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Montana’s work-in-progress budget for the 2024-2025 biennium passed a wonky milestone last week as work by the Legislature’s appropriations committees progressed far enough for fiscal analysts to publish the session’s first General Fund status sheet.
The status sheet, which will be revised and republished periodically through the remainder of the session, is one of the main tools lawmakers use to ensure that the hundreds of bills under active consideration in the Capitol will produce the balanced budget required by the state Constitution.
The document includes an agency-by-agency breakdown of General Fund spending in the state’s main budget bill, House Bill 2, detailing how the current budget bill compares to the proposal put forward last fall by Gov. Greg Gianforte. It also lists other live bills with budget impact — more than 100 at the current count — and sums their cumulative effect on the state’s finances.
Here are the key stats:
- $4.2 billion — Agency spending that would be authorized over the next two years by the Legislature’s working draft of House Bill 2. That’s 0.1% below the governor’s proposal.
- $1.9 billion — Total amount of new spending and tax cuts proposed by other live bills.
- $2.2 billion — The projected balance at the end of the fiscal year 2025.
- $558 million — The amount by which revenues exceed proposed spending in fiscal year 2025.
Please be aware of the following limitations: The figures provided pertain exclusively to the state General Fund and do not encompass funding from special-purpose sources or federal funds managed by state agencies.
Also, in an effort to avoid cluttering the list with bills that are unlikely to pass, the Legislative Fiscal Division employs strict rules for deciding what to include on its budget impact list. Generally, pending bills that have advanced out of their first legislative committee and haven’t been voted down or tabled make the list, though analysts exclude some bills awaiting appropriations committee review after passing an initial floor vote.
That means last week’s list includes some of the big-ticket legislation working its way through the Legislature, such as GOP-supported tax rebates and the governor’s signature income tax cut. But it also means the initial list excludes at least one major spending measure in the mix: House Bill 226, which would put $300 million toward shoring up state pension plans (that bill passed a House Appropriations Committee vote late last week, after the initial status sheet was published).
Furthermore, lawmakers have the opportunity to incorporate fresh spending measures into the equation. It is possible to introduce budget bills until March 28 and they must be cleared by their first chamber of the Legislature by April 3.
Read the full status sheet here.
