From the Capitol Cloakroom: Legislative Update 5

This week I introduced the State-Local Infrastructure Partnership Act of 2023. The bill proposes to allocate $265 million of the State General Fund Surplus back to all 56 counties to enable local government to fix existing infrastructure in need of repair. Local government entities eligible to receive funds under the act are counties, cities and towns, school districts, and special districts.

If the bill passes, each county will receive an allowance of money based upon its population, per capita income, and per capita taxable value.

I wanted to find an objective way of allocating funds to the counties. The formula insures that every county in the state receives some money, and tries to level the field between the poorer and richer counties by giving the poorer counties more money per person. Of course, the more populous counties receive the most money, but they also have the most infrastructure.

The county allocations for southwestern Montana are:

• Beaverhead: $2,314,332

• Deer Lodge: $2,764,935

• Granite: $792,528

• Jefferson: $3,030,210

• Madison: $1,480,222

• Powell: $1,882,731

• Silver Bow: $9,313,093

Under the legislation, the County Commission will act as a clearinghouse for the grant application process accepting applications from other units of government within the county. It then holds a public hearing, and based upon the information it receives, develops a priority list for funding, which is then sent to the state who writes the checks. The local government entity that receives the money is fully responsible for constructing the project.

Under the bill, the local governments do not have to compete with other counties. 

The process is designed to maximize local control and each county gets to determine its own destiny.

One thing that I learned on the campaign trail is that there are infrastructure problems all over the state and the problem is particularly acute in Montana’s small towns. While we have a lot of money in the State’s coffers, it’s time to send some cash to directly help the folks back home.  

I am also gratified with the support I have received for the bill. Every legislator from southwestern Montana, Democrats and Republicans alike, are co-sponsoring the legislation. I am dedicated to common-sense, bi-partisan solutions to the problems that affect Montana and HB 355 is a good start. The bill will be heard in the House Appropriations Committee next Monday, Feb. 6, 2023, at 3 p.m.

In other news, HB13, the State Pay Plan of which I am the sponsor, passed out of Committee earlier this week on a 17-6 vote. It will be on the floor of the House for debate in the next few days.