13 March 2019 — 1835 mdt
New sweetheart legislation for an 800-volt gorilla, and a
heavy-handed shrink expanded Medicaid bill gets fast-tracked
Sen. Tom Richmond’s sweetheart bill for Northwestern gets a facelift. Mike Dennison has the story at KXLH TV. The first version of the bill, SB-278, was tabled at Richmond’s request. Richmond then produced a substitute, SB-331, that, figuratively speaking, lets Northwestern get away with murder with perhaps a slap on the wrist instead of just letting the 800-volt gorilla get away with murder.
There’s no good case for Northwestern’s investing any more money in Colstrip. The old power plants are notorious polluters, nearing the end of their economic lives. They’re going to require hundreds of millions of dollars to decommission. Richmond’s bill is an attempt to offload those costs on the ratepayers instead of on the stockholders.
Northwestern has better options for obtaining power. It can purchase power. It can invest in less dirty, more profitable, more efficient, natural gas fueled power plants. And if it ever adopts the mindset needed for the 21st century, it can invest in solar and wind instead of trying to put its boot on the shoulders of those technologies.
Rep. Buttrey’s shrink expanded Medicaid bill is being fast-tracked
HB-658 will be heard by the MT House’s human services committee starting at 0900 MDT Saturday, 16 March. So far, there’s no fiscal note.
There’s absolutely no reason to support this bill, which will have the practical effect of denying health insurance to tens of thousands of low income Montanans. Expanded Medicaid should be extended by a one-page bill that removes the sunset provision from the current law.
As I noted earlier this week, the balance of power on this issue is held by politically active, economically savvy, Republican members of Montana’s business community who know that removing the sunset from the current law is in their enlightened self-interest and the enlightened-self interest of Montana. They need to cajole, and to twist the arms of, the Republican ideologues in the legislature. If they don’t, and if they don’t do so publicly — and double fortissimo — Montana could suffer a medical and economic disaster (expanded Medicaid brings hundreds of millions of dollars into Montana).
Meanwhile, all who can should pack the hearing room, testify, and follow-up with telephone calls, emails, and letters. Enough people should show up to support a simple desunsetting bill that the hearing lasts at least 48 hours.