At its midpoint, 12 statistics help explain the 2019 Montana Legislature

(Montana Free Press) Montana lawmakers are at home from the Capitol this week for their mid-session spring break, a milestone that represents the halfway point of the 90-day 2019 legislative session.

The break also represents one of the Legislature’s key deadlines: transmittal, the point when bills that don’t propose new spending are considered dead if they haven’t passed the chamber where they were introduced.

With that in mind, here are 12 key statistics to help you understand the 2019 session so far:

964

bills introduced as of March 1, according to the state LAWS database

477

have cleared their first legislative chamber

41

reached Gov. Steve Bullock’s desk or are heading there

36

bills already signed into law.

6.4

average number of bills sponsored by each legislator

24

bills sponsored by Sen. Roger Webb, R-Billings — the most of any 2019 lawmaker

11

number of Webb’s bills that are “probably dead,” according to LAWS

0

bills sponsored by Sen. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, the only lawmaker without at least one proposal to his name

approximately 75

subcommittee hearings so far on House Bill 2, which sets most of the state budget. It’s set for debate before the full House Appropriations Committee next week

$4,309 million

or $4.3 billion, the total House Bill 2 General Fund spending included in the governor’s 2020-21 budget proposal

$33 million

amount of spending cut from the governor’s General Fund spending proposal in budget drafts approved by Republican-controlled appropriation subcommittees, according to the Legislative Fiscal Division

$177 million

amount of General Fund spending that could be added by spending bills that have cleared legislative committees, according to LFD