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As the Governor hasn’t acted on the budget we have sent him, and with most of our work complete, Speaker Milburn and Senate President Peterson decided that it was best to save the taxpayers the salary from 150 legislators and go into recess  Wednesday at 5 PM until after Easter. That will give the Governor time to make his final decision on the budget we submitted. He has until Saturday (before Easter) to accept, reject, or amend it. I know he is receiving tremendous pressure from many groups to amend the budget. I hope that he has the courage and fortitude to base his decision on the long term economic health of our state by utilizing the cost and revenue estimates as provided by the Legislative Fiscal Division. We are due back on the Floor Tuesday at 9 AM and will have his answer for sure.

Prior to our recess we were able to finish work on many bills. HB 615 has passed 3^rd reading and is a study to be taken up during the interim. It will evaluate trial studies for cancer treatment, standard care for cancer treatment, and the interaction of the two. It seems that if you have a unique strand of cancer and are a candidate for a trial treatment, your primary health insurance provider may be reluctant to cover the standard care while you are involved in the trial program. The goal of this study is to determine what the standard care would be, and then to establish treatment that the trial study and the standard care provider each  would be responsible for. Hopefully, this would avoid a battle over the bill while someone is extremely ill and not in any position to be negotiating.

Under resource development we have approved SB 292 “coal gasification”  legislation. This  process, which is presently used  in several countries, utilizes low grade coal without digging it out of the ground. The actual extraction of this type of coal is cost prohibitive, however, by using the process of gasification, this resource can be developed and the gas products sold for industrial and commercial use.

One of the most publicized and contentious votes this week, if not the whole session, was HB 13 which is the request to raise wages for state employee’s. While I agree that our state employee’s are some of the most dedicated and hard working individuals in the workforce, so are those in the private sector. And many in the private sector have lost their job in the last three years. Many are taking reduced hours or even reduced wages rather than force a company to lay someone off, or worse yet, completely close. As a developer, I can assure you that my income has dropped dramatically over the last three years and so has the income of every builder and contractor that I deal with. Meanwhile, even though their wages have been froze, when you count benefits the average state employee’s total compensation has risen from $58,660 in fiscal 2008 to $61,663 in fiscal 2010 according to the Legislative Fiscal Division. Additionally, the raises would cost the budget approximately $21 million at a time when we are having difficulty providing core services to the most vulnerable in our communities. After giving careful consideration to all of this I have voted against the state pay raises.

A bill that I have concerns with and am anxious to hear the rules for implementation is HB 530. It allows the election board to open mail in ballots the day before the official election. While I understand the issue of the enormous work load for our election officials on election day, the integrity and privacy of each ballot must be protected. The more hands that these ballots pass through and the more time that transpires between opening and counting, increases the likelihood that there will be a problem.

I return to Helena on Monday and hope to finish our work this week. I will be holding post session forums and will publish those dates and locations well in advance. Even though this should be the last week, there are many important bills to come before us. Please send your comments to mattrosendale @ midrivers.com or call 406-444-4800.

Article by Representative Matt Rosendale from Glendive, MT.