Legislature adjourns without passing infrastructure bill

HELENA – The 64th Montana Legislature ended Tuesday with one significant conservative victory, blocking the last major infrastructure bill.

The $150 million bill was dead and the House finished for the biennium by 7:07 a.m. Day 87.

The House could only muster 61 votes to bring Senate Bill 416, sponsored by Sen. John Brenden, R-Scobey, back onto the agenda, short of a ²/₃-majority, and then the House voted 63-35 to end the session. The Senate soon followed suit.

Some House Republicans objected to bonding for projects and to priorities in the infrastructure bill.

Timing may have played into the bill's defeat, said Speaker of the House Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertsen, who was part of the bipartisan group that negotiated the bill but was unable to generate much enthusiasm in his party.

He said members of the Republican caucus were upset about other losses during the session. Moderate Republicans and Democrats passed Medicaid expansion, the Flathead water compact and a dark money ban with narrow majorities, while some of the most conservative legislators have struggled to get their bills through the Legislature, such as a "religious freedom" referendum, fetal personhood, gun bills and tax cuts.

"This is the one opportunity and the one issue the Republican caucus's votes actually mattered," Knudsen said. "They needed 67 (yes votes on infrastructure) and for all the other issues, they only needed a majority. And, they didn't need us."

Gov. Steve Bullock's administration, county officials and senators worked to change minds on the infrastructure bill over the weekend, the governor said.

"It was supported by overwhelming majorities in both chambers. I am disappointed that a small and extreme faction in the House who all session long seemed more interested in scoring political points that getting the work done on behalf of Montana blocked the passage of this Republican proposal," Bullock said.

"Over 110 of 150 legislators voted for this compromise. A small minority took it down. They turned their backs on good paying construction jobs, and because of their actions communities in eastern Montana will suffer," he added.

"We heard a number of different excuses and reasons why a small group in the House didn't want to actually create jobs and invest in infrastructure," Bullock said. "This was not my bill. This was Sen. Brenden, the former GOP chair's bill. Everyone worked together for a proposal that presumably was palatable to the Republican majorities, but there was a small group who didn't want see anything."

As one of its last acts, the Senate passed Knudsen's House Bill 402, which targeted eastern Montana infrastructure, but since the House had already adjourned, that bill died, too. Knudsen said it was a long shot since the governor wanted infrastructure projects across the state.

"I'm very disappointed we couldn't get anything done for eastern Montana, for Bakken infrastructure," Knudsen said. "I tell my constituents, we tried everything we could, between HB 402 and the long negotiations on SB 416, trying as hard as we could to get that passed but there was just no appetite for bonding."

Knudsen said he made it clear the capital projects in House Bill 416 were "not Republican priorities" so would be a hurdle. Some Republicans may have tolerated some bonding but "those three capital projects were big anchors around 416's neck."

When asked if he wished he had twisted some arms to see SB 416 passed, Knudsen said the Republican party hasn't taken that approach.

"At the end of the day, each representative has to sleep at night and they have to do what they believe is the right thing," he said. "I don't have any regrets on not beating up on caucus members harder for 416."

Brenden's bill passed the Senate 47-3, but Senate Majority Leader Matthew Rosendale, R-Glendive, said he thought lawmakers would continue to work on it in the House.

"We were told they were not going to change the legislation but were going to try to change minds," he said.

With the bill's defeat "communities are going to have to be dependent on themselves," Rosendale said.

"We're going to have to cinch up our belts and do like we did last session, look for alternative funding and unfortunately not finish a lot of projects that need to be finished," Knudsen said.

Brenden's bill was bipartisan but when it failed to pass, "it was time to go back to the negotiating table," Senate Pro Tempore Eric Moore, R-Miles City, said. He called Bullock's stance "all or nothing," and said, "When you take that stance, bills are going to die."

Senate President Debby Barrett, R-Dillon, said the bill turned into an urban vs. rural issue "with urban areas getting way more." The bill included grants for critical infrastructure and bonding for Montana Historical Society expansion and Romney Hall renovation at Montana State Universities. Other colleges, including in Great Falls, also stood to benefit from construction projects.

House Minority Leader Chuck Hunter, D-Helena, said no voices from within the House seemed to make an impact in changing votes.

"There was an effort from people calling representatives and telling them how important this was. That might have made a difference," he said. "It could loom large in the elections."

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Jon Sesso, D-Butte, called ending the session with the defeat of the infrastructure bill "anticlimactic."

"When society invests in its future, it always wins," he said. The Legislature "could have done much more for the state."

Reach Tribune Staff Writer Kristen Inbody at kinbody@greatfallstribune.com. Follow her on Twitter at @GFTrib_KInbody.

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See a complete wrap-up of the 64th Montana Legislature and its impacts in Sunday's paper.