Governor, lawmakers share session insights

Gov. Brian Schweitzer and a panel of Republican lawmakers from the Flathead Valley sized up some successes from the recently concluded legislative session, and they traded some jabs over failures during a Politics @ the PAC event Thursday at the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.

Schweitzer was ushered into the building from a back entrance, avoiding a demonstration by medical marijuana advocates outside who want him to veto the state’s stringent new bill.

He spoke at length, covering a wide range of topics with his dog, Jag, resting near the podium. After the governor left, Republican Sens. Ryan Zinke and Bruce Tutvedt and Rep. Derek Skees shared their views on the session.

“It wasn’t all bad things. There were some good things,” said Schweitzer, a Democrat who has sparred regularly with the Republican legislative leadership.

“We managed to survive the recession without cutting programs, without laying off teachers and without raising taxes,” he said. “That’s not too bad, is it?”

Schweitzer said the Legislature managed to address two “burning issues” important for future Montana jobs — workers’ compensation reform and a law that affords eminent domain rights for electrical transmission developers.

“I think they did some pretty good work ... at the end of the day, it’s a pretty good product,” Schweitzer said in regard to the legislation that is expected to reduce workers’ compensation rates by 25 percent this year and by a total of 40 percent within a few years. Montana currently has the highest rates in the nation.

Schweitzer singled out Zinke and Rep. Scott Reichner, R-Bigfork, for playing leading roles in developing and passing the legislation.

“It’s going to be good for workers and it’s going to be good for employers,” he said.

The legislature passed a variety of legislation that will encourage wind energy development, but the most important was the eminent domain legislation aimed at allowing the Montana-Alberta Tie Line to be built between Great Falls and Lethbridge.

After billions were invested in the project, landowner litigation over the line’s route threatened to block its completion. That could have compounded impacts on installing electrical lines in many other situations, such as preventing electrical access to new oil wells or home developments after large investments.

“This was not an easy vote for anybody who is a landowner, or a protector of landowner rights,” Schweitzer said, praising support the bill got from Zinke, Tutvedt and other Flathead Republicans.

“It was a tough vote,” Tutvedt said later.

He explained that a big problem has been the Montana Department of Environmental Quality’s role in choosing the Tie Line route, making it difficult for the developer and landowners to be flexible in negotiations.

Tutvedt predicted the issue will be revisited in the next session.

Schweitzer said the eminent domain and workers’ compensation bills “were probably the most important bills to come out of this session, and they are both job creators.”

Schweitzer went on to jab legislators for frivolous bills, such as ones that would have allowed spear hunting and the use of silencers on hunting firearms. He blasted some nullification bills, such as one that would have nullified Montana’s recognition of the Endangered Species Act.

And there was the matter of the state budget.

Two weeks ago, Schweitzer and the Republican leadership announced an agreement had been reached to balance the budget but that deal has since fallen apart and Schweitzer now is vowing amendatory vetoes, saying the Republicans didn’t deliver on their part. Senate President Jim Peterson and House Speaker Mike Milburn say the governor simply has reneged on the deal.

On Thursday, the governor criticized school funding legislation for “raiding” the state’s lodging tax, which is largely used for promoting the state’s tourism industry.

He said that type of measure isn’t necessary when he expects the state to have an ending fund balance of $330 million.

That is a claim that has been challenged for months by Republicans, and it was again by the Flathead lawmakers.

Zinke said legislative fiscal analysts are projecting a balance of $200 million. “But there are some things hanging out there that I think you might want to know about,” he told the audience.

The state budget includes $80 million in revenue from leasing the Otter Creek coal tracts in Eastern Montana, but that transaction is in litigation and state may have to return the money, Zinke said.

The state also has a $43 million liability in a Libby asbestos contamination case, and economic recovery through much of the state has been slow.

“We’re no longer sitting on a lot of money,” said Zinke, who was the main sponsor of the school funding bill.

Zinke explained that the bill eventually was amended to take 10 percent of lodging tax revenue to support schools as a priority. But because the governor vetoed the bill this week, schools will be out $4.3 million.

Schweitzer also fired at Republicans for long claiming to support eliminating the business equipment tax for small businesses, when the bill they passed lowered the tax from 3 to 1.5 percent for all businesses, including those that are based out of state.

Tutvedt fired back, saying that a selective equipment tax would be unconstitutional.

He said the governor’s aim to apply the tax only to larger businesses still would affect job-supporting companies such as Stoltze Land and Lumber and Applied Technologies. And he pointed out that the Republican legislation was designed to avoid a shift in the local tax burden, with businesses paying less and homeowners paying more.

At the end of his talk, Schweitzer was confronted by medical marijuana advocates over his stated plans not to veto the bill that would significantly restrict the current system.

One man wearing a neck brace told the governor he needs medical marijuana to alleviate prescription drug use, to help him eat and sleep and ease pain.

Schweitzer responded that he still would qualify for medical marijuana under Senate Bill 423’s provisions for doctor prescriptions.

“Well folks, there are those of you going to be mad on all sides,” he said.

The bill is expected to deeply restrict the profitability of medical marijuana, an industry that currently is estimated to exceed $1 billion annually. Schweitzer said legitimate patients still will have a need, and he estimates those who can still grow marijuana will need consulting help from those in the current industry.

He said he does not like the bill, but suggested a veto would be overridden.

“If I don’t have those numbers I need, the veto can be overridden,” he said to shouts of “Please!” from marijuana advocates in the audience.

The event was sponsored by the Whitefish Chamber of Commerce, the Flathead Business and Industry Association and the Daily Inter Lake.

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