Fiscal responsibility will get us through tough times

The Montana Legislature is getting more interesting each week. We took steps that will, hopefully, provide a steady hand to get Montana through these tough times. Keeping the process accountable and important progress towards building a better future were top priorities.

Keeping a close watch on bills requesting general-fund monies is a constant urgency. The latest projection of state revenue for the next three years forecasts $31 million less than predicted last month.

That brings to $251 million the total amount that has been reduced from the state’s estimated general-fund revenue set by an interim legislative committee in mid-November. With these reductions, it leaves an estimated $4.5 billion in total projected state general-fund revenue for fiscal 2009, 2010 and 2011 combined.

The House Taxation Committee will be forced to reduce the official revenue possibly by similar amounts ($31 million) by next week. It will also require legislative budget committees to cut even deeper into planned increases in state agency budgets.

It’s very simple, folks. You can’t spend what you don’t have.

The federal stimulus package continues to get a lot of attention, especially about how the legislature will deal with any federal funds that come to Montana. There’s too much pork and politics in it. It’s not going to solve the state’s budget problems — in fact, it’s going to put pressure on the legislature to grow government even further in the future.

Washington isn’t asking our opinion, they’re just doing it. This is what we can do to build a better future. Stimulus money is to be spent on real projects that will make a long-term difference in our economy. That’s why we want the legislature to appropriate the money and a general public commission to provide oversight. We want all stimulus spending to be accountable to the people of Montana.

The Business and Labor Committee, which I sub-chair, is beginning to hear more and more bills as we get close to transmittal. So far, we’ve been able to table the majority of new bills with substantial amounts of money attached. Like I said, we still do not have a firm handle on the state’s projected revenue receipts for the up-coming biennium. The House Appropriations Committee has tabled a considerable number of bills for the same reasons in anticipation of future revenue estimates and stimulus in-put.

Interesting note — House Bill 358, by Speaker Bob Bergren, D-Havre, would make it unlawful for elected officials to hand out bonuses to their appointed staffs as they exit office. Also, a bill will be presented requiring the Montana Department of Revenue to post on its Web site the number of employees and their job descriptions, the performance measures used to evaluate goals and objectives, changes to administrative rules, the methods used to calculate taxable value, and other information.

In conclusion, there’s a lot more work to accomplish, and the days are going to get longer and longer. But if the legislature continues to work together, the state of Montana will survive the economic crisis by being fiscally responsible and putting the people of this great state first.

Rep. Bill Beck, R-Whitefish, represents House District 6, rural Whitefish.