Montana Politics: Latest News

The Montana House Monday rejected a compromise bill to implement the state's legalization of recreational marijuana, sending the complex measure back to a conference committee for further work.

The Montana Senate has signed off on the latest version of the bill to overhaul the state’s recreational marijuana laws.

In a late-session move, Republicans on a Senate committee Friday revived a portion of dead bill meant to help NorthWestern Energy acquire more of the Colstrip power plants and stuffed it into another bill still in play.

Republicans in the Montana Senate Friday rejected the confirmation of a state district judge in Great Falls appointed last year by former Gov. Steve Bullock, clearing the way for Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte to make his first appointment to the state bench.

Shawn Reagor with the Montana Human Rights Network said the anti-transgender bills in the Montana Legislature are impacting Montanans.

Montana leaders gathered in Helena Thursday to mark their continued efforts to address the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous people.

In Montana, Native Americans make up about 7 percent of the population, but they account for about 26 percent of missing persons.

On a party-line vote with Republicans in favor, the state Senate Thursday advanced a bill that forbids businesses or the government from making vaccinations a condition of employment or receiving services.

A bill vastly increasing a state income-tax deduction to fund scholarships for students attending private schools in Montana emerged Thursday from a Senate committee – but with an amendment that could scale it back, under certain circumstances.

A House committee Wednesday voted overwhelmingly to kill the controversial bill meant to encourage NorthWestern Energy to acquire a larger share of the Colstrip 4 power plant in southeast Montana.

As the 2021 Legislature nears its end, Republican lawmakers are ironing out the final details on a multimillion-dollar tax-cut bonanza likely to include income- and property-tax cuts.

Republican lawmakers on a tax committee advanced a pair of bills Tuesday to cut Montana’s top state income-tax rate – and the bills’ sponsor said they could both be enacted, with staggered effective dates.

City zoning laws that require builders to include some affordable homes in developments are now banned in Montana, under a bill signed Monday by Gov. Greg Gianforte.

Missoula County has drafted two letters to Gov. Greg Gianforte imploring him to veto legislation heading to his desk.

Advocates and students gathered in Helena Monday to protest against a bill that would put limits on transgender athletes in school sports.

Governor Gianforte signed a bill in Missoula on Monday afternoon that's aimed at expanding trades education across the state.

Gov. Greg Gianforte signed a pair of bills that eliminate voter-registration on Election Day in Montana and tighten ID requirements for voting and voter-registration.

All seven Montana Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared – virtually – before a legislative committee investigating potential judicial bias, to say they’ve taken no position on new laws that may come before them in a constitutional challenge.

The Montana Legislature has canceled floor sessions on Monday, April 19 following canceled floor sessions on Friday after a lobbyist testing positive for COVID-19.

Republican leadership at the Montana Legislature Thursday ratcheted up their inquiry into alleged bias by the Montana Supreme Court, ordering its justices to produce, by Monday, any internal communications about bills before the Legislature.

At a marathon hearing Wednesday evening, the bill meant to encourage NorthWestern Energy to acquire a larger share of the Colstrip 4 power plant came under withering criticism, as a “corporate bailout” that could fleece the company’s ratepayers.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would essentially ban abortion in Montana has failed to get enough legislative votes to be placed before voters in 2022.

Tracy Stone-Manning, a National Wildlife Federation executive in Missoula and top aide to former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, will be nominated by the Biden administration to head the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

The administrator of the Montana Supreme Court, at the center of a battle with Republican legislators over the release of internal emails of the state judiciary, has filed a new request asking the high court to block GOP efforts to obtain and disseminate those emails.

The attorney general’s office late Monday told the Montana Supreme Court that Republican legislators will not comply with the court’s order to halt their attempts to acquire and publicize internal emails from the state judiciary.

The NCAA Board of Governors released a strong statement on Monday that could spell the end of playoff football at Bobcat Stadium or Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

In an escalating political battle between Republican leadership at the Montana Legislature and the state’s judiciary, the Montana Supreme Court Sunday quashed a subpoena lawmakers had used to obtain a cache of internal e-mails from the judiciary.

The Montana House has endorsed a bill that would let the public ask for an election to change local health boards’ actions. It’s the latest of a series of bills debated this session that would put boundaries around the authority of health boards and officers.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines said this week his fellow Republicans want to support an infrastructure bill, but that President Biden’s proposal goes far beyond just infrastructure – and that Democratic leaders are indicating they don’t want GOP input.