Knudsen Proposes Infrastructure Bill

Greetings from Helena. The 64th Montana Legislature is in full swing, it now being the fifth week of the session. As Speaker of the House, I have been very busy managing and administering the Montana House of Representatives by assigning bills to appropriate committees, scheduling bills for floor debate, and meeting with various interest groups on legislation.

There are several big issues that are currently before the Legislature, and several more to come. First and foremost is tax relief. I am thrilled to announce that the Republican House majority has passed House Bill 166, which is an across-the-board income tax cut for all Montanans. This bill will save all Montana tax payers approximately $20 million per year starting next year. Also, House Bill 169 will provide a one-time tax reduction in both property taxes and income taxes for all Montanans. These bills are a priority for House and Senate Republican leadership in Montana, and by the time you read this should be passed the House and transmitted to the Montana Senate for full hearing and vote.

Another issue that is particularly important to everyone in Northeast Montana is a Bakken oilfield infrastructure bill. As you all remember, last session a huge bipartisan majority (142 of 150) of Montana House and Senate legislators passed House Bill 218, which would have directed an immediate $35 million to impacted oilfield communities in our area for desperately needed infrastructure projects such as water and sewer system upgrades. Unfortunately, Governor Bullock vetoed the bill, despite his representations to all of us that he would sign it into law. As a result, our impacted oilfield communities have been languishing for the last 2 years with no state assistance that was promised to them. While the Governor now proposes to borrow us $45 million of our own oil tax revenue for infrastructure needs in Northeast Montana (and letting us pay interest on our money). I have introduced a better solution. My bill, House Bill 402, will provide an immediate $55 million in grants for water, sewer, road, bridges, school, and emergency services needs to local governments impacted by oil and gas development. Additionally, my bill will direct a percentage of the state oil and gas production tax to the grant fund in order to create a long-term funding source for these projects. Historically, the Speaker of the House does not usually carry any legislation, but I feel this issue is too important not to sponsor and carry personally.

On a related note, Governor Bullock has introduced House Bill 5, which he is touting as his “Build Montana” bill. This bill rolls dozens of infrastructure projects, which are normally heard in several separate bills, into one big Washington D.C.-style “omnibus” bill. This bill includes everything from a new museum in Helena to regional water systems to purchasing more state land, and has the astronomical price tag of $319 million. Of this $319 million, the Governor proposes to borrow $212 million, with you the taxpayers paying interest on that debt for the next 20 years. In total, House Bill 5, if approved, would require the Montana taxpayers to pay a total of $28 million dollars a year for the next 20 years in total interest on state debt. For obvious reasons, legislative Republicans are opposed to this bill. According to the Governor’s own estimates, the State is sitting on more than $300 million in cash reserves in the bank. Most of these cash reserves are drawing less than a quarter of one percent interest (how much interest is your savings account or CD drawing at the bank?), while Montana taxpayers would pay anywhere from 2.5 to 4 percent interest on any debt we take out. Republicans recognize that it makes better business sense to spend some of our existing cash reserves on desperately needed infrastructure projects than to incur debt and pay interest. That’s why we’ve introduced bills breaking HB 5 into separate program bills (like they have been for decades). This will allow legislators to look at the merits of each individual program and vote accordingly, rather than placing a several hundred page bill on each legislator’s desk and asking them to vote for all or nothing. Helena is not Washington D.C., and Republicans don’t believe that omnibus bills full of pork and pet projects are the way to conduct business.

These are just a few of the major issues being addressed right now in Helena. As always, I encourage my constituents to contact me anytime: my phone number is (406) 539-4268, email is [email protected], or contact me via my Facebook page. Better yet, if you are in Helena for any reason, swing up to the Capitol and come visit me in the Speaker’s office.