General Appropriations Act

The fiscal years covered by the appropriations were updated from the 2027 biennium to the 2026-2027 biennium.

All budget amounts in the agency tables were updated to reflect the final approved funding levels for the new fiscal years.

The bill was renumbered and restructured to match the standard format of an enrolled bill, and minor text edits were made to correct agency names and clarify statutory citations.

The fiscal years in the budget tables were changed from 2026-2027 to 2024-2025 to reflect the current biennium.

Specific dollar amounts for the Legislative Services Division and Legislative Committees were updated, showing a decrease in General Fund allocations for 2025 compared to the previous version.

A new line item for the 'Audit and Examination' division was added to the budget table with specific funding allocations.

The bill number was updated from HB 0002.005 to HB 0002.001, and minor text corrections were made throughout the document.

The bill number was updated from 0002.004 to 0002.005, and internal line numbers were adjusted to match the new version.

The bill identifier was updated from version 003 to version 004, indicating a new draft or amendment version.

The fiscal year reference in the budget table was changed from Fiscal 2026 to Fiscal 2027, potentially updating the budget planning period.

Section numbers were reorganized; the original Section 1 (Short title) is now Section 1, but subsequent sections were shifted down (e.g., original Section 2 became Section 1 in the new layout, and original Section 4 became Section 3), indicating a structural renumbering of the document.

Added a definition clarifying that legislatively authorized positions budgeted (PB) are treated as full-time equivalents (FTE) when developing the personal services budget.

Increased the budgeted amount for the Legislative Services Division from $18,719,809 to $18,746,661 for Fiscal 2026.

Increased the budgeted amount for the School Funding Study from $233,927 to $233,927 (no change in total, but formatting adjusted) and Fiscal 2027 from $100,255 to $100,255 (no change in total, but formatting adjusted).

Corrected formatting in the budget table headers to align column labels and totals properly.

Adjusted section numbering and formatting for the Legislative Committees and Activities subsection.

The bill's section numbers were renumbered sequentially (e.g., Section 1 became Section 1, but subsequent sections were shifted) and the bill number was updated from HB 0002.001 to HB 0002.AP.

The definition of 'program' was updated to explicitly require that programs be identified as major subdivisions of an agency numbered with an Arabic numeral.

A new restricted funding line item was added for the 'Section 5-20-301, MCA School Funding Study' under the Legislative Committees and Activities division.

Funding amounts for the Legislative Services Division increased significantly from approximately $18.4 million to $18.7 million for Fiscal 2026.

Capitalization was standardized throughout the document, changing references to 'office of budget and program planning' to 'Office of Budget and Program Planning' and 'Montana university system' to 'Montana University System'.

The effective date and budget period were changed to cover the biennium ending June 30, 2027.

Budget tables were updated to include Fiscal 2026 and 2027 columns, showing reduced funding for the Legislative Branch.

A new line item was added to appropriate $1.85 million for the Consumer Counsel Administrative Program.