Budgets within Montana’s state health department and office of public defender are busted.
Lawmakers in the Legislative Finance Committee Wednesday debated a proposal from Governor Steve Bullock to borrow more than $23 million from next year’s budget to pay for the state’s current financial troubles.
Most of the money in the proposal would go to fund Department of Health and Humans Services budget items that are currently in the red.
That request is for just over $20 million in the general fund set aside for the 2019 budget to be used for the state’s costs for Medicaid caseloads, the Montana State hospital, and other operating expenses this year.