By Independent Record - An IR View

We’ve long championed the need for a new museum for the Montana Historical Society, and we’re happy to see local Rep. Galen Hollenbaugh making the rounds with a bonding bill that would make the new museum a reality.

Standing on its own, a bill seeking money only for the history museum wouldn’t have much of a chance at the Capitol, where it would likely to be seen as a pork project for Helena and not a benefit to the state as a whole. (A point with which we strongly disagree, by the way.) But the $90 million in proposed borrowing in House Bill 439, including $23 million for the museum, would fund projects not only here, but in Missoula, Billings, Butte, Dillon, Great Falls and Bozeman. If lawmakers from all those cities are on board, suddenly the bill may have life. And it should.

Beyond the tourism benefits a new museum would bring, our state’s history simply needs and deserves a new facility. Too many artifacts, antiques, documents and curios are kept out of sight in storage for lack of display space. We owe it to current and future generations to provide a home worthy of Montana’s rich past.

And for several reasons, now is a good time to borrow and build. The state’s credit rating is excellent. Money is historically cheap to borrow. Construction firms across the state are looking everywhere they can for work, and this list of projects would provide plenty of jobs. And the projects included in the bill, from a new College of Technology building in Missoula to a science building at MSU-Billings to the recently sited Southwestern Montana Veterans’ Home in Butte, are worthy.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer has said before he wouldn’t sign off on any borrowing measures this biennium, but his tune on that issue may be changing — due in part to a song he’s been singing as part of the larger budget picture for several months now. Schweitzer has steadfastly maintained that state revenues are going to grow at a much faster rate than the Legislature is budgeting over the next two years. If revenues soar as Schweitzer believes, and the Legislature sticks to its much lower estimates when preparing the budget, there should be plenty of room left to borrow for Hollenbaugh’s list of more than a half-dozen projects.

But before the bill even reaches the governor’s desk, it needs the approval of two-thirds of the Legislature. Hollenbaugh said recently he’s got 49 votes in the House, which is a good start. We urge the rest of the lawmakers from around the state to give a “Yes” vote to issuing bonds for these building projects. Montana’s past deserves it — and so does Montana’s future.