Fate of Montana Infrastructure Bonding Bill up to House Republicans, Who Reject Attempt to Revive It

Both bonding proposals to fund hundreds of infrastructure projects statewide sit in the Montana House as the end of the Legislature looms during the week of April 24 — the day one of those bills was again rejected.

The failed vote to revive House Bill 645 was seen by many at the Montana Capitol as a gauge of how close the Republican-controlled Legislature is to reaching a compromise with Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat. Who is responsible for taking the lead on future negotiations and who should concede what depends on who comments.

Rep. Mike Cuffe, the Eureka Republican who carried HB645, said the governor must do more to appease Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen (R-Culbertson). Knudsen blamed the governor for not being willing to consider a smaller bonding package or proposed vote trades, including a suggestion that Democrats should revive a charter school bill.

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Bullock declined to comment, but House Minority Leader Jenny Eck (D-Helena) said the responsibility falls to Knudsen to move his party forward and argued that Democrats already have supported cutting the value of the bonding package by half from what Bullock had proposed.

Frustrated with conservatives who want to remove building renovation projects from the bonding bill that are the priority of urban communities, Democrats are holding hostage a cash infrastructure bill, HB8, that would pay for water projects in rural, primarily Republican, communities until a deal can be reached.

“We need some leadership from somewhere,” House Appropriations Chairwoman Nancy Ballance (R-Hamilton) said.

Meanwhile, Senate leaders from both parties say they are ready to support any bonding package the House can approve — if their colleagues pass one at all. Some lead Republican senators have visited the House chamber between sessions over the past several days in April to try to build support for a bonding bill.

“We’ve been pretty patient, and now is the time,” Senate Minority Leader Jon Sesso (D-Butte) said.

No one expressed confidence that a compromise could be reached before the session ends, maybe as soon as April 26. Some are resigned to return home without reaching a deal.

Senate Majority Leader Fred Thomas (R-Stevensville) told his caucus April 24 that “the beauty of the [Montana] Constitution” is that it takes such a high bar, a two-thirds vote, to approve new debt. He also noted that GOP members will be sent home with a breakdown of cash infrastructure projects if bonding should fail.

If legislators cannot advance a proposal or the governor vetoes it, this would be the fourth session in a row state leaders could not agree on how to invest more money in infrastructure projects beyond the standard programs. Those are paid for with interest from the Coal Severance Tax Trust Fund and would support nearly 150 projects totaling $212 million over the next two years.

Sesso noted that even some of those seemingly guaranteed projects are dead without a bonding bill because local governments must patch together so many funding sources to afford the work.

Unlike previous sessions, Republicans also have counted hundreds of millions in road projects in their tally of infrastructure spending likely to be funded without a bonding bill. Some Democrats have called that misleading, noting that the state always has provided the full amount required to secure the maximum available federal funding and that every state dollar is matched by seven federal dollars.

Sesso and Sen. Eric Moore (R-Miles City) said the time is right for bonding: Montana has paid off debt incurred by previous generations for infrastructure projects, interest rates are near an all-time low and the projects will become more expensive only as the cost of construction materials inflates faster than most other goods.

Moore carried SB367, which proposed $98 million in bonds compared to the $78 million suggested by HB645, the main difference being additional money for local school repairs that have no other funding source. That bill is stalled in House Appropriations until Knudsen orders it to move, Ballance said.

An earlier version of HB645 would have authorized only $33 million in bonds, and the extra projects added weeks ago still seem to be sticking points for some House Republicans, Ballance said, particularly building projects such as a $25 million renovation of Romney Hall at Montana State University. Some also have told Ballance they are unlikely to support a bonding bill because other infrastructure-related measures passed without their support.

“It's a sign people are unhappy that the gas tax passed and people are unhappy that the [bill to fund an expansion of the Montana Historical Society with an increased lodging tax] passed,” she said. “It feels like they’ve already voted for one building they didn't want.”

Cuffe’s attempt to revive House Bill 645 died on a 57-43 vote. It needed 67 votes to be reconsidered and would need the same number to pass the House. The understanding in the room, Cuffe said, had been that the governor would support removing $3 million from Romney Hall if it was spent instead on local school repairs.

“If I was [Bullock], I’d have Austin [Knudsen] on the phone,” Cuffe said.

Shortly after the vote, Knudsen said that “phones work both ways” but that he hoped to meet with the governor again later that day. He said he met with Bullock late in the week of April 17 and early in the morning of April 24 — neither of which were listed on the governor’s public schedule despite an earlier promise by Bullock to disclose those meetings.

A few minutes later, Bullock was walking out of his office when three reporters stopped him.

“Oh, I ain’t got nothing to say right now,” he said. Asked for a reaction to the House shooting down a compromise he negotiated to shift $3 million in the $78 million package, he said, “I’ve been in meetings all day,” then he turned and walked back into his office without answering other questions.

Just outside that door, the governor’s staff has updated a poster each morning with a count of how many days “Montanans have been waiting for an infrastructure bill.”

Spokeswoman Ronja Abel later issued a statement.

“Once again legislators are waiting until the 11th hour to pass a major infrastructure bill, create jobs and build our communities,” she wrote. “These political games put infrastructure at the risk of failure — at the expense of Montanans who deserve better.”