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Subcommittee opens hearing on House Bill 2; chair raises procurement, budget-efficiency concerns
Summary
A legislative subcommittee opened hearings on House Bill 2 (Section A) — the legislative budget — and the subcommittee chair emphasized procurement questions around the state lottery contract, urged greater budgetary efficiency and flagged population and revenue trends for lawmakers to consider.
The subcommittee opened the hearing on House Bill 2, Section A — the legislative budget and expenditures — with the Subcommittee Chair saying the committee must focus on efficiency and careful stewardship of general fund dollars.
“This is my favorite day of the year,” the Subcommittee Chair said during opening remarks, adding a procedural note: “be clear, be concise, and be gone. I can only guarantee the be gone part.” The chair reviewed committee staffing and membership changes during the interim and early hearings and said the group had worked to produce handouts and a short video on budgeting best practices.
The chair told members the committee had encountered a procurement concern tied to the state lottery’s renewing contract and that, after several hours of review, the lottery is using a request-for-proposal process for the upcoming contract renewal. The chair said Senate Bill 51 had been discussed as a possible off-ramp for procurement rules but that the committee ultimately learned the lottery would run an RFP for the contract, which was last let nearly 10 years ago. He said the matter drew unanimous agreement within the subcommittee on how to proceed.
The chair also urged lawmakers to press for budget accountability and performance measures, pointing to demographic and economic context: “Montana population growth in 2024 is the lowest in two decades,” he said, citing a net increase of about 5,400 people in calendar-year 2024. He told members those trends should inform decisions about spending and program outcomes, such as student test scores.
Committee members were shown a roughly 16-minute excerpt from a Legislative Finance Committee presentation on New Mexico’s budget practices; the chair said he hoped the state would adopt similar efficiency measures and noted that additional work by other senators was underway to pursue those ideas.
The chair framed the hearing in fiscal terms, saying the governor’s budget projects a negative structural balance by the end of fiscal 2029 and arguing the legislature should look for opportunities to limit spending where appropriate. He expressed particular concern about potential future reductions in federal assistance and asked members to consider how the Department of Commerce and other agencies would prepare if federal support eases.
The hearing on House Bill 2, Section A remained open at the end of the chair’s remarks; the chair said the committee would attempt to complete Section A and, if time permitted, begin House Bill B later in the day.
No formal motions or roll-call votes were recorded in the portion of the hearing transcribed here.
