Continuing leadership

HELENA - The Republican and Democratic caucuses recently met in Helena to elect those who will serve in leadership roles during the next session and at the same time, the Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee met to set the "starting point" revenue estimate upon which we will build Montana's next budget. Then, once leadership was elected, they met and decided on committee assignments as well.

The House of Representatives will be run by our new incoming Speaker of the House, Wylie Galt from House District 30, out of Martinsdale. He will be aided by our new incoming Speaker Pro Tempore, Casey Knudsen from House District 33, out of Malta. I have known both of these men for quite some time, they are salt of the earth individuals who are level headed and with the two of them running the House of Representatives, I think we are well positioned to have a very successful session.

Thankfully, the Montana Constitution says that we must have a balanced budget in Montana. The way we achieve that goal is by first estimating the amount of revenue that we expect to see in the years which the budget will cover (in the next session we will budget for fiscal years 2022 and 2023) and then budgeting with that estimate as our roadmap to reach balance. In reality, there are, or can be, three different revenue estimates every session.

The first two come from the staff of the Executive Branch: Office of Budget and Program Planning (OBPP) and the Legislative Branch: Legislative Fiscal division (LFD). The third estimate is the official estimate of the Legislature, made by studying the first two and then coming to a decision via committee vote. This "starting point" for the estimate draws a fair picture of where the state is heading with revenue affected due to the shutdown earlier in the year and the ongoing economic limitations ordered by government due to COVID-19. The short version is that we are expecting revenue to be significantly down compared to last session, but it should be manageable when it comes to the State's Budget.

I call this first vote on the estimate the "starting point" because during the session, the Legislature will receive updates on the revenue picture for Montana and depending on what is in those updates, we will more than likely update the estimate to reflect any changes.

With Committee assignments having been decided, I will be returning to the Appropriations Committee and will once again be chairing the Infrastructure Committee. This will be my third session serving on Appropriations, and I am grateful that our Leadership team is allowing our District to continue in that role.

With solid leadership, experienced budget builders and our first Republican Governor in 16 years in Greg Gianforte, we are well positioned to hold the line on state spending, cover our essential services, prevent additional tax increases and change the way Helena does business!