Thursday at the Montana Legislature, the state budget heads to the full Senate.
After passing the House, Senators in the Finance and Claims Committee put $27.5 million more into the bill. The additions include many of the failed requests by House Democrats, like increased pay for correctional officers, but not all.
Republican Senator Llew Jones is carrying the bill in the Senate, and he says he expects the process to be tedious, but not as long as it could have been had a deal not been reached in committee.
“The floor is not a really a very good place to do work, so I would guess that the majority of it’s finishing work will occur in free conference committee, so I doubt too much will happen on the floor other than some technical cleanups and some smaller issues.”
Passing the state budget, which includes funding for schools and infrastructure, is the legislature’s only constitutional duty and must be done before it adjourns for the next two years.