Let's keep spending in check

Just like that, Montana's supposed spending cap is gone, because state Attorney General Mike McGrath says so.

The Legislature now has free rein on spending that it did not have during the regular session because of the perception then that there had to be compliance with the 1981 spending cap law.

"There is no cap on state spending in the Montana Constitution," McGrath wrote in a formal opinion issued last week. "The authority of the 1981 Legislature to set spending policy for the state ended when the 1983 Legislature was seated."

McGrath's blunt reasoning seems impervious, and it has the rule of law unless overturned by a court or legislative action. Yet there is reason to question the motivation for issuing this ruling. Republican critics wasted no time in saying the ruling was a concerted ploy to free up the Legislature for this fall's planned special session.

"Opinions are written to fit the politics," said Senate Minority Leader Bob Keenan of Bigfork. "It's a political decision disguised under the veil of legal documents."

Now the sky is the limit for the Legislature. We just hope lawmakers don't shoot for the stars when it comes to spending, because they've already reached the stratosphere, and that's plenty far enough.

According to the Legislative Fiscal Division's June synopsis of 2005 legislative action, total state government spending for the biennium is already expected to increase by $831.6 million, or roughly 13.4 percent over the last biennium. General fund spending is projected to increase by $342.7 million, or 14.92 percent. The special session could easily boost that figure substantially.

Lawmakers will be meeting in December for the explicit purposes of rewriting school funding laws and bailing out troubled retirement programs for teachers and public employees.

The entire purpose of the special session, in other words, is to spend money.

That's why it's important for legislators to hear from everyday folks over the next few months, so they get the message that "enough is enough." The taxpayers are tapped out, and they need to say so.

We have repeatedly urged lawmakers and the governor to show fiscal restraint and to resist grabby special interests that aim for permanent spending increases.

Montana's economy is flourishing, and state coffers are currently flush, but that doesn't give a green light for boosting state spending through the roof. Instead of putting the state in a position it can't afford in an economic downturn, lawmakers should seriously consider offering up some form of tax rebate.

For Democrats, that would be a novel and politically astute thing to do, rather than living up to the "tax-and-spend" stereotype.