Montana Politics: Latest News

The small group of legislators who craft Montana’s state budget thought their hardest work was behind them – but, next week, they’re going back to the grind, to determine how to spend a $1 billion-plus windfall of federal Covid-19 money.

Montana’s K-12 public schools will get a whopping $382 million from the federal Covid-19 relief bill signed into law Thursday – and private and home schools will get nearly $13 million as well.

Republicans on a House committee Friday voted to increase the state income-tax cut in Gov. Greg Gianforte’s signature tax-cut bill, making it a cut in the state’s top marginal rate from 6.9 percent to 6.5 percent.

All charges have been dropped against former Broadwater County Commissioner Laura Obert regarding allegations of theft and official misconduct.

Montana’s top political cop now says a national group that spent millions supporting the successful voter initiative campaigns to legalize recreational marijuana will not have to reveal its donors.

On a nearly party-line vote, Republicans in the Montana House Thursday endorsed the first “school choice” bill of the 2021 session, to use public-education funds to help pay some expenses of disabled children who attend private school in Montana.

As the U.S. House Wednesday passed a new, $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief bill, Montana’s only congressman voted no, saying the measure is packed with wasteful spending.

Montana could get as much as $2.7 billion in the new federal Covid-19 relief bill Congress is poised to approve this week – for everything from aid to cities, schools and the hospitality industry to direct checks and unemployment benefits for citizens.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and one of his Republican colleagues, Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, said Tuesday they're placing a "hold" on the nomination of Deb Haaland as U.S. Interior secretary, forcing a floor debate on her record.

A Gianforte administration proposal to attract startup companies to Montana through an income-tax holiday for its founders should be expanded to include outside investors, the leader of a Montana investment group says.

ax cuts, a Covid-19 liability shield for businesses, an assault on red tape and more places where you can carry firearms – these are the accomplishments and goals that Republicans tout, after the first 45 days of Montana’s 2021 Legislature, with total GOP control.

As lawmakers prepared to leave Helena this week for the 2021 Legislature’s mid-session break, it’s not without some lingering partisan rancor in the Montana House.

By a wide margin, the Montana House has rejected a bill to implement “right-to-work” in the state. It was the latest in a series of bills restricting unions that have fallen short at the Legislature this week.

Two days after a House committee approved a bill to regulate Internet pornography, without Democrats on the panel allowed to vote, it reconvened Monday and killed the measure – and the GOP chairman apologized for his actions that excluded Democrats on Saturday.

A Montana legislative committee has voted down a bill that would have delayed the implementation of the state’s recreational marijuana system.

An attempt to revive a bill that would have banned discrimination based on vaccination status fell short on the Montana House floor Friday.

Republicans on a House committee Friday voted to send to the floor a bill that would make Montana a “right to work” state – which means labor unions would be barred from collecting fees from non-members they represent in the workplace.

The Montana House on Friday endorsed, for a second time, a bill to compensate those imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit – but, in an amended form that imposes more restrictions on those seeking payment.

U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a member of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, has been named as the top Republican on the panel’s Subcommittee on Health Care.

Gianforte says the outlook of COVID cases in Montana looks very promising right now, noting the average daily COVID case count being under 200 new daily cases for the first time since September.

In a turnaround from a day earlier, the Montana Senate on Thursday voted down a measure that would allow legislators to carry guns in the Capitol and other public buildings without a concealed-weapon permit.

Three bills to restrict or further regulate abortion in Montana are one vote away from going to the governor for his signature into law, after Republicans in the state Senate endorsed the measures Wednesday on straight party-line votes.

On a party-line vote, Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee have killed a bill that would have limited rental-application fees charged by landlords and property-management companies in Montana.

A House committee has killed a bill that would have made it harder to request and receive absentee ballots in Montana, after one member called it “probably the worst bill I’ve seen all session.”

Lawmakers advanced two bills to further allow the carrying of firearms in public buildings and spaces in Montana

On a mostly party-line vote with Republicans in favor, the Montana House Wednesday endorsed a bill to prohibit local governments from regulating any food packaging or containers, such as plastic or Styrofoam.

“To me, it would be a smart decision for legislators and lawmakers to use Montana’s newest natural resource. We’re an agricultural state," said Jason Smith, Montana Advanced Caregivers co-owner.