Rather, the 53-year-old Democrat says he's looking to build on and preserve first-term successes in the area of energy, education and other policies.
“Sometimes, you've got to plant a tree and just nurture it and let it grow,” he said in an interview last week at his Capitol office. “People throw up their hands and say, ‘Well, how come that tree's only 2 feet tall?' I say, ‘It's only 2 years old. Give some of these trees an opportunity to grow, to bear fruit.' ”
68 percent of the vote as he defeated Republican state Sen. Roy Brown of Billings and Libertarian Stan Jones. He'll be sworn in Jan. 5 to his second and final four-year term.
Schweitzer, a farmer and rancher, said he believes policies already in place can help Montana take advantage of a push by the Obama administration to build infrastructure to boost alternative energy production.
He also said his administration again will ask the Legislature to pass measures to collect Montana income taxes from out-of-state companies and individuals he believes are avoiding those taxes.
But the tax measures may be one of the only initiatives from the Schweitzer administration at the 2009 Legislature, which is shaping up as a session where lawmakers pass a shorn-down state budget and not much else of consequence.
State tax revenue is shrinking as the national economy slides into a recession, and Schweitzer already has revised his budget proposals, shaving some
$144 million in spending from his original two-year, $3.8 billion budget for 2010-2011.
Political power in Helena also will be split between the two parties, with Republicans controlling the state Senate, Democrat Schweitzer in the governor's seat, and Democrats and Republicans at a 50-50 tie in the Montana House.
Schweitzer said he won't be surprised or disappointed if few major policy changes make it through by the 2009 Legislature - and guesses that many Montana citizens feel the same way.
“I can stack up all of the bills that might make it (to my desk) this time, and if none of them passed, almost none of Montana would miss it,” he said. “There are a very few pieces that come out of every Legislature that have the ability of making small business and families and children's lives more productive, more fulfilled.”
Yet one thing Schweitzer said he will do is resist efforts by the Legislature to undo what he considers key measures enacted during his first term, such as the requirement that utilities produce 15 percent of their electric power from renewable sources by 2015.
That law, passed in 2005, and a 2007 bill creating property tax breaks for “clean and green” energy projects are among the building blocks that Schweitzer said should help Montana take advantage of a national push for more homegrown energy production, particularly wind, solar and biomass power.
“As the Obama administration is developing their strategic energy plan, I think it puts Montana in a very good position in that debate,” he said. “Part of that debate, from my perspective, is to bring more of those projects to Montana.”
Schweitzer said he'll also insist the 2009 Legislature make good on Initiative 155, which expands the Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) and other programs to cover as many as 30,000 additional kids. Voters passed the measure last month by a more than 2-to-1 margin, but it still requires the Legislature to approve some $20 million in annual funding for the expansion.
The governor said he won't support any tax increases or spending beyond what's required to run basic government programs. However, he probably will be pushing a proposal to capture tax revenue he says isn't being paid on land transactions or mineral payments involving out-of-state residents.
The revenue from those changes can finance another reduction in the property tax on business equipment, he said.
Schweitzer wants to exempt from property taxation the first $150,000 worth of equipment owned by a business. He said that means 90 percent of businesses in Montana wouldn't pay any business equipment tax, including most farms and ranches.
“We fully intend to cut business equipment taxes for 90 percent of the businesses in Montana, without losing any revenue, because we can close the loopholes for these out-of-staters,” he said.
Aside from that item, however, Schweitzer said he'll mostly be sitting tight, and watching and waiting to see how the Legislature treats his proposed budget and past initiatives.
“We had a very activist four years,” he said of his first term. “We managed to pass a lot of initiatives, whether that be in energy, health care or education, that are still in place. We've implemented some very good policy and we're going to make (it work).”
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