HELENA — Up to this week, Gov. Greg Gianforte had signed more than 700 bills into law and vetoed almost 40 more – but Friday was his deadline to take action on the last major budget bills still unresolved from the Montana Legislature’s 2025 session.
The biggest bill by far is House Bill 2, the state’s main appropriations bill, which lays out more than $16 billion in state spending for the next two years. Gianforte signed the bill but used his line-item veto power to remove about $31 million of that.
(Watch the video for more details on the spending Gianforte struck out.)
In his letter announcing the line-item vetoes, Gianforte said the budget was balanced but included “unnecessary spending.”
“We have an obligation to be good stewards of taxpayer resources, regardless of whether we are in more promising fiscal times or more challenging fiscal times,” he wrote. “Protecting taxpayers requires us to make tough decisions, prioritizing what is necessary over what would be nice to have.”
The sections Gianforte struck out included:
- $10.7 million in provider rate increases for air ambulance services. Gianforte said in his letter the funding benefited only one type of provider while leaving others out, and that the state could make better decisions on appropriate rates in the future with more complete data.
- $6 million in unused money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which HB 2 had reallocated to food banks, after-school programs, child advocates and mentorship programs. Gianforte said those organizations do “noble work,” but that redirecting this funding would put taxpayers at risk if demand for TANF increases or the federal government changes the rules.
- $3 million for student loan repayments to nurses and psychiatrists working at state-run facilities like the Montana State Hospital. Gianforte said MSH has already improved its retention and recruitment without this program, and it didn’t make sense to offer such a program one time only.
- $1.8 million in increased funding for prerelease centers. Gianforte said the Montana Department of Corrections is currently in negotiations with those centers, so this funding would be premature.
- $1.6 million for contracted correctional facilities, specifically the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. Gianforte said his budget proposal already included an increase for contracted facilities and county detention centers, but the Legislature added additional funding he believed was unnecessary.
HB 2 passed with support from both Republicans and Democrats, but many of the most conservative Republicans opposed it, saying it raised spending too much. Some of them had called on Gianforte to use his authority to trim the budget.
The line-item vetoes drew immediate criticism from legislative Democrats.
“I’m really disappointed in the Governor’s line-item vetoes of HB 2,” House Minority Leader Rep. Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said in a statement. “House Democrats worked hard this session to secure investments in making life more affordable for Montanans, but these are the items that Gianforte put on the chopping block. Montana’s budget is a statement of our values, and with these cuts, Governor Gianforte is telling us loud and clear that his priorities are not with working families.”
Because HB 2 didn’t pass the Legislature with two-thirds support in each chamber, there will be no mail-ballot poll to see if lawmakers could override Gianforte’s line-item vetoes.
Gianforte signed four other bills. Among them were House Bill 5, the long-range building bill that includes hundreds of millions of dollars in construction on state facilities, like upgrades at the Montana State Hospital and Montana State Prison. He also signed House Bill 924, which sets up a massive new state trust; it will take in hundreds of millions of dollars to be held and reinvested, with the interest funding programs ranging from infrastructure to child care to property tax assistance.
The governor also vetoed six more bills, bringing his total to 45 bills vetoed this session – almost twice as many as in 2023. For most of them, he cited the cost – as he has in many of his vetoes this year.
The six vetoes include:
- House Bill 340, from Rep. Melissa Romano, D-Helena, which would have created a statewide program to provide additional support for teachers in the first three years of their careers.
- House Bill 456, from Rep. Jonathan Karlen, D-Missoula, which would have allowed people working for child care providers to receive the Best Beginnings scholarship to help pay for receiving their own child care, even if they made more than the current income maximum.
- House Bill 551, from Romano, which would have used state money to ensure families who qualify for reduced-price school lunches did not have to make copayments.
- House Bill 628, from Rep. Melissa Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls, which would have expanded the scope of a state program to improve students’ reading proficiency.
- House Bill 831, from Rep. George Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls, which would have expanded a property tax credit program for older Montanans.
- House Bill 952, from Rep. Frank Smith, D-Poplar, which would have established a process for the state to enter into agreements with Montana tribes regarding marijuana regulations.
While Gianforte has now made his final decision on all these bills, the results of the 2025 legislative session are still not entirely settled. Lawmakers are still voting in several more polls on potential veto overrides, and HB 628 and 831 also received enough support to qualify for polls.
