In Montana’s 2011 legislative session, a majority of legislators proposed deep, unnecessary, and harmful cuts to vital public services like education, health care, and job training. The resulting damage to our families, communities, and economy was only prevented by last-minute negotiations with the governor. While the budget compromise restored funding to many vital public programs, some harmful cuts remain. The cuts were unnecessary. The Legislature balanced its budget using out-of-date and overly pessimistic revenue estimates, refusing to act on updated estimates from their non-partisan staff and even higher estimates from the governor’s office.

With Montana’s economy in a timid recovery, “jobs” has become the buzzword of this legislative session. However, if the actions taken by the Legislature are ultimately adopted, they would destroy thousands of jobs across the state of Montana. The proposed budget would weaken Montana’s essential public services, hurt hard-working families, and divert Montana from a path to long-term and widely-shared prosperity.

Montana’s 62nd Legislature is now twelve weeks into the session, and the proposed state budget has passed from the House, Senate Finance and Claims, and is scheduled to be heard on the Senate floor as early as next week. This preliminary budget includes unnecessary and harmful cuts that jeopardize the quality of schools, place our seniors’ health care at risk, and cause long-term harm to our vital public services. Unfortunately, the proposed cuts also stand to endanger the future of Montana’s greatest asset- our children. Over $130 million of the cuts directly impact Montana’s children.

The Montana Legislature has made hundreds of unnecessary and harmful preliminary cuts that jeopardize the quality of schools, place our seniors’ and children’s health care at risk, and cause long-term harm to our vital programs and services. As of March 1, the Legislature has made $224 million in cuts to the governor’s proposed budget and recommendations. This report provides an analysis of some of the preliminary cuts made to core public services and the harms that would result if they are passed.

Montana has the option to maintain core public services that educate our children, keep our families and communities healthy and safe, and help our most vulnerable neighbors make ends meet. These programs also create jobs for teachers, nurses, and other workers throughout the state. Unfortunately, the legislature’s budget subcommittees have slashed many of these services, threatening the health and safety of our communities now and our prospects for sustained and shared prosperity in the future.

As of Feb. 18, 2011, the Montana Legislature has made cumulative decisions that would bring the next state budget $224 million below the governor's proposed budget. This includes over $130 million in cuts to the Department of Health and Human Services alone. The appropriations subcommittees have completed their work.  It is now up to the House Appropriations Committee to decide how much of our public investments in education, health care, and infrastructure to restore.

The following links provide an overview of the cuts made so far and details by agency where available.

Previous legislatures have shown bipartisan support for using one-time-only fund transfers and other revenue enhancements. In general, fund transfers can be wise fiscal policy during economic downturns because they prevent cuts to core services when Montana families and businesses are struggling. The benefits and risks of each of these individual fund transfer proposals deserve to be debated on their own merits, but the idea of short-term fund transfers should not be rejected wholesale.

The recession has cost our state jobs and revenue for services. Unfortunately, a plan to start the new budget almost $500 million below the Governor’s balanced budget proposal will make matters worse by making unnecessary cuts that will hurt the economy and families.   

To create new jobs, local economies need a boost—not cuts. If the legislature continues with their plan, they will begin the session by automatically implementing over 200 cuts hidden in procedural decisions without a transparent discussion of their impacts. These cuts will decrease income for Montana families and businesses, hurt vulnerable children and cost the state more in the long run.

The Montana state budget is how “we the people of Montana” identify, prioritize, and fund the public structures and services that help create our safety, prosperity, and stability. Unfortunately, Montana, like virtually every other state in the country, is feeling the effects of the recession.  As individual and corporate incomes have fallen, we have seen a record-breaking decline in our state’s revenues. 

Funding for schools, roads, parks, libraries, law enforcement, prescription assistance for low-income seniors, fire protection, regulatory systems, child care assistance for working families, and numerous other public structures and services are at stake.

This report is designed to inform advocates and policymakers alike about the current revenue crisis, why it matters, and how policymakers can meet the crisis with a balanced approach that builds a brighter future for the next generation of Montanans.

The pivotal debate currently underway in Congress on how to address the federal deficit will undoubtedly have an enormous impact on our nation, our state, and our collective ability to address priorities from Social Security and health care to education. For example, many of the proposals being discussed would result in deep cuts to Medicaid. In addition to jeopardizing the health of many of our most vulnerable neighbors, the Medicaid cuts could have a devastating impact on the struggling economies of every state in the nation, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity at risk. Considering the state has only gained 7,500 jobs since the lowest point of the recession, these proposed cuts to Medicaid could eliminate over half of all jobs gained since Montana began its recovery.