I was in the Air Force a long time ago, in the weather section. I chuckle at some of the similarities to a weather forecast and a legislative update…. for example…. ‘As the warm front approaches the winds will be gusty and variable in direction, sky a mix of high and low clouds, and the temperature will rise considerably after the front passes.’
Not a whole lot different than a week on the House floor.
The governor’s office is creating some notoriety this week in two arenas. The budget, as we enter the final week before presenting on the House floor, and in the elections arena by a confusing or maybe confounding decision on the special election date.
First the budget news. HB-2, the legislative budget, will be presented on March 16 and 17 on the House floor. The budget will then go to the Senate committee, the Senate floor, receiving amendments and adjustments in that process and back to the House floor for the final voting before going to the Governor in the last days of the session. The wrangling is not as intense this session. Having a budget crisis does that and there will be cuts all across the board. The 2015 legislature appropriated $638 million for elderly services. The administration spent $597.3 million, redirecting the $40.7 million into various different areas. Did this impact these services? You bet it did, just ask our local providers. The new budget will show a level of $571 million, with an option possibility of providing the $26 million difference, to bring it back to what was actually spent last session. This could come from a $17 million federal matching fund if the state provides $9.1 million. That part could come by returning the $10 million the Governor took from federal Medicaid payments and never returned back to the state Medicaid. This solution will mean no reductions in funding for senior and longterm care, and without needing to increase taxes in some fashion.
Second, the election date news. This is puzzling at the least, and maybe just a political poke at best. According to the special election laws, the governor chooses the date, within a window of time after the resignation of the elected official. The Secretary of State’s office is the administrative body that runs all our state elections. Our county clerk and recorders are the local officials that administer the election at the county level. Both of these agencies recommended to the governor the date of Tuesday, June 6th. Tuesday is our typical election day of the week, and early June is as well. The Governor ignored both and chose instead Thursday, May 25th, placing the election one day before the beginning of a three-day holiday, and also on the day that high schools across the state are holding their graduation ceremonies in the gyms, which are often the common polling place. I learned from the Secretary of State’s office this week that Montana ranks 5th in the nation in, ‘voter favorability,’ in surveys from the actual voters. Voter integrity is the ultimate goal of all elections officials and all states. We have little to no voter fraud. Voters like what they have and the state’s national ranking is a worthy goal to be proud of. The governor has taken a risky chance in putting our voting date on a Thursday instead of a Tuesday, and is causing a lot of clerk and recorders the added expense and headache of creating alternative polling places. Some are going to see this as intentional voter suppression. A confusing choice of date for sure.
Rep. Ed Greef, HD-88
Florence