Where there's smoke, there's fire...sometimes
Krayton Kerns
9.12.07
Imagine yourself staring across a smoky campfire listening to your buddy tell a story. You sway to left, and then to the right as you duck the blinding smoke wafting towards you. Your eyes are burning as you take small gasps of fresh air between the bellows. Suddenly the wind changes, now blowing hard from your right and everything becomes perfectly clear. You glance down at the fire ring and notice there was no fire after all. It was all a decoy. That is exactly what happened in the September Special Session of the 60th Legislature. Here are the details:
The session opened with a public hearing before the House Appropriations and the Senate Finance and Claims Committees. Representatives from the Legislative Fiscal Division, DNRC and the National Guard delivered orchestrated compelling testimony about the devastating ’07 wildfire season and the haphazard method historically used to pay the bills.
It was explained the growing migration of people from urban to wild-land areas coupled with abundant forest fuels, drought, decreasing federal aid and higher operational costs has led to a budget-busting fire season. That made sense; so what do we do?
The Governor’s solution as proposed in HB#1 was fourfold:
*Expand the governor’s power to extend the duration of a state of emergency or disaster declared during the fire season.
*Replenish then grow the governor’s emergency fund from $16 million to $25 million.
*Move $42 million from the general fund to the DNRC and National Guard’s budgets for expenses incurred during the current fire season.
*Increase the DNRC budget $10 million for next year’s fire season.
At this point we were in the waning moments of a 3 ½ hour hearing with opinions being steered in a very specific direction. Then Representative Hawk presented HB#3 which proposed creating a $25 million dollar revolving account within the DNRC to be used to fund fire suppression costs. Replenished annually, this account would eliminate the DNRC having to rob Peter to pay Paul. It was a logical long-term solution to the many problems presented moments before.
With the room still packed, Rep. Hawk sat down as Chairman Sinrud called for proponents to step forward and testify on behalf of HB#3. With my attention focused directly towards officials of the DNRC, National Guard and the Governor’s budget office I waited for their response. In deafening unison they screamed…absolutely nothing. The room was deathly quiet. The wind had just shifted and the fire ring was now perfectly clear; this session had nothing to do with wild fires.
Over the next 27 hours the legislative battle focused around the governor’s attempt to expand his powers in regards to emergency declarations. Funding issues were placed on the back burner. The executive power grab was amended out of HB#1 in the House Appropriations Committee only to be reintroduced and approved by the Senate as SB#1. Once in the House Judiciary Committee, SB#1 was quickly tabled. Down, but not out, the governor’s power extension reappeared for the third and final time as a floor amendment on HB#1. It finally died 52-48.
When adjourned we held the governor’s power to that granted by the 1972 Montana Constitution. The bills for the current fire season have been paid. A one time appropriation for the next season has been approved, and a study of the entire fire suppression process is underway. We must fix this mess.
To conservatives this session could be viewed as a victory. After three aggressive attempts the governor’s reach was not extended and the balance of power remains. A statute change of that magnitude needs to be held under open public scrutiny of a regular session, not during a spur of the moment special session. However, if the power grab was only a head-fake, the tax-and-spenders scored a big expansion of the state government by spending $83 million hard earned taxpayers’ dollars. Remember, nothing is as it appears in Helena.
