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 appropriation for administrative costs (estimated to fund 0.75 FTE).

The Department of Commerce, represented by Mandy Rambo, spoke in opposition. Rambo said the department’s concern is staffing and mission: “It is difficult for the department to hire 1 time only staff. Those jobs come with an end date,” she told the committee, and added that reallocating staff to run a one-time grant program would “have a negative impact on the other programs that commerce already has to run with the FTE that we currently have.” Local-government representatives including Amy Grimoljez of Crowley Fleck and Jennifer Olson of the Montana League of Cities and Towns spoke in favor, noting likely local projects such as Billings’ South Park Pool.

On education funding reporting, a sponsor-presented bill amends MCA 20-9-326 to require the Office of Public Instruction to produce a report no later than Sept. 1, 2025, and every four years thereafter, detailing inflation experienced by school districts over the prior six years and presenting that information to the Education Interim Budget Committee and the Education Interim Committee. The sponsor and proponents said the bill is a reporting measure intended to give interim committees earlier, standardized information about any inflation gap; the hearing included discussion of a hypothetical fiscal-note figure that appeared in the materials (about $92.5 million) but sponsors emphasized that figure is informational and contingent on later committee action and appropriations.

Sen. John Esp introduced a separate housing-related bill (Senate Bill 223) that he said “corrects an error” from an earlier funding transfer and restores a program intended to give certain employees loans or down-payment assistance to buy homes; Dan Villa of the Board of Investments testified as a proponent and said the board expects to have 20 units ready to occupy. That bill was heard; no committee action was taken on it during the session.

Executive action taken by the committee included the following recorded votes and motions: • Amendment 2520002001 to House Bill 252 (technical change moving emergency-authorized teachers into year one): moved by Representative Cafaro; passed by voice vote of those present. • House Bill 252 as amended: motion to move due pass; roll-call vote 20 yes, 2 no; outcome — passed. • House Bill 267 (Bobby’s law): voice vote passed unanimous by those present; outcome — passed. • Amendment to House Bill 145 (adjusting nonresident hunter fee figures): moved; amendment passed 21 yes, 1 no. • House Bill 145 as amended: moved due pass; voice vote passed (chair reported 20 yes, 1 no).

The committee also discussed scheduling. Members agreed to consider Senate Bill 223 for executive action at a later date; one member asked to delay because they needed to read the bill, and the committee indicated it may schedule the bill for the next day if no objection was raised.

Why it matters: HB 252 affects how quality-educator and related pay provisions are applied to districts that rely on emergency-authorized teachers, a change with immediate local payroll implications for small districts. HB 313 proposes a statewide grant program to address aging pool infrastructure that municipal governments say they want but that the Department of Commerce says it lacks capacity to administer without additional resources. HB 266 (the 20-9-326 reporting bill) would change when and how inflationary pressures on school budgets are documented for interim committees and could inform future budget debates.

What comes next: Bills that passed will proceed to the next steps dictated by legislative procedure; the committee signaled it may take up Senate Bill 223 at an upcoming meeting if members are prepared to act.