Water compact, education, Medicaid up for consideration
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As the new week starts there is a lot of activity around the capitol here in Helena. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes water compact has started its journey through the Senate. There are also several other groups with activities planned in conjunction with bills moving forward. Bills regarding Federal lands reverting to State control, Common core issues in education, and the many sides of the Medicaid issues are going to be introduced or discussed this week.
The biggest news of last week was Rep. Moore’s bill that tried to tighten up laws to limit nude bike riding in Missoula. After the hearing, his off-the-cuff remark about yoga pants became national news. We have had some fun with this.
In education happenings last week, the Montana University System has agreed to a tuition freeze and to allow a higher percentage of their budget be involved in performance based budgeting. This is good for all the students in the Montana University System. We also worked to pass a bill that allows some small tuition discounts for out-of-state students. This has been shown to bring more out-of-state students into the system. These out-of-state students pay considerably more in tuition than in-state students, which effectively cuts the cost of tuition for in-state students. We are still working on the bullying bill, guns in schools, and suicide prevention training for teachers.
A bill from Sen. Larson for the Department of Agriculture is due to be heard this week. This is to keep feral hogs from gaining a foothold in Montana. Seems like a small issue but wild pigs are becoming an issue in surrounding states. And yes, we have had some fun with this bill also. Several issues with milk have been heard lately. Many people want the opportunity to utilize raw milk in Montana. This was heard in the House Health and Human Services committee. A bill about the sell-by-date on milk sold in stores was heard. Don’t know the status of either of these yet.
In the business and labor committee the biggest news was that the brewers and tavern owners’ compromise bill failed to get out of committee by a 10-9 vote. We have some insurance issues to deal with this week along with banking regulation issues.
Thank you for your input into these issues. I can get your input in messages at dansalomon12@gmail.com
