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Senate Committee Derails Essmann's Bill That Would Track Status of Non-Profits
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- Created on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 11:51
- Written by Phil Drake, Montana Watchdog
More than 11,000 nonprofits statewide are tax exempt, but are they really?
Once Montana grants that status, the nonprofit doesn't have to renew its exemption ever again. Several nonprofits have enjoyed this tax exemption since statehood was established.
Nonprofits come and go, but the state doesn't keep track of them and doesn't even have a comprehensive list of the tax exempt properties.
Read more: Senate Committee Derails Essmann's Bill That Would Track Status of Non-Profits
Montana's Top Democrat Could Face an Uphill Battle in 2014
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- Created on Tuesday, 04 December 2012 18:41
- Written by Dustin Hurst, Montana Watchdog
Senate Finance Chairman and Montana Democrat Max Baucus faces that horrifying word every incumbent legislator dreads.
Vulnerable.
A powerful figure in Montana and national politics and a U.S. Senate member since 1978, Baucus could fall in the 2014 election, a number of national publications contend. Most see Baucus as a top Democrat in a state that hasn't supported a left-leaning candidate for president for decades, a situation optimal for a Republican pick-off.
Of course, that's what many said of Democrat Jon Tester, the state's junior U.S. senator, just before he pounded Republican challenger Denny Rehberg in November.
Undaunted, Politico's Dave Catanese discussed the prospect of Republicans grabbing a Senate majority in two years, marking a number of vulnerable Senate Democrats along the way. Catanese tabbed Baucus as one of a handful of senators Republicans might pick off
Read more: Montana's Top Democrat Could Face an Uphill Battle in 2014
Lawmaker Wants to Close Governor's Loopholes
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- Created on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 11:41
- Written by Phil Drake, Montana Watchdog
Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer is known for circumventing the Legislature to get what he wants.
He wanted a state employee health clinic here, and he got it — arguing that he didn't need to go through the Legislature, because the Montana Health Center was an administrative act under the state's health plan.
State Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, wants to stop the governor from using loopholes to avoid lawmakers.
Schweitzer Plans for Medicaid Expansion
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- Created on Friday, 07 December 2012 18:50
- Written by Dustin Hurst, Montana Watchdog
Following his final budget presentation ever, Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer, always the consummate showman, handed reporters $2 calculators, the simple tool he says he used to balance the state's books during his 8-year tenure.
Perhaps he's fibbing a bit about using a single tool to bring the financial books into the black, because his latest budget reveals Schweitzer can peer deeply into the future's stormy bowels.
Too bad the grandstanding governor didn't share his crystal ball, too.
Governor Seeks Pilot Drug Program for Public Employees
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- Created on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 11:38
- Written by Phil Drake, Montana Watchdog
Gov. Brian Schweitzer is asking the federal government to approve a five-year pilot program in Montana in which cheaper prescription drugs would be imported from Canada and sold to state employees.
"By approving a small pilot project to import lower-priced prescription drugs from Canada for Montana's state employee clinics, we can lower the price of prescription drugs for employees of the state of Montana with medicines that are safe and effective," Schweitzer wrote in an Aug. 30 letter to Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services.
Read more: Governor Seeks Pilot Drug Program for Public Employees
PSC Approves Addition to Rate Base
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- Created on Wednesday, 05 December 2012 18:48
- Written by Press Room
The Montana Public Service Commission has approved the placement of NorthWestern Corporation d/b/a NorthWestern Energy's Battle Creek natural gas assets into rate base.
The commission approved, on a 4-1 vote, a stipulated agreement between NorthWestern Energy and the Montana Consumer Counsel that established a capital structure consistent with other recent rate cases including a return on equity of 10.00%. The stipulation also establishes a framework for evaluating future acquisitions, such as the recently announced Bear Paw field, that includes a unit cost/market-price crossover point to mitigate risk should market prices turn out different than the forecast prices used to evaluate the acquisition.
