Keep a lid on state spending

So far, lawmakers in Helena seem to be working their way through the state budget with some restraint, but spending increases in the state's next biennial budget should remain a major concern.

Last week, the Montana House did a commendable job in whittling down spending in the largest spending bill, House Bill 2. But the battle of the budget bulge is not over.

As delivered to the Senate, House Bill 2 entails a 10.8 percent increase over the final spending bill approved by the 2003 Legislature. And there is potential for more spending growth in the form of "cat and dog" bills that are still working their way through the legislative process. As of Thursday afternoon, the Legislature's spending was estimated to be $44 million above the cap imposed by a 1981 law.

Theoretically, that law says state spending growth can't exceed the average income growth of Montana residents over the previous three years, but that is no guarantee of restraint. The law was violated in the last session, and could easily be violated again since there is no mechanism to enforce it.

Also, on a day-to-day basis, the spending cap has been confusing, largely because of the fluid nature of the legislative process. A spending bill, for instance, may be approved in committee and counted against the cap one day but soon after it may be killed on the House floor and no longer be counted in the spending tally.

But the cap has been useful in principle, simply because it has kept lawmakers cognizant of how spending is piling up. Keeping a lid on spending has been a central theme for many editorials on this page in recent months.

We've consistently maintained, for example, that affordability should be a major consideration in providing a basic system of quality education, as ordered by the state Supreme Court.

Montanans would benefit to pay attention to the staggering fiscal problems in the state of California, where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has declared that the state does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.

A spending problem, where the state's obligations exceed the means of taxpayers, is something that Montana's political leaders should strive to avoid.

The Department of Health and Human Services budget alone is currently set to grow by 20 percent over the next biennium. There are new programs for affordable prescription drugs and small business insurance, and the state is assuming costs that were once covered by the federal government.

It's encouraging to hear Gov. Brian Schweitzer and legislative Democrats repeat the mantra, "we will live within our means," but it remains to be seen whether that will happen.