Businesses feel financial boost during session

By JOHN HARRINGTON - IR Staff Writer - 01/03/07

The red carpet is at the ready, as the Queen City once again prepares to welcome 150 lawmakers and hundreds more lobbyists, association insiders and aides to the biennial legislative session.

Across town, businesses are gearing up for "the state's longest-running convention," which brings a boost to a regional economy that's much slower in the first quarter of even-numbered years.

"They like to frequent the lounge area, and the bigger groups take up the dining room," said Jeff Hiel, general manager of the Silver Star Steak Company. "You can feel the financial impact. I hope the whole city does, because we do."

Bed tax receipts confirm what hoteliers across town say: session years bring life to an otherwise dark time of the year.

Jena Sabatini, incoming chair of the Helena Area Chamber of Commerce Hospitality Group, is looking forward to her first session in town after buying the Hampton Inn with her husband in 2005.

"We're anticipating a great session," Sabatini said, noting that the hotel specializes in bookings on shorter notice and thus doesn't have a strong sense of how this year's meeting will turn out. "We've heard that 2005 was a good year, and we're hoping to see that again in '07. Hopefully history will repeat itself."

The gavel falls today, but business in town has already picked up. Commissioner of Political Practices Dennis Unsworth said a steady stream of lobbyists passed through the office Tuesday to pay the $150 fee and register. His informal count showed about half of them coming from Helena and half from elsewhere in the state.

"We've got about 180 lobbyists registered so far, and we expect to see about 500 total this session," he said.

From the City of Helena's perspective, the session can mean extra work for law enforcement, but it's business as usual for most other departments.

"There are issues that crop up relative to security," said city manager Tim Burton, noting the visit of U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert as a time the local police worked with the FBI and other agencies. "There are many more visiting federal people, as well as certain events and protests where the Helena Police Department gets involved."

Burton said that city employees may testify on certain bills, either on proposed laws that may affect Helena uniquely, or as a favor for colleagues across the state on bills affecting municipalities in general.

"Our counterparts all over the state may call and ask us to weigh in on issues. It may save them a trip to Helena," he said. "It's part of the job, and we regulate it closely through my office."

The print shop in the basement of the Capitol is budgeted to run 9 million photocopies over the next four months -- and that's just to print copies of bills for lawmakers. Other printers around town say business is better in the months leading up to the session as well.

"It drives some business for associations and some peripheral organizations that gear up for the Legislature," said Toni Broadbent, owner of Allegra Print & Imaging. "Newsletters get bigger, all the printing gets a little bit bigger. It doesn't really require that we add staff, but we're definitely doing bigger jobs."

John Harrington can be reached at 447-4080 or john.harrington@helenair.com.