budget process."

Lopach, however, offered a note of caution.

"Whenever you change the rules of the game," he said, "it's always going to have consequences."

Missoula's Daniel Kemmis, a former Democratic House speaker in the 1980s, said the budget-split has the potential to blow up in Republicans' faces.

"I don't think it's a good idea to depart from standard practice," said Kemmis, now a senior fellow at the University of Montana's Center for the Rocky Mountain West. "In the end, it may end up lowering the credibility of Republican leadership in the House."

Kemmis, who also served six years as Missoula's mayor, said his biggest complaint of the Legislature so far is its continued failure to give all Montana's cities the power to enact local, voter-approved taxes.

"It's frustrating to me that the Legislature seems to find it so difficult to give people the tools they need to deal with growth," Kemmis said. "The time that I spent in the mayor's office made me more aware of the importance of cities having the capacity to finance infrastructure in advance of growth, rather than just in response to it."

In recent decades, nearly every legislative session has featured an unsuccessful push for the local-option sales tax. The current Legislature has seen three such bills, two of which have already been killed. Asked about the third, sponsored by Sen. Kim Gillan, D-Billings, Kemmis was wary.

"I'm not holding my breath," Kemmis said, adding that voters and lawmakers need more information about the challenges that face the state's growing urban areas.

Budget and taxation issues aside, however, observers say the Legislature is progressing adequately, if not a little behind schedule. While the slower pace may be expected when control of the House and Senate is split between Republicans and Democrats, respectively, everyone interviewed expressed concern over the increasing number of bills lawmakers are forced to consider."

So far this session, 1,440 bills have been introduced - about the same as in 2005, but up 175 bills from six years ago.

"They have an ungodly number of bills to get through," said Craig Wilson, political science professor at MSU-Billings. "There are way too many bills for legislators to get a good handle on."

Former Republican Gov. Stan Stephens said he shares Wilson's concern.

"Legislators shouldn't feel that, unless they get their name on a bill or get some press, that they're not doing anything," Stephens said. "That clutters up the process and keeps legislators from grappling with the important stuff."

Montana doesn't have a thousand problems every two years, so there's no need for that many bills, Stephens said, adding that the best lawmakers he knew were those who took the time to carefully evaluate the big bills and make a carefully considered vote.

Lopach said lawmakers need limits on how many bills they can carry.

"There's so much to do in only so much time," Lopach said. "I think there should be some screening up front."

Observers gave high-marks to Schweitzer so far, but worried that the partisan rancor over the budget will only get worse.

"I just see a really substantial ideological gulf between the two parties," Lopach said.

Wilson said Republicans are still angry over the raw deal they feel they got after Democrats reapportioned legislative districts.

"Everybody's got their swords drawn up there," Wilson said, noting the number of conservative Republicans in leadership positions. "The governor's obviously deeply embroiled in it."

Meanwhile, former Senate President Bob Keenan of Bigfork warned against evaluating a session's work until its final weeks, when the major deals are struck.

"All that's happening right now is the stage is being set for the second half of the session," Keenan said.