HELENA — Montana lawmakers are heading home from the Capitol this week for their mid-session spring break, a milestone that represents the halfway point of the 90-day 2019 legislative session.
The break also represents one of the Legislature’s key deadlines: transmittal, the point when bills that don’t propose new spending are considered dead if they haven’t passed the chamber where they were introduced.
With that in mind, here are 12 key statistics to help you understand the 2019 session so far:
964
bills introduced as of March 1, according to the state LAWS database
477
have cleared their first legislative chamber
41
reached Gov. Steve Bullock’s desk or are heading there
36
bills already signed into law.
6.4
average number of bills sponsored by each legislator
24
bills sponsored by Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings — the most of any 2019 lawmaker
11
number of Webb’s bills that are “probably dead,” according to LAWS
0
bills sponsored by Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, the only lawmaker without at least one proposal to his name
approximately 75
subcommittee hearings so far on House Bill 2, which sets most of the state budget. It’s set for debate before the full House Appropriations Committee next week
$4,309 million
or $4.3 billion, the total House Bill 2 General Fund spending included in the governor’s 2020-21 budget proposal
$33 million
amount of spending cut from the governor’s General Fund spending proposal in budget drafts approved by Republican-controlled appropriation subcommittees, according to the Legislative Fiscal Division
$177 million
amount of General Fund spending that could be added by spending bills that have cleared legislative committees, according to LFD