Montana Politics: Latest News

The Montana House Wednesday narrowly rejected a bill that sought to mandate the media do follow-up reporting on cases where someone had been accused of wrongdoing and later exonerated.

The Montana House has advanced three bills that provide different visions for how to implement recreational marijuana in the state, after legislative leadership asked them to keep all three alive.

Republicans in the Montana Senate Tuesday advanced the bill that guarantees NorthWestern Energy certain cost recovery, from its customers, if it acquires more power from the Colstrip coal-fired plants.

Kayla Tengdin says without a special zoning program requiring Bozeman builders to include more affordable houses in their developments, she and her husband Rolf likely could not have bought a home. But Republican lawmakers have voted to end the program, in Bozeman and anywhere in the state.

Former Montana Gov. Stan Stephens, a Republican whose 1988 electoral victory ended 20 years of Democratic governors in the state, has died. He was 91.

A state judge chosen to fill in for Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Mike McGrath said Thursday he’ll withdraw from deciding the constitutionality of a new law giving Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte sole discretion on filling judicial vacancies.

As Montana opened COVID-19 vaccine eligibility for everyone age 16 and up Thursday, the state’s governor got his own first dose of the vaccine.

Republicans in the state Senate Tuesday advanced a bill restricting transgender student athletes in Montana – but not before attaching an amendment that could void the law in the future.

More than three years into an overhaul of Montana’s criminal sentencing laws, the Legislature is preparing to ask the Corrections Department for extensive reporting on whether rehabilitation programs are working – including a rewritten definition of “recidivism.”

One of the most anticipated bills of the 2021 Legislature – the measure containing the Gianforte administration’s proposal to implement recreational marijuana in Montana – was introduced Monday morning.

A Republican state senator has introduced a major rewrite of the state income tax, saying it greatly simplifies the tax, lowers the top rate and eliminates taxes for as many as 50,000 low-income Montanans.

More than a half-dozen GOP-sponsored bills to bolster the Colstrip power plants and undercut renewable power are advancing at the 2021 Legislature. Here’s a list of some of these bills, and their status:

While coal-fired power production is on the decline nationally, Republican lawmakers in Montana are looking to buck that trend, advancing an agenda this session to prolong the two remaining Colstrip power plants in southeastern Montana and de-emphasize wind and solar power.

Republicans in the Montana House Friday advanced a bill that dramatically increases a state tax credit that finances scholarships for private schools – a credit that led to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision last year.

Consumer and environmental advocates teed off Thursday on a new bill meant to help the state’s biggest utility buy more coal-fired power from the Colstrip power plants, saying it would lead to grossly overcharging Montana electricity consumers.

Montana’s U.S. senators are backing a bipartisan bill that would give legal medical and recreational marijuana businesses in the state access to banking.

In the first Montana election where voters could register on Election Day – November 2006 – 4,315 Montanans took advantage of the new privilege, or about 1 percent of the total votes cast.

A bill to end Election Day voter registration in Montana is only a few votes away from passing the Legislature, as the Montana Senate endorsed the measure 32-18 Tuesday.

From child-care grants to Covid-19 testing to $1 billion of infrastructure projects, Montana lawmakers this week must mash together the kitchen-sink of spending bills, authorizing as much as $3 billion of federal Covid relief and stimulus funds.

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte has proclaimed Saturday, March 20 as “Montana Meat Day” following Colorado Gov. Jared Polis declaring the day as “MeatOut Day” in his state.

A multimillion-dollar chance to bring high-speed Internet to the hundreds of thousands of Montanans without it is before the 2021 Legislature – a chance lawmakers and others see as a huge economic opportunity.

What is likely to be the main marijuana reform bill debated in the Montana Legislature this year is now making its way through the editing process.

Republicans in the Montana House advanced a proposed constitutional amendment that would lead to banning all abortion in Montana – but the measure is unlikely to make it to the 2022 ballot.

Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday advanced a pair of bills restricting transgender athletes and medical procedures for transgender youth, sending both measures to the Senate floor.

The Gianforte administration Wednesday proposed spending $350 million of federal money over the next four years to expand and enhance high-speed Internet in Montana – and said that still wouldn’t meet the needs in the entire state.

A legal challenge to Senate Bill 140, which gives the governor broader powers to appoint state judges, has been filed one day after Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill into law.

Members and advocates of the LGBTQ+ community packed the steps of the State Capitol on Monday to urge lawmakers to vote down bills they say will lead to more discrimination.

With no time to waste, state lawmakers Monday began work to authorize spending upwards of $3 billion in federal Covid-19 relief funds for Montana – a task they said would consume the final weeks of the 2021 Legislature.