The roughly $18 billion budget that will fund state government over the next two years is built line item by line item.
Subcommittees are charged with combing through spending on education, public safety, health and human services, natural resources and general government. Each subcommittee puts forth a plan for the House Appropriations Committee to consider, and House Bill 2 begins to take shape.
On Tuesday, after considering dozens of amendments, the committee advanced a budget for the full House to review. It had bipartisan support with a 19-4 vote.
Many of the amendments the committee approved added spending. Vice chair Rep. Mary Caferro, a Helena Democrat, says the plan still needs work, but she’s pleased with what passed.
“The people of Montana had great wins and that’s because Democrats and Republicans worked together.”
Caferro successfully added funding for a program that feeds kids in the summer when school lunch isn’t available. The committee also approved more spending for in-patient psychiatric care, higher reimbursement rates for Medicaid providers, more out-of-state prison beds and on reviews of environmental policy.
The committee also approved some budget cuts. Those included a decrease in funding for senior and long term care programs, for a commission tasked with planning a 250th anniversary celebration for the United States and for Montana tourism marketing.
Republican Rep. Bill Mercer of Billings says he’s worried those cuts don’t go far enough to balance the budget.
“I think the bill was too big when it got here. It’s a lot bigger leaving here. We’re going to have an exhaustive debate on the floor.”
Lawmakers will likely bring a whole host of amendments to cut or add spending in the next stage of the process.
