By CHARLES S. JOHNSON IR State Bureau helenair.com February 8, 2011 http://helenair.com/news/article_445d1824-3353-11e0-a6c5-001cc4c002e0.html A Helena legislator on Monday introduced a $90 million bonding bill to help pay for a new state history museum, new state college and university buildings around the state and a state veterans home in Butte. Democratic Rep. Galen Hollenbaugh is the sponsor of House Bill 439, with Senate Minority Leader Carol Williams, D-Missoula, as the cosponsor. As an appropriations bill, HB439 has to be introduced in the House first. “It’s a jobs bill,” Hollenbaugh said. “There’s not one FTE (full-time equivalent state employee) in the bill, not one new government program.” For the state to bond, or go into debt, it requires a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. Williams said she’s optimistic about the bill changes. It’s the only major jobs-creation bill likely to pass this session, she said. “I think that’s why we’re getting Republican support because they know it too,” she said. Hollenbaugh and Williams were able to get more than 70 of the 150 legislators to sign the bill, including the two key Republicans who head budget committees, House Appropriations Chairman Walter McNutt of Sidney and Senate Finance and Claims Chairman Dave Lewis of Helena. “We’re just going to keep adding people,” Williams said. “I was surprised at how many are on it.” Hollenbaugh said all 32 House Democrats have signed the bill, plus 17 of the 68 House Republicans. Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who had said last summer he would oppose a bonding bill, said Monday he is withholding judgment at this time. “I’m going to see what they come up with,” the Democratic governor said. “Revenues are exploding on the upside and are substantially higher than even our estimates.” Williams said she began working on the bill draft since July. “The day that Gov. Schweitzer said we weren’t doing bonding, I went right to work on it,” she said. Hollenbaugh said the projects in the bill would create private construction jobs and the new buildings would help educate people and teach some new skills so they could return to work. The new Historical Society museum will help boost Montana’s economy as a major tourism draw, he said. A previous Legislature already committed $7.5 million for the new facility, some of which has been spent on studies. HB439 would allow for the bonding to take place only if state tax collections and transfers in fiscal 2011 are at least $2 million more than the $1.67 billion revenue estimate unanimously supported in mid-November, plus 750,000 from the previous year. Hollenbaugh said now is a good time for the state to issue bonds because interest rates are about 2 percent and the state has “a great bond rating,” which means it costs the state less to bond. Here are the bonding projects in the bill: -- University of Montana-Missoula College of Technology new building, $29 million. -- Montana Historical Society museum, Helena, $23 million. -- Montana State University-Billings, science and instructional tech building, $14.25 million. -- Combined state laboratories (veterinary diagnostic lab, analytical lab and wildlife lab), $6.7 million. -- Southwestern Montana Veterans’ Home, Silver Bow County, $5 million. -- University of Montana-Western, Main Hall, $4.45 million. -- Montana State University-Great Falls College of Technology, agricultural and trades building, $4 million. -- Montana State University-Bozeman, classroom renovation, $2.5 million. -- MSU-Bozeman, agricultural experiment stations, $1 million.