Gov. Steve Bullock (center) unveils the new Main Street Montana Project Monday with D.A. Davidson & Co. CEO Bill Johnstone (left) and Washington Companies CEO Larry Simkins (right)

Gov. Steve Bullock, D-Mont., on Monday announced a new economic development initiative aimed at developing a blueprint for job creation based upon the suggestions of Montana businesses.

“Montanans have shown that they’re national leaders in business, ingenuity and hard work,” Bullock said. “I think those qualities really helped us come out of the recession stronger than most states.”

Bullock wants to draw on the experiences of business owners to create a plan to tackle challenges faced by those companies and identify steps to attract and retain new businesses. The governor said it would be a bottom-up approach. He was joined at the press conference unveiling the initiative by its two co-chairs, CEO of The Washington Companies Larry Simkins and CEO of D.A. Davidson & Company Bill Johnstone.The project will start with a series of roundtable discussions:

• Billings–Tuesday, May 28th, 2:00 PM at the Broadway Downtown Center, 2804 3rd Ave. N.
• Missoula–Tuesday, June 4th, 2:00 PM at the UM University Center, 3rd Floor Meeting Room Foyer and Room 330-123
• Great Falls–Wednesday, June 12th, 2:00 PM at the Great Falls Civic Center, Missouri Room
• Miles City–Wednesday, June 19th, 2:00 PM at Miles Community College, Room 106-107
• Bozeman–Tuesday, June 25th, 2:00 PM at the MSU Strand Union, Ballroom A

“Everything is on the table,” Simkins said. “The idea is we want to gather as many facts as we can before we sit down and start talking about what’s necessary for economic development.”

Simkins said the project hopes to publish a report outlining specific metrics to improve the state’s business climate sometime in early 2014.

Learn more about the Main Street Montana Project on their website.

Montana Public Media presents “Guns in the Big Sky”. A series of in-depth programs looking at Montana’s gun culture, the laws that regulate it, and new ideas to make our schools safer.

“Guns in the Big Sky” begins on Tuesday, May 21 with “Montana’s Gun Culture”, a documentary by UM School of Journalism students that explores the many ways Montanans use guns, and their relationships with firearms. Watch the trailer for “Montana’s Gun Culture” and be sure to tune in to MontanaPBS at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, May 21 or watch it right here.

But he vetoed 71 bills.

Bullock started the session with a message of cooperation, of collaboration with the other side of the aisle.

Bullock says that the high number of vetoes doesn’t change that tone, and that his veto strategy has been clear from the start of the Legislature.

Reporter Dan Boyce has the full story from the Capitol.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A legislative session that began with promises of compromise ended with a whole bunch of vetoes from Gov. Steve Bullock on Tuesday — and plenty of criticism from Republicans who argued the governor was undermining bipartisan efforts.

Bullock let 10 low-profile measures become law without his signature on Tuesday, the last of the bills sitting on his desk from the session that adjourned late last month. A day earlier he was much more active when he issued 27 vetoes to bring his total to 71 for the session — just shy of Brian Schweitzer’s record of 78 from two years ago.

Republicans — including members of a coalition that helped advance the session’s biggest bills — criticized the governor’s moves as overly partisan. The lawmakers had entered the session hopeful of improved relations after mostly coming up short in battles with former Gov. Brian Schwietzer.

Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, addresses the House Taxation Committee. (Photo by Amy R. Sisk. Community News Service. University of Montana.)

“I wish the governor had taken a different tact. It appears he took an aggressive tact just like Brian Schweitzer,” said Republican state Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, a Kalispell farmer. “It hurts. Truthfully hurts. At least we knew with Schweitzer that he didn’t respect us. And while there was never a quid pro quo with this governor, we were working with him to deliver good responsible legislation and now when it was his turn to do the right thing for the right reasons it appears he took a very partisan attitude.

Tutvedt, who is among a dissident GOP group billing itself the “responsible Republicans,” noted that Bullock took out many measures from that group such as plans to improve agricultural research and to help oil-boom towns deal with overloaded infrastructure.

Tutvedt said those Republicans who had been willing to work with Democrats will be much more cautious next session.

“I had high hopes for Gov. Bullock,” Tutvedt said. “We are going to have to take a more guarded view next time.”

Bullock argued in veto messages sent to the lawmakers that he needed to save money with the vetoes to get closer to his targeted surplus of $300 million, compared to the less than $200 million left by lawmakers. He also argued the GOP tax measures disproportionately helped the wealthy.

The governor was planning a news conference for later Tuesday.

Republican leaders bemoaned the loss of some of their priorities, including income tax cuts that included a plan for simplification that reduced rates and got rid of most tax credits.

Representative Mark Blasdel (R-Somers)

Republican House Speaker Mark Blasdel criticized the governor for vetoing a bill that would have exempted businesses from paying equipment tax on pollution control equipment mandated by the federal government. Yet he noted the governor signed money-spending measures, such as those to fix the state’s pension system and give state employees a pay raise.

“I think a lot of his actions show that his interest has been to take care of state government and not to take a look at addressing concerns of everyday citizens,” Blasdel said.

Blasdel commended Bullock for improving the tone in Helena, compared to when Schweitzer was torching Republican bills with a hot-iron VETO brand. The results, however, were the same, Blasdel said.

“I still think his vetoes show his ideology and his political stances. I think the tone changed, but his ideology and stances didn’t,” said Blasdel, a Somers restaurant owner.

Lawmakers will be polled on many of the measures for a veto override, which requires a supermajority of lawmakers and would require unlikely Democratic support. Such veto overrides are rare.

In total for the session, the governor received 490 bills. He signed 387 of them, vetoed 71, used line-item veto authority on three spending bills and let another 28 become law without his signature.

Conservative Republican leaders — who rarely supported any of the budget bills that were largely crafted by Democrats and some Republicans — bashed the governor. Estimates show spending goes up about 13 percent over the next two years under the plan becoming law.

“His vetoes show that he just wants the status quo. He wants the establishment running supreme over taxpayers,” Senate Majority Leader Art Wittich of Bozeman said.

All AP stories © 2013 by Associated Press. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Governor-elect Steve Bullock announces his proposed budget Friday, January 4 2013.

By Matt Gouras
Asoociated Press

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock on Monday took action on a slew of the biggest-money bills from this year’s Legislature, including approving plans to overhaul the state’s pension and school funding systems.

The Democratic governor also made decisions on a handful of Republican tax measures, including rejecting a plan to reduce the state’s income taxes.

His moves came on a busy day. Aside from budget measures, he also rejected several proposals that would have affected the state’s laws, if not its finances. In total, Bullock vetoed 27 bills and signed 30 on Monday.

The Legislature adjourned last month and the governor is wrapping up his review of its bills.

— PENSION: Bullock signed a pension overhaul that asks both employers and employees to pay more while reducing cost-of-living increases in the annual benefit.

The plan is expected to face legal challenge from unhappy retirees who will argue in court that the changes unconstitutionally break the contractual obligations the state made to employees.

The state’s largest employee union, MEA-MFT, said it expects to support the litigation — even though it also still supports the overall fixes.

MEA-MFT President Eric Feaver said the measures ensure that pensions will remain intact after Republican hopes to end the plans were dashed.

Feaver said some employees, though, are displeased with the decrease to the benefit known as the guaranteed annual benefit adjustment that was necessary for legislative approval.

“There is no absolute guarantee that the courts will agree that what the legislature did is unconstitutional,” Feaver said. “I think, on balance, I would rather have the pension than the GABA. As I have told people, focus on the whole not the part.”

— SCHOOL FUNDING: The governor signed the measure from a bipartisan coalition that sends another $50 million to K-12 schools while also seeking to reduce the burden on local property taxpayers with the help of natural resource money.

—TAXES: Bullock signed a proposed business equipment tax reduction, but rejected Republican plans aimed at simplifying and reducing state income taxes.

He said the GOP income tax plan, which lowered rates and got rid of many credits, would harm many middle-income families that benefit from the credits and disproportionality help higher-income earners.

The governor also nixed a tax credit for contributions to private schools and a proposed tax cut on some mandated pollution control equipment.

— OTHER ACTION: Bullock signed a pay increase for state employees, giving many their first raise in years.

Bullock also signed a measure launching construction and other projects in the state, mostly at colleges. One of the largest projects, the construction of the $30 million Missoula College on a golf course grounds, faces legal threats from neighbors unhappy with the project.

The governor also rejected legislative plans to continue an interim committee looking at government efficiencies, which Bullock argued has cost too much and produced almost nothing. He also rejected a planned legislative study of Medicaid as an unconstructive partisan-led panel.

Bullock said in his veto messages that the lawmakers failed to leave a projected surplus of $300 million as he had requested. The total of legislative action, prior to the vetoes, would have left less than $200 million in the bank.

He wrote in rejecting one of the measures, “The Legislature’s actions to date leave Montana with an insufficient ending fund balance and spend significantly more than current revenues allow.”

All AP stories © 2013 by Associated Press. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Gov. Steve Bullock turned back a bill Monday that would have allowed college students to keep guns on campus, a key veto among many rejections on day of heavy action.

Aside from the budget bills that took up much of the Democrat’s focus, he dismissed many proposals that would have resulted in new laws.

Bullock’s series of decisions comes as he is wrapping up his review of bills passed this legislative session.

— GUNS: The campus gun proposal, House Bill 240, would have allowed college students to keep firearms in their dorm rooms with their roommate’s permission. The measure also would have allowed students to carry concealed weapons if they had a permit to do so.

The Montana University System urged Bullock to veto the measure, arguing that guns and stressed-out college students could be a deadly combination. The measure also would have prohibited the university regents from making any campus rules prohibiting guns.

Hunting weapons are currently allowed on campus, but are kept in special lockers that students can access if they want to go hunting.

Supporters of HB240, however, argued that without the proposal students are vulnerable to violent crime. Also, they said current regulations are a violation of students’ Second Amendment Rights.

Another gun bill Bullock vetoed Monday, House Bill 205, would have permitted hunters to use sound-reduction devices, commonly known as silencers.

— BISON: The governor vetoed two Republican measures, Senate Bill 256 and Senate Bill 305, that were aimed at restricting bison movement and making Fish, Wildlife and Parks liable for any property damages caused by bison.

Opponents said the bills would have set a dangerous precedent by forcing the agency pay for property damages done by wild animals.

— ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Bullock vetoed House Bill 297, which would have penalized businesses if they employed workers who came to the country illegally.

Bullock said the measure would have interfered with federal law that already has statutes in place to deal with illegal immigration.

— OTHER VETOES: The governor rejected House Bill 188, which opponents say would have hurt small wind projects.

He turned away Senate Bill 148, which would have limited the amount of compensation an employee who had been illegally fired could collect, reducing the potential payout from four years’ income to two.

He also vetoed a Republican measure, Senate Bill 265, that would have increased some campaign financing limits.

All AP stories © 2013 by Associated Press. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Flathead Legislators met with business and community leaders in Kalispell Thursday to give a wrap up of key changes from the latest legislative session. Four Republicans from the Flathead; Senators Jon Sonju and Bruce Tutvedt, and Representatives Mark Blasdel and Scott Reichner spoke of the goals they held going into the legislature. The legislature started off with a $500-million surplus that the representatives said people had many ideas of how best to use.

Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, addresses the House Taxation Committee. He proposed legislation to change Montana’s income, property and business equipment taxes. (Photo by Amy R. Sisk. Community News Service. University of Montana.)

“There’s income tax reduction, there’s business equipment tax reduction, and then there’s more spending that people want. This bill was something that I championed, and unfortunately it fell to the other interests that were out there,” Representative Reichner said he was pushing for permanent property tax relief, but he said business equipment tax relief won out.

The tax change awaiting Governor Bullock’s signature exempts the first $100,000 of equipment that a business has from taxes, and then business equipment would be taxed at a %1.5 up to $6-million of value.

President of the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce Joe Unterreiner said this is estimated to remove about 13,000 small businesses from the business equipment tax rolls. Unterreiner said the Chamber hopes the Governor signs this bill.

“This is equipment that’s taxed regardless of whether this business is making a profit or not. So, if we want to encourage businesses to invest in the state, then we need to try to minimize the equipment with which they’re using to create production and productivity,” Unterreiner said.

Unterreiner said they would like to see Montana’s business environment continue to become more competitive from a regulatory standpoint as well as in the tax structure. He said the session made positive steps forward from a business environment viewpoint, but more work needs to be done.

Rep. Steve Daines

Congressman Steve Daines has spent this week touring Montana businesses – from gun manufacturers to lumber mills. He’s in Missoula today to tour the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and meet with a local sportsmens’ organization. He also took time to sit down with News Director Sally Mauk to talk about guns, conservation – and his political future. Daines would have voted against the bill to expand background checks on gun buyers.

Bullock said in his line-item veto message that he needed to reduce spending. His office said the reductions cut about $30 million, roughly 0.4 percent of the two-year, $8 billion budget.

House Bill 2 cleared the Legislature with the backing of minority Democrats and some Republicans. But Bullock said lawmakers did not stick to his goals of a structurally balanced budget that left more money in the bank.

“I asked the Legislature to pass a budget that didn’t spend more than we take in and that left $300 million cash in the bank for a rainy day. Unfortunately, they didn’t,” Bullock said in a statement. “Therefore, I’ve had to veto and line-item veto more bills than I would have liked to, in order to keep the state’s financial position strong.”

The line-item veto in the main budget bill did not ax any particularly large programs. One move would strike the 6 percent pay raise that Republican lawmakers gave to game wardens who broke with other union workers and backed Bullock’s Republican opponent.

Total spending of state and federal money tops $10 billion when other budget bills are included. The two dozen other measures include pay raises for state employees, a revised school funding measure that increases K-12 spending, a fix for the beleaguered pension system, new college buildings and other spending.

More than half of the state budget comes from federal money, which makes up the bulk of programs like Medicaid or welfare and highway programs in the Department of Transportation.

Total spending in all budget bills of state tax revenue, known as general funds, will increase about 13 percent over the two-year budget period to $4.3 billion of the total, according to an analysis this week by legislative staffers.

Total spending, including federal money, also goes up about 13 percent to just over $10 billion.

The budget, as sent to the governor, left a projected rainy day fund of about $180 million.

Some Republican legislative leaders opposed the budget, arguing that spending increased too much with the budget.

“Democrats, with help from a handful of Republicans, passed a bloated budget at the conclusion of the legislative session, and I am happy that the governor found a way to reduce its size,” said Senate President Jeff Essmann.

Essmann said he hopes the governor will veto more spending bills, including the budget deal made on the last day with the governor’s office to give Bullock an extra $13.5 million in spending authority.

Others said it was the best deal that could be cut with Democrats, and pointed out that an influx of money was needed to fix lingering problems like the pension liability.

Other spending areas cut by Bullock with his line-item veto authority included $1.4 million to the Board of Oil and Gas for research and $200,000 for salary increases to that board’s employees. He also axed $250,000 extra for the agriculture experiment stations and $400,000 for Montana University System’s extension service to rural areas.

The governor argued current spending in those areas was sufficient.

All AP stories © 2013 by Associated Press. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Governor Steve Bullock (D-Montana)

HELENA – Gov. Steve Bullock vetoed a measure Friday that he says would have allowed a way for anonymous political organizations to contribute to campaigns through religious groups.

House Bill 217 would have exempted religious organizations from campaign finance reports.

The measure would have given so-called “dark money” groups the opportunity to donate to campaigns through churches without any oversight or regulation, Bullock said in his veto letter.

The Democratic governor also vetoed 11 other bills Friday, including one that would have given the Montana Reserved Water Rights Compact Commission two more years to negotiate water rights with the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.

Senate Bill 265 serves no purpose, Bullock wrote, adding the original tribal water compact was a reasonable settlement that provided protections for all water users in Montana.

The compact missed its 2013 deadline when the Legislature failed to ratify it.

Bullock also vetoed the following 10 bills:

• Senate Bill 125 would have reduced penalties when companies failed to meet renewable energy standards.

• Senate Bill 19 would have allowed for the development of water wells in close proximity to each other.

• House Bill 225 would have changed interest rates for payments in civil trials for the injured party.

• Senate Bill 337 would have revised water laws, allowing only those who have an existing water right to have access to a hearing in the Montana Water Court.

• House Bill 363 would have allowed the Board of Reality Regulation to expand and hire an executive director and legal counsel.

• House Bill 499 would have allowed leased or rented buildings on one tract of land to forgo local subdivision review.

• House Bill 509 would have required that local cellphone retailers to impose a 9-1-1 fee, instead of major network providers.

• House Bill 556 would have allocated $1.3 million to some services including library funds.

• House Bill 582 would have allowed the Montana Board of Accountants to hire its own staff.

All AP stories © 2013 by Associated Press. All rights reserved. The material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.