2007 Montana Legislature

About Bill -- Links

HOUSE BILL NO. 178

INTRODUCED BY F. WILMER

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: "AN ACT GENERALLY REVISING LAWS RELATED TO THE UNIVERSITY SYSTEM; REQUIRING THE BASE BUDGET OF THE MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM TO INCLUDE AN AMOUNT PAID FROM THE GENERAL FUND THAT IS EQUAL TO THE PERCENTAGE OF THE CURRENT UNRESTRICTED OPERATING BUDGETS OF THE MONTANA UNIVERSITY SYSTEM EDUCATIONAL UNITS FUNDED BY TUITION IN THE PREVIOUS BIENNIUM; CLARIFYING OBLIGATIONS OF THE STATE; AMENDING SECTIONS 17-7-102 AND 20-25-403, MCA; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE."

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:

 

     NEW SECTION.  Section 1.  State share of current unrestricted operating budgets of Montana university system educational units. The base budget of the Montana university system must include an amount paid from the general fund that is equal to the percentage of the current unrestricted operating budgets of the Montana university system educational units that was funded by resident tuition in the prior biennium.

 

     Section 2.  Section 17-7-102, MCA, is amended to read:

     "17-7-102.  Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following definitions apply:

     (1)  "Additional services" means different services or more of the same services.

     (2)  "Agency" means all offices, departments, boards, commissions, institutions, universities, colleges, and any other person or any other administrative unit of state government that spends or encumbers public money by virtue of an appropriation from the legislature under 17-8-101.

     (3)  "Approving authority" means:

     (a)  the governor or the governor's designated representative for executive branch agencies;

     (b)  the chief justice of the supreme court or the chief justice's designated representative for judicial branch agencies;

     (c)  the speaker for the house of representatives;

     (d)  the president for the senate;

     (e)  appropriate legislative committees or a designated representative for legislative branch agencies; or

     (f)  the board of regents of higher education or its designated representative for the university system.

     (4)  "Base budget" means the resources for the operation of state government that are of an ongoing and nonextraordinary nature in the current biennium. The Except as provided in [section 1], the base budget for the state general fund and state special revenue funds may not exceed that level of funding authorized by the previous legislature.

     (5)  "Budget amendment" means a temporary appropriation as provided in Title 17, chapter 7, part 4.

     (6)  "Emergency" means a catastrophe, disaster, calamity, or other serious unforeseen and unanticipated circumstance that has occurred subsequent to the time that an agency's appropriation was made, that was clearly not within the contemplation of the legislature and the governor, and that affects one or more functions of a state agency and the agency's expenditure requirements for the performance of the function or functions.

     (7)  "Funds subject to appropriation" means those funds required to be paid out of the treasury as set forth in 17-8-101.

     (8)  "Necessary" means essential to the public welfare and of a nature that cannot wait until the next legislative session for legislative consideration.

     (9)  "New proposals" means requests to provide new nonmandated services, to change program services, to eliminate existing services, or to change sources of funding. For purposes of establishing the present law base, the distinction between new proposals and the adjustments to the base budget to develop the present law base is to be determined by the existence of constitutional or statutory requirements for the proposed expenditure. Any proposed increase or decrease that is not based on those requirements is considered a new proposal.

     (10) "Present law base" means that level of funding needed under present law to maintain operations and services at the level authorized by the previous legislature, including but not limited to:

     (a)  changes resulting from legally mandated workload, caseload, or enrollment increases or decreases;

     (b)  changes in funding requirements resulting from constitutional or statutory schedules or formulas;

     (c)  inflationary or deflationary adjustments; and

     (d)  elimination of nonrecurring appropriations.

     (11) "Program" means a principal organizational or budgetary unit within an agency.

     (12) "Requesting agency" means the agency of state government that has requested a specific budget amendment.

     (13) "University system unit" means the board of regents of higher education; office of the commissioner of higher education; university of Montana, with campuses at Missoula, Butte, Dillon, and Helena; Montana state university, with campuses at Bozeman, Billings, Havre, and Great Falls; the agricultural experiment station, with central offices at Bozeman; the forest and conservation experiment station, with central offices at Missoula; the cooperative extension service, with central offices at Bozeman; the bureau of mines and geology, with central offices at Butte; the fire services training school at Great Falls; and the community colleges at Miles City, Glendive, and Kalispell."

 

     Section 3.  Section 20-25-403, MCA, is amended to read:

     "20-25-403.  State not obligated. No An obligation created under this chapter shall ever by the regents pursuant to 20-25-402 may not become a charge against the state of Montana, and all such obligations, including principal and interest, shall must be payable paid solely from the sources authorized in this chapter."

 

     NEW SECTION.  Section 4.  Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 20, chapter 25, part 4, and the provisions of Title 20, chapter 25, part 4, apply to [section 1].

 

     NEW SECTION.  Section 5.  Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 2007.

- END -

 


Latest Version of HB 178 (HB0178.01)
Processed for the Web on December 26, 2006 (3:47pm)

New language in a bill appears underlined, deleted material appears stricken.

Sponsor names are handwritten on introduced bills, hence do not appear on the bill until it is reprinted.

See the status of this bill for the bill's primary sponsor.

 Status of this Bill | 2007 Legislature | Leg. Branch Home
All versions of this bill (PDF format)
Authorized print version w/line numbers (PDF format)
[
NEW SEARCH ]

Prepared by Montana Legislative Services
(406) 444-3064