Appropriations committee advances teacher-pay bill, hears proposals on pools, schools and housing

The House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday advanced a teacher-pay funding measure and heard multiple other bills affecting school funding, municipal pools, and housing.

In executive action, the committee passed House Bill 252 — amended to move emergency-authorized teachers into the first-year pay calculation — on a roll-call vote of 20-2. The committee also approved House Bill 267 (referred to as “Bobby’s law” in the hearing) and House Bill 145 (a revised nonresident hunter fee) by voice vote; an amendment to HB 145 passed 21-1 earlier in the session.

Sponsor and proponents described House Bill 313 as a new $5 million program to help cities and towns rehabilitate aquatic facilities. Representative Paul Tuss, sponsor of House Bill 313, told the committee the bill “creates a swimming pool rehabilitation program called the Aquatic Recreational Facilities Bill,” to be administered by the Montana Department of Commerce and funded from the general fund across two biennia. Tuss said the bill includes a 1-to-5 local match requirement for grants of $25,000 or more and caps individual grants at $500,000; the fiscal note estimates many awards will be smaller, closer to $150,000 on average, and the bill allocates 3 percent of the…