The 2013 Legislature concluded last week with general satisfaction among several Flathead Valley lawmakers, but also disappointments

“I think it was a good session,” said Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell. “We did a lot of really good things. We fixed pensions, we were able to pay our employees, we balanced the budget and we gave pretty significant tax relief.”

Tutvedt was part of a “moderate majority” made up of a handful of Republicans and the Senate Democratic caucus that ended up exerting decisive influence on several important matters.

Tutvedt, along with Sens. Jim Peterson of Buffalo, Taylor Brown of Billings and Llew Jones of Conrad, referred to themselves as “responsible Republicans” in their votes dissenting from the Senate’s conservative bloc.

“What the responsible Republicans understood was the problem of compounding interest,” Tutvedt said in reference to the state’s mounting public employee pension liabilities. “It was going to eat our lunch.”

Not addressing the liabilities properly was going “to put the taxpayer at a big risk of tax increases” in the future, Tutvedt added.

The remedy that came out in the end was a requirement that public employers will contribute an additional 2 percent while employees will contribute an additional 1 percent, and the general fund will kick in roughly $70 million toward the liabilities.

The session’s main education bill also passed due to support of the Republican dissenters.

Sponsored by Sen. Jones, the bill restructured and increased education spending, particularly for Eastern Montana districts saddled with new pressures from oil-and-gas development.

“Responsible Republicans believe in a world-class education system and funding it properly,” Tutvedt said.

The bill originally provided statewide property tax relief but those provisions were removed. However, as revenues from natural resources increase, the bill has triggers that will lead to property tax cuts.

“As the triggers hit, there will be permanent property tax relief in the future,” Tutvedt said.

The Legislature also provided pay increases to state workers who have been working under a multi-year pay freeze and passed tax relief bills sponsored by Tutvedt.

One cut the business equipment tax from 3 percent to 1.5 percent on the first $6 million of equipment value, along with establishing an exemption for the first $100,000 of equipment value. Because of the exemption, the measure is expected to eliminate equipment taxes for 13,000 small businesses.

Tutvedt also sponsored legislation that exempts emission-control equipment required by new federal regulations from the equipment tax, and legislation that will simplify the state’s income tax system.

That bill reduces the income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 6 percent but it is “revenue neutral” because it eliminates loopholes, exemptions and credits.

Tutvedt said the legislation was designed to make state income taxes “flat and fair.”

Tutvedt noted that the Republican-controlled House was also on board with the biggest decisions, with  House Speaker Mark Blasdel, R-Somers, leading negotiations with Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration.

“Speaker Blasdel was a stabilizing force through the whole session and showed great leadership,” Tutvedt said. “At the end of the session, he was the guy who negotiated the [budget] deal that the responsible Republicans, the Democrats and the governor signed onto.”

“It’s tough,” Blasdel said of the GOP divide in the Senate. “The Republican Party is a big tent and there’s a lot of different voices there. I tried to stay out of the fights and just move the process through.”

Blasdel said Republicans came away with some wins and losses. “I think this session forced us to address a lot of large issues that had been pushed down the road by the previous administration,” he said, referring to former Gov. Brian Schweitzer. “We had some very large bills to pay.”

Specifically, those bills involve pension liabilities.

Blasdel could not estimate what percentage state spending will increase with the $10 billion budget that was passed, mainly because he has not seen which bills will be signed by Bullock. But for a fair understanding of spending increases, Blasdel said a person needs to acknowledge ongoing spending increases and one-time increases.

“I think we did some good things to improve the business climate,” he said. “I think we got a good package of tax bills to the governor.

He wasn’t entirely pleased with the education funding bill.

“I think Senator Jones’ bill has some very good components and some components I disagree with as well. But Senator Jones worked hard on it and built a huge coalition to support it. He worked on it for two years to build that.”

Whitefish Rep. Ed Lieser, the Flathead delegation’s sole Democrat, said the biggest disappointment of the session was the Legislature’s failure to expand Medicaid to about 70,000 low-income Montanans.

Blasdel sees it differently, saying Montana taxpayers would be on the hook if federal funding for it declines.  

“I think it’s proper for Montana not to jump into a program that even D.C. doesn’t know how they are going to handle,” he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act. “I think we need to be protective of taxpayers and be thoughtful about what we step into.”

Lieser said the Medicaid expansion issue may not be over.

“We can continue to work on it ... It could even result in a special session from what I hear. It’s a very important agenda item for the governor and it’s a high priority for the Democratic Party.”

Overall, Lieser was pleased with the outcome of his first legislative session.

“I learned a ton about how the process works, how I can be a more effective legislator and I met some absolutely wonderful people along the way,” he said. “It really turned to be more bipartisan than I expected.”

And he partly credits Blasdel for that.

“My impression, and what I hear, is he really did a remarkable job,” Lieser said.

It was the last session for Blasdel in the House because of term limits.

“I’m going to go back and make a living for a while, get back to my normal life,” Blasdel said, adding that he’ll have to ponder any future political possibilities.

“I hope we can get somebody else like him in that seat the next time,” Lieser said of Blasdel.