Rep. Jerry O’Neil, R-Columbia Falls, has a bill that would allow criminal defendants to bargain with a judge for corporal punishment in lieu of time behind bars.
You read that right.
Spanking instead of jail time.
I heard about this bill a couple weeks ago but hadn’t seen actual language until it started making the rounds on Facebook today.
"…a person convicted of any offense by a court in this state, whether a misdemeanor or felony, may during a sentencing hearing as provided in 46-18-115 bargain with the court for the imposition of corporal punishment in lieu of or to reduce the term of any sentence of incarceration available to the court for imposition.”
“The court and the person convicted of an offense shall negotiate the exact nature of the corporal punishment to be imposed, which must be commensurate with the severity, nature, and degree of the harm caused by the offender. If the court and the offender cannot agree on the exact nature of the corporal punishment to be imposed, the court shall impose a sentence as provided in 46-18-201.”
“The imposition of a sentence under this section must be carried out by the sheriff of the county in which the crime occurred if the sentence for corporal punishment reduced or eliminated the term of incarceration in the county jail or by the department of corrections if the sentence reduced or eliminated the term of incarceration in the state prison. Any imposition of sentence pursuant to this section must be carried out within a reasonable time.”
The measure is already raising eyebrows and is sure to catch the attention of those on the lookout for “bat crap crazy” legislation this session. Republican leadership has been doing its best to tamp down any potential bills the other side might use to embarrass the GOP as they work to craft a budget. This one apparently didn’t get tamped.
As one Facebook commenter quipped: “Is Jerry O'Neill pandering to the masochist criminal lobby? I didn't even know that lobby existed.”
The bill was marked “ready for delivery” today but hasn’t yet been assigned to a committee. I’lll be sure to keep you posted.
Sen.President Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, and House Speaker Mark Blasdel, R-Somers, named eight Republicans and four Democrats to a joint-select committee on pensions. Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, will chair the committee.
According to the leaders, the bi-partisan committee will be tasked with developing ideas and solutions to address Montana’s state pension shortfall.
“Our state pension shortfall is a real problem, that’s why it is critical for us to come together to find a solution,” Essmann said. “We need a solution that will allow us to keep the promises we have made to our public employees, provide fairness to future employees, and be responsible and fair to Montana taxpayers.
Blasdel said addressing the shortfall in Montana's state pension fund is one of the Legislature’s biggest jobs this session.
“Working on the problem through a joint bipartisan subcommittee is a good way of making sure we're focusing on work, not on politics,” Blasdel said.
Sen. Minority Leader Jon Sesso, D-Butte, called the committee “a good step forward,” but he lamented the fact that more Democrats weren’t on the committee.
“We would have preferred a couple more seats at the table, to reflect the true makeup of the 63rd Legislature,” Sesso said. “Regardless, the Democrats appointed to have a good working knowledge of the issue are prepared to make significant contributions to craft a fair, workable solution to the problem.”
The Joint-Select Committee will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays. According to lawmakers the committee will engage stakeholders and members of the public in an effort to thoroughly understand the challenges facing Montana’s public employees pension funds.
Members of the Joint-Select Committee on Pensions include:
“…the apparently false information included misrepresentations made to the IRS by WRP in urging expedited approval of its application and misrepresentations in its application to the IRS, asserting that it would not participate or intervene in elections.”
According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer:
“This is yet another case where a group apparently has claimed status as a section 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization in order to keep secret from the American people the donors financing its campaign activities. According to news reports published by ProPublica and Frontline, American Tradition Partnership (ATP) appears to have knowingly misled the IRS about its campaign activities and knowingly submitted false information to the IRS to obtain its tax-exempt status on an expedited basis.”
The groups are calling on the IRS to investigate and “take appropriate action against ATP.”
According to the letter submitted to the IRS Tuesday, WTP submitted its Form 1024, Application for Recognition of Exemption under Section 501(a), to the IRS on July 21, 2008.
A report by ProPublica and Frontline found that WTP submitted a letter to the IRS on September 29, 2008, while their IRS application was still pending, requesting that the IRS expedite processing of its application. According to the report, the request for expedition stated that Jacob Jabs, who was described as the organization’s “primary donor,” had promised to make a $300,000 donation to the group but only if WTP received recognition from the IRS for tax-exempt status by September 29, 2008. Id.
The letter from the watchdog groups continued:
The letter further said, however, that Jabs had extended his deadline, and said he “will give us the grant if we receive our tax exempt status by October 15, 2008. If we have not received our tax exempt status by this date, Mr. Jabs has assured us that he will no longer contribute said amount and instead will direct his donation to other organizations.”
According to the ProPublica/Frontline report, the IRS responded to WTP the next day, Sept. 30, 2008, and said that the request for expedited consideration would be granted. Tax-exempt status as a section 501(c)(4) “social welfare” organization was granted to WTP two days later on Oct. 2, 2008.
A subsequent ProPublica and Frontline report on Oct. 30 2012, said Jabs later said “he had never pledged money to the group, and never even been in contract with them until press stories appeared naming him.”
A subsequent release of WTP’s bank records as a result of state court litigation in Montana “show[ed] no money came in from the man WTP claimed as its primary donor when it asked the IRS to expedite the approval of its application,” ProPublica/Frontline reported.
According to the letter:
Assuming the ProPublica/Frontline reports are correct, the IRS agreed to expedited processing of WTP’s application for tax-exempt status that resulted in its approval, based on apparent material fraudulent information that WTP provided to the IRS and that WTP had to know was false.
On these grounds alone, the section 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status of WTP should be revoked and the IRS should consider what, if any, other actions it should take against WTP. The IRS should also forward any relevant information in this case to the Department of Justice so the Department can determine what, if any, action it should take against WTP for apparently submitting material false information to a federal agency in order to obtain action by the agency.
You can read the entire press release and the letter here.
Sen. Max Baucus brushed off recent criticism over billions of dollars in corporate tax breaks contained in the so-called “fiscal cliff” deal passed by Congress last week.
Speaking to members of the press following his address to the 2013 Montana Legislature, Baucus said the package of tax cuts -- which was approved last August by the bipartisan Senate Finance Committee included in the fiscal cliff deal – also eliminated “tens of billions of dollars” of tax credit “extenders,” which are legislative extensions of soon-to-expire laws.
“Frankly I was pretty proud of myself,” Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Thursday. “Congress was basically totally dysfunctional on this general subject, so I got the committee together and I said ‘OK, everybody here, Republicans and Democrats, lets work together…we have to get rid of some of these. It’s deadwood. It’s wasteful.’”
(Full video at the bottom of this post).
The package of extenders inserted by the White House into the fiscal cliff bill contained 52 tax break extensions for corporations totaling $64 billion. Some of the tax breaks went to specific companies such GE, Burlington Northern Santa Fe, JPMorgan Chase, and NASCAR. Another tax break benefits rum producers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“Now to be honest there were a couple in there I was not happy with,” Baucus said. “One that’s come out in the press quite frankly I’m not very happy with and I don’t know how it got in there. And I made that view known to my office.”
Baucus said the committee passed the measure on a bi-partisan 19-5 vote. Baucus said the measure eliminated 20 tax breaks that were scheduled for extensions for a savings of about $30 billion to taxpayers. A spokeswoman for Baucus said the overall measure contained many provisions which saved Montanans money.
“Max’s number one focus was making sure taxes didn’t go up for Montana families and small businesses because of tax cuts that were set to expire, and he worked with both Republicans and Democrats to put together a bill that could get enough support from both parties to make sure that didn’t happen,” Baucus spokeswoman Jennifer Donohue said in a statement Thursday.
Baucus has come under fire in some quarters after Washington Examiner columnist Timothy Carney pointed out that many of the corporations that benefited from the tax breaks employ lobbyists with close ties to Baucus to lobby.
“Pick any one of the special-interest tax breaks extended by the cliff deal, and you're likely to find a former Baucus aide who lobbied for it on behalf of a large corporation or industry organization,” Carney wrote in his Sunday column.
Carney pointed out that former Baucus chief of staff Peter Prowitt is the in-house lobbyists and an executive for GE and was on the lobbying team that won some of the tax credits. Carney:
“Two weeks before the Finance Committee hearing during which the bill was hashed out, GE's political action committee topped off its contributions to Baucus' Glacier PAC with a $2,000 check, according to the PAC's federal filings. This brought GE's contributions to Baucus' PAC to the legal maximum of $10,000 for the election cycle.”
Baucus’ former political advisor, Shannon Finley, lobbied on behalf of the American Wind Energy Association, “which lead the effort to extend a wind tax credit,” Carney wrote. Finley also represented Beam Inc., on the rum tax break.
According to Carney, former Baucus tax policy advisor Patrick Heck lobbied on behalf of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, which received a railroad maintenance tax credit, and Michael Evans, Baucus’ former legislative director, lobbied for clients who benefitted from a biofuels tax credit.
Asked Thursday about the connection between his former staffers and recipients of the extended tax breaks, Baucus said: “the main thing is to just keep our eye on the ball.”
“This is legislation which permanently prevented income tax increases on virtually all Montanans,” Baucus said. “This is legislation that permanently raised exemptions for the estate tax so that Montana farmers ranchers and family-owned companies like auto dealerships can be guaranteed there will be no increase in federal estate taxes that jeopardize their operations.”
Baucus said he goal is to get rid of as many extenders as possible in the coming year.
“I’m hopeful that during tax reform this next year we’ll be able to get rid of even more,” Baucus said.
Some of the extenders Baucus supported include:
· Deductions for college tuition and fees. According to Baucus’ office, about 2 million Americans and nearly 6,000 Montanans used that deduction in 2010 (the most recent IRS data).
· Deductions for teachers who buy classroom supplies out of their own pockets. According to Baucus’ office, 3.7 million teachers nationwide and nearly 11,000 Montana teachers relied on the deduction in 2010 (the most recent IRS data).
· Tax credits for businesses that hire new workers. And specific tax credits for businesses that hire unemployed veterans and tax credits for employers who make up the salary difference for Guard and Reserve members who are called to deploy.
· Expensing provisions that allow small businesses to write off the full costs capital investments in the first year instead of breaking over a longer period of time – up to 39.5 years.
· The research and development tax credit, which Baucus’ office said “allows businesses to invest in innovation and stay competitive.”
· A production tax credit that supports wind farm projects including the Rim Rock Wind farm in Glacier and Toole Counties and the Shawmut Wind Farm. “Nearly 1,500 Montana jobs have been supported by the Production Tax Credit,” according to Baucus’ office.
· Charitable deduction for farmers and ranchers who allow easements on their land for conservation purposes.
Here’s the full video from Baucus’ interview with Montana press at the Capitol:
Back for 2013 the Lowdown will regularly publish the Legislature’s calendar of special interests-sponsored social events, dinners and mixers.
In 2009 Democratic House Speaker Bob Bergren ordered the social calendar posted on the leg.mt.gov website, making the calendar available to the general public for the first time.
That practice ended after the 2011 session, so I began posting the calendar on the Lowdown.
This year I’ve created a public Google Calendar that will list the social events for the month. I’ll update it each Friday throughout the session. You can access it online at this link or by clicking the calendar image above.
Sen.President Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, and House Speaker Mark Blasdel, R-Somers, named eight Republicans and four Democrats to a joint-select committee on pensions. Sen. Dave Lewis, R-Helena, will chair the committee. 
Two campaign finance watchdog groups 
Sen. Max Baucus brushed off recent 
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