Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a two-year budget outlining more than $16 billion in spending.
The state’s budget includes money to renew Medicaid Expansion for low-income adults, to expand the state’s prisons, to hire more law enforcement and boost public teacher pay.
It also includes an income tax cut. That will reduce state revenue by roughly half a billion dollars over the biennium.
Gianforte used his line-item veto power to cut $31 million from the budget lawmakers approved. He axed another $350 million in individually vetoed bills. The governor called that spending unnecessary.
The cuts impacted policies backed by both Democrats and Republicans.
Republican Rep. Llew Jones of Conrad was a key crafter of the budget. He agreed most of Gianforte’s cuts were appropriate given the uncertainty around federal policy that could impact the state’s budget.
“You know, they weren’t bad numbers. A lot of it, we can live without,” Jones said.
Democrats lamented the cuts, saying the governor prioritized a tax break while hurting services for Montanans most at-risk.
Gianforte cut higher reimbursement rates for air ambulance providers and a student loan repayment program for psychiatric hospital employees. He also vetoed the use of some federal funds.
Those federal dollars are for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. Lee Newspapers first reported last spring the state was sitting on $105 million in unspent TANF funds at the start of the fiscal year.
The organization for court-appointed special advocates, CASA Montana, would have received about $1 million from that allocation. Executive director April Barnings said the organization had hoped to expand to locations they don’t yet serve, like the Lewistown area and Big Horn County.
“Not having the TANF funding will make an impact on providing new services and serving more children, so we were really disappointed to hear about the veto,” Barnings said.
Gianforte said he vetoed the line item to prevent outside nonprofits from expecting those funds in future budgets.
The largest reductions in spending were made through bill vetoes. That included a tax credit for contractors, a child care scholarship for daycare workers, increased Medicaid reimbursement rates for physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and occupational therapists.
