The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
The Blackfoot Valley's News Source Since 1980
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5 Montana Legislature Adjourns after Near-Marijuana Meltdown and Bill-Resurrecting Blitz The 67th Montana Legislature adjourned on Thursday, April 29, following a week filled with policies brought back from the dead and capped by a failed high-stakes gamble by conservative Republicans to rewrite a major portion of the recreational marijuana plan passed just days earlier. Both chambers adjourned "sine die" -- a Latin phrase meaning "without assigning another day to meet" --...
Mobile home parks are one of the last strongholds of reliable affordable housing in Montana, helping people of a wide range of income levels become homeowners, even as prices for most other residence types in across the state continue to spike. But as investment firms snap up properties across the state, there are signs that even mobile homes may soon become out of reach for many Montanans. It's certainly a worry for Cindy Newman, who owns a mobile home in the Highwoods...
Republican Lawmakers Locked in Battle with State Supreme Court over "Judicial Transparency" As the Montana Legislature nears the close of its biennial business, Republican lawmakers are mounting a case against the judicial branch and the state Supreme Court with accusations of judicial bias and improper record keeping, while Democrats call the inquiry a "witch hunt." Since the start of the 2021 Legislative Session, lawmakers have proposed numerous bills seeking changes to the...
Legislature Considers Lengthening Driver's License Renewal Cycle, Raising DUI Penalties Lawmakers in the 67th Montana Legislature are debating and advancing a number of bills seeking to revise the way drivers are licensed and increase punishments for repeat DUI offenders. Members of the House Transportation Committee held a hearing on Senate Bill 336 Monday, April 12, after the bill cleared the Senate unanimously a week earlier. Sponsored by Sen. Chris Friedel, R-Billings,...
Butte-Silver Bow County Health Officer Karen Sullivan was enjoying a drink in a Butte brewery after work when she said she got the call. For two months, she and her fellow county health officials across the state had been keeping tabs on reports of an outbreak of a strange new virus in Wuhan, China, but up until the evening of March 13, 2020, it had been business as usual for Sullivan and the county health department. Then a state official rang her at 6:30 p.m. "How's your...
Montana Senate Passes State Budget Bill, Rejects Attempt to End Medicaid Expansion The state budget is on the move again in the Montana Legislature after the Senate passed in on a 33-17 vote Thursday, making few changes and defeating an attempt to end Medicaid expansion in the process. House Bill 2 is the only bill the Legislature is constitutionally required to pass, as it determines how much money state agencies and programs will receive for the next two years. This...
Montana House Approves Draft of Bill to Spend $3 Billion in Federal COVID-19 Relief; Senate Panel Advances Budget Ahead of a key deadline on April 8, the Montana Legislature is quickly advancing a bill to spend billions in federal COVID-19 dollars as guidelines for how that money can be spent continue to roll in. House Bill 632, sponsored by Rep. Frank Garner, R-Kalispell, and dubbed the "Beast Bill" by lawmakers, advanced out of the House Appropriations Committee on Monday, M...
Montana House of Representatives Advances State Budget in Partisan Vote The state budget cleared another major hurdle in the Montana Legislature after lawmakers in the House of Representatives passed it down party lines on Wednesday, March 24, with all 67 Republicans voting in favor and 33 Democrats against. House Bill 2 determines how much money state agencies will receive from a pool of about $12.6 billion over the next two years. Passing a balanced state budget is the only...
"Open Cut 2.0" Bill would Ease Regulations on Gravel Pit Permit Applications A bill seeking to ease permitting requirements for gravel pits in rural areas and make it harder to call a public hearing on new facilities is drawing clear battle lines in the Montana Legislature, as property owners say it cuts them out of the process. In a hearing that lasted for more than two hours on Monday, March 15, the bill's sponsor, Rep. Steve Gunderson, R-Libby, called the bill -- House...
Lawmakers Hear Bill to Combat Drug, Sex Trafficking in Montana A bill drafted with the help of former Republican state Senator Dr. Al Olszewski would add a new set of signs to Montana's highways and airports greeting visitors with notice of a reward for information leading to the prosecution of drug and sex traffickers. Senate Bill 333, sponsored by Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, seeks to break down what Molnar called a "culture of trust" in drug and human trafficking circles by...
Montana House and Senate Adjourn for Mid-Session Break After Breakneck Floor Sessions After days of marathon sessions, the Montana House of Representatives and Senate adjourned for a nearly week-long break, having advanced more than 200 bills between the two houses in just two days. The break falls on the "transmittal" deadline, in which all bills that don't have spending attached must advance from the house they originate in, or are considered effectively dead. This session,...
Lawmakers Race to Introduce Bills Before Key Deadline; House Committee Holds Marathon Hearings As the Legislature approaches the halfway point of the session -- and a key deadline for general bills -- one House committee heard more than 50 bills in four days, imposing strict time limits on testimony and raising questions about transparency and public access. That deadline -- called "transmittal" -- falls on Wednesday, March 3, the halfway point of the Legislative Session and...
Nine years ago, doctors diagnosed Caden Shrauger with stage-four neuroblastoma, a rare cancer that developed in his nerve cells and spread throughout his body. At the time, doctors told his family he had a 50 percent chance of survival. Caden underwent numerous rounds of treatment to fight back, and eventually, he won his battle -- but not before the chemotherapy damaged his hearing. Now, the 12-year-old Bozeman boy is on his second pair of hearing aids, which, he told...
Montana Constitutional Amendment would Establish Protections for Electronic Messages The Montana Legislature is considering a bill proponents say will offer increased clarity and protections for privacy in the digital age. Senate Bill 203, sponsored by Sen. Kenneth Bogner, R-Miles City, seeks to ask voters to amend Montana's Constitution to add language to Article II, Section 11 that would explicitly protect electronic data and communications from illegal searches and...
Look What's Law: Governor Signs Bill Reducing COVID-19 Liability, Rolls Back Mask Mandate Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has signed into law a major COVID-19 liability bill, which soared through the Montana Legislature during its first month. Senate Bill 65, sponsored by Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, greatly reduces the extent to which businesses, healthcare professionals, and manufacturers of personal protective equipment are liable for harm related to COVID-19. The...
Casey Olson has been on a drill rig since 1991. Back then, Olson worked at a mineral exploration company, and though the work was “break-back,” learning the equipment wasn’t too difficult. Fast forward thirty years later, he’s now running Rabco Services as an independent well drilling contractor in Columbia Falls and Olson says the technology is rapidly outpacing the knowledge of new workers, which are hard enough to find as it is. “We’re trying to target younger guys, we ta...
Bills Aim to Reduce Prescription Drug Costs in Montana A House committee tabled a bill in the Montana Legislature that would have limited copays for insulin to $35 for a month's supply after it drew support from families and healthcare providers who say the price of the drug has become otherwise unaffordable. Rep. Jessica Karjala, D-Billings, presented House Bill 222 to members of the House Human Services Committee on Monday, Feb. 1. "The bottom line is that the price of insul...
HELENA -- The COVID-19 pandemic brought a flood of new orders and guidelines from local health departments for businesses across Montana, including particularly tricky ones for owners and employees on mask use. Jim Edwards, the owner of Pattee Creek Market in Missoula said his business adapted, putting up plastic screens and increasing cleaning. But, he said ordering his employees to enforce a mask mandate for his customers crossed a line. "It's not a $12-per-hour checker's...
Gov. Gianforte Promises a "Montana Comeback" in First State of the State Address Gov. Greg Gianforte, the first Republican governor in 16 years in Montana, praised a "resilient" Montana and outlined his plans for tax relief, job growth and addiction recovery support in his State of the State address at the Montana State Capitol Thursday, Jan. 28. Gianforte spoke to more than a hundred state representatives, senators and guests in the House chamber, and opened with praise for...
Anti-Transgender Bills Draw Opponents Lawmakers have advanced two measures aimed at banning transgender women and girls from playing women's sports and blocking transgender youth from receiving gender-affirming treatment after facing a storm of opposition from concerned citizens, parents, businesses and medical organizations. Rep. John Fuller, R-Whitefish, sponsored House Bill 112, also called the "Save Women's Sports Act." The bill would require transgender women and girls...
Tense Standoff Between Legislators Disrupts First Gun Bill Debate in Montana House The Montana Senate will now consider a bill that would greatly expand where concealed weapons can be carried in Montana after the House of Representatives passed House Bill 102 along party lines. The debate over the bill briefly ground to a halt last week as one lawmaker shut down another's comments as a violation of decorum. Members of the Montana House of Representatives were debating HB 102...
Legislature, Gov. Gianforte offer COVID-19 plans as first legislator tests positive HELENA -- A bill to reduce COVID-19 liability for Montana businesses and the first meeting of the Legislature's COVID-19 panel came during the first week of the session, a day after Republican leadership confirmed the first known positive test for the virus in a legislator late Thursday. Presumptive Chair of the COVID-19 panel, Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, announced in a press release Thursday...
