Lowered legislative expectations

People attending a Kalispell Chamber of Commerce luncheon this week got a good idea of how the legislative process works from four Republicans from the Flathead who explained, sometimes too technically, how things get whittled down even when your party may hold the majority.

There were 2,200 bill draft requests this session that led to 1,200 bills being introduced, most of them in the House, and 307 bills that have been enacted as law. Another 152 were still on Gov. Steve Bullock’s desk as of Thursday morning, and within 10 days of receiving them, he can either sign them, veto them, or let pass into law without his signature.

Speaker of the House Mark Blasdel, Sen. Jon Sonju, Sen. Bruce Tutvedt and Rep. Scott Reichner shared how compromises unfolded over the last four months as a matter of necessity because the Legislature’s main constitutional task is to pass a balanced budget.

“I think one of the hardest jobs down there is managing expectations,” Blasdel said, referring to how 150 lawmakers, some with passionate agendas, don’t get everything they want.

Reichner offered his own good example. He tried to advance legislation that would have provided $100 million in permanent property tax relief, but in the end it didn’t make the cut against competing interests for a limited amount of money.

We are still impressed that the House passed the state’s main budget bill with an unprecedented 100-0 vote. House Bill 2 is typically the source of much rancor, but this time around, there seemed to be upfront recognition by both sides that they weren’t going to get everything they wanted in the bill simply because we have a divided government in Helena. Yes, Republicans control both legislative chambers but Democrats have an effective minority and Gov. Steve Bullock can wield a veto pen.

Understanding limitations on expectations, it seems, was an underlying theme of the 2013 legislative session.

Mall has ‘old’ new owners

Congratulations to Goodale & Barbieri for reacquiring ownership of the Kalispell Center Mall.

The Spokane company was the managing general partner when the mall was built in the mid-1980s and later spun it off to the Cavanaugh’s Hospitality Corp. of Spokane, which later still became the Red Lion Hotels Corp.

Goodale & Barbieri continued to manage the mall for Cavan-augh’s, which was essentially a sister corporation, and for a while in the late 1990s it looked like the mall would be able to expand onto newly acquired property north of the railroad tracks.

That never happened, and essentially the mall has been in a holding pattern for most of the last decade, as the retail industry in Kalispell largely relocated to the area just south of Reserve on U.S. 93.

But now with Goodale & Barbieri back calling the shots, we are hopeful that the mall will once again help to rejuvenate downtown with innovative ideas and  possible expansion.

Editorials represent the majority opinion of the Daily Inter Lake’s editorial board.