With the 2017 Montana legislative session less than two weeks away, Governor Steve Bullock is promoting a plan to spend nearly $300 million on the construction and maintenance of roads, schools, water and other long-term projects.
Bullock was in Butte today pushing what he calls the "Build Montana Trust." The idea is to put some of the revenue collected from the state tax on coal sales into a special fund that would then spin off interest for future projects, too:
"I’m asking the legislature to set up a trust so that a decade from now, there’s a stream for funding of infrastructure, so we’re not in these, what can be political battles," Bullock said
Bullock rolled the idea out in April, and at the time Republicans called it a "campaign stunt" in his bid for a second term.
Last year the big infrastructure bill in the legislature died one vote short of passing. Many Republicans reject Democrats’ proposal to borrow money to pay for some state construction spending.
Montana’s 2017 legislative session starts on January 2.