Keenan: Spending cap law to be a factor

It's yet to be discussed much publicly, but a state law that limits state spending growth will become problematic for the Democratic agenda in the last half of the legislative session, predicts Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork.

"The first half of the session is just positioning," Keenan said Friday. "In the second half is when you start getting down to business."

At issue is a 1981 state law that limits state spending growth every biennium to the same percentage as the state's average personal income growth over the previous three years. Montana's average income growth is 8.5 percent for the last three years.

As of last week, the governor's spending plan, along with spending approved by legislative committees, was $118 million over the cap, Keenan said.

Keenan said cutting back on planned spending or voting to override the limit will mostly rest with Gov. Brian Schweitzer and legislative Democrats.

"They're going to have to make some tough decisions," he said.

However, Keenan conceded that meeting or getting around the cap will require Republican involvement.

Overriding the cap requires two-thirds approval in both the House and the Senate, so Keenan predicts "there will be tremendous pressure" from interest groups to retain spending that has already been penciled in by the governor or by committees.

Schweitzer recently said any spending cuts aimed at meeting the cap will come from the Treasure State Endowment Fund and other capital investment funding that is parceled across the state by House Bill 5. Keenan questions whether that will be enough to drop spending under the cap.

"I don't think they can live within the cap and still do the $80 million for education," Keenan said, referring to Gov. Brian Schweitzer's planned boost in K-12 education spending.

And K-12 education is a centerpiece issue for the Legislature this year.

Legislative Democratic leaders say Senate Bill 152 has become the main engine for defining a basic system of quality education, as required by a state Supreme Court ruling.

Keenan says it is flawed legislation, mainly because it broadens rather than tightens the definition of a quality education, and as a result its projected fiscal impact on the state is completely uncertain.

"The definition of quality definitely has a price," he said.

He said the bill should be significantly revised. But he questions whether that will happen now that the bill has been handed off to the evenly divided House.

The bill could be amended in the House's Select Committee on Education, which has five Republicans and five Democrats. However, it may be held up on a 5-5 party-line vote. If that happens, Democrats can use a special rule to bring it out of committee for a vote by the full House, where one or two Republicans could vote with Democrats to approve it.

Keenan said Senate Republicans proposed 18 amendments to the bill when it was in the Senate and all were rejected by the Democratic majority. Now he questions why the bill was rushed out of the Senate on the 15th day of the session.

Senate Democrats "lost control of the bill," he said.

Keenan, who is in his last session because of term limits, has been both an aggressive critic of the Schweitzer administration and a watchdog in the Legislature. While his media persona has been one of antagonism toward Democrats, he said that on the Senate floor he has steered clear of "ideological and philosophical" political debates in favor of debating the merits of each bill, one by one, and positioning the Republican minority to have influence.

He cites as an example a bill that would have rolled back most of the Republican revisions to the Montana Environmental Policy Act over the last two sessions. Senate Bill 281 "was a big deal for Democrats to undo the MEPA changes that occurred the last few years," but after considerable debate this week, the bill was defeated with several Democrats siding with the Republican minority.

"We debated the merits of the bill rather than getting drawn into an ideological war of words," he said, noting that some Democrats wanted that to happen as a way to "galvanize" the majority caucus in support of the bill.

Keenan said he'll continue to operate that way in the Senate and he'll continue to hold Gov. Schweitzer accountable for his campaign promises at the same time.

Schweitzer has pressed for new ethical standards in Helena, and Keenan considers that "contradictory" for a governor whose brother has been doing considerable work in the administration without pay, but while located in government office space and using a government phone.

Because Walter Schweitzer is not paid, the governor has said his administration and Montanans are getting free help. But Keenan doesn't see it that way: The governor's brother playing a key role in the administration creates a perception of nepotism at the same time the governor is demanding higher standards for others, Keenan said.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com