Bullock’s $10.3B budget plan would extend Medicaid expansion
Posted Nov 15, 2018 03:39:01 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HELENA, Mont. — Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is proposing a two-year, $10.3 billion budget that would re-authorize a health insurance program for about 96,000 low-income residents and raise some taxes to help pay for it.
The Democratic governor’s plan released Thursday includes proposed tax increases on hotel rooms, rental cars, tobacco and liquor and increasing a fee charged to investment advisers.
The increases would raise about $50 million a year and help pay to continue the state’s Medicaid expansion program, which is scheduled to expire next year.
Similar proposed hikes were rejected by the tax-averse Republican-led Legislature during a November 2017 special legislative session.
Bullock’s budget also includes $30 million for early childhood education, freezing university system tuition and spending $292 million on infrastructure projects.
This is Bullock’s final budget proposal before his second term ends in 2021.
Amy Beth Hanson, The Associated Press
