The Montana 2013 Biennium Budget

Abstract

DOI 10.1515/cjpp-2012-0034 Calif. J. Politics Policy 2012; 4(3): 161–181 Research Article Jeffrey D. Greene* The Montana 2013 Biennium Budget Abstract: Montana’s legislature meets once every two years and constructs a two- year budget. The legislature was controlled by Republicans following the trend of the 2010 mid-term elections but with a Democratic governor who vetoed numer- ous pieces of legislation. The most significant aspect of the legislative session was the contentious nature of the clash between Republicans, Democrats, and the governor over spending. Republicans attempted to cut spending despite the fact that revenues were much higher than originally expected. The state did not have implement significant spending cuts but the fiscal year. However, the fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2013, does not look promising for Montana and budget shortfalls are expected. Keywords: budgeting; fiscal year; Montana; western state budget report *Corresponding author: Jeffrey D. Greene, Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, Phone: +406-243-6181, e-mail: jeffrey.greene@mso.umt.edu 1 Introduction Governor Schweitzer submitted his budget, which was roughly a 2% increase over that the previous biennium’s budget. The governor claimed his goals were to boost school and university funding while cutting property taxes for home- owners and eliminating equipment taxes for most businesses (Johnson 2010a). Overall, Montana was in better fiscal shape than most states despite the fact that a budget shortfall was expected to be $400 million in the fall of 2010. This sounds like a small amount compared to large states like California and Texas, but for Montana it is significant (Dennison 2010; Johnson 2010a; Walsh 2011). Montana has never had a reputation for overspending. While the state has a reputation for making accurate revenue estimates, there is a long history of the legisla- ture creating a “barebones budget” that inadequately funds state services. This turned out to be a plus in light of the national economic crisis, but Montana’s economy had not performed as badly as the economies of many states. By the time the session started revenue predictions had improved. Experts predicted a