Legislators share work done during first half of session
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RONAN - Buddy Cheff, emcee for the March 12 legislative update meeting, got the event underway by inviting the approximately 85+ people in attendance to join him in the pledge of allegiance. Each guest legislator then had five minutes to share their recent efforts at the state legislature.
Tracy Sharp, a Republican from HD 12 stated the sheriff’s office would be interested in HB 366. In this bill, one of five he introduced, money would be appropriated from the general fund to the department of justice to reimburse Lake County for consenting to assume felony criminal jurisdiction over any member of a federally recognized tribe and over Indian territory of the Flathead Indian reservation. In addition, he introduced HB 643 - payment of detention costs by the arresting agency; HB 644 - having to do with counties hiring certified property tax appraisers with permission from the department of revenue; and HB 469 - regarding the issuance of drivers licenses and the rules for doing so.
Rep. Sharp is on the following committees: Energy, Tech & Fed. Relations; Fish, Wildlife & Parks; Judiciary.
Thedis Crowe is a Democrat from HD 15. With 4,232 bills in the hopper, she said it’s been a very busy year. She sponsored HB 499 - grow your own grant program. This bill tries to address the huge shortage of teachers by encouraging students to enter the field of teaching. “We’re trying to retain good quality educators,” she said.
Crowe also worked on HB 457 to revise best beginnings eligibility - “an act revising the family income eligibility requirements for the best beginnings child care scholarship program. Other bills she worked on include: HB 231 – which would revise property tax rates for certain property; HB 154 – would establish a housing fairness tax credit; HB 155 - revises class four residential and commercial property taxes; HB 245 - Revise the Montana HELP Act workforce development provisions and termination date; HB 383 – would revise campaign finance laws; HB 185 - provides for continuous healthy Montana kids plan eligibility for children under 6; HB 601 - creates an online portal for community assisters related to Medicaid; HB 252 - creates the student and teacher advancement for results and success act (STARS) - an act revising teacher base salaries as incentive to increase the number of teachers.
Crowe is on the following committees: Appropriations Subcommittee Judicial Branch, Law Enforcement and Justice.
Jacinda Morigeau is a Democrat and first year representative of SD 46. She supports college students using their student IDs as a form of identification when turning up to vote. She clarified this has nothing to do with eligibility to vote and only for use when they show up to vote after they have been registered. She wants to make sure “students have the opportunity to participate.”
She is proud of supporting a bill where physical therapists can be listed as providers for workers comp and getting PTSD covered under workers comp. She said she is keeping up with the state hospital audit to “make sure patients aren’t forgotten over there.”
Morigeau is on the following committees: Business, Labor & Economics; Education & Cultural Resources; State Admin.
Republican state senator Greg Hertz, from SD 7, said he’s spent a lot of time in the legislature, serving in both the House and now the Senate. He served as Speaker of the House in 2019.
Hertz introduced 29 bills this session but said eight are dead. He plans on introducing 12 more including allowing Mission Valley Shrimp in Charlo to sell shrimp to restaurants; a $10M noxious weed trust fund bill; a bill where taxpayer funds are not used for lobbyists; and a bill defining short-term rentals. He is also working on a dental insurance bill whereby 80% of clients’ premiums are used by insurance companies to pay for dental work, leaving 20% of premium monies for insurance company profit.
Hertz said that drones are something new and he introduced a bill that classifies a drone as trespassing when it flies over your property, but he commented, “You’d think it would be simple … not so much.” In conversation later in the meeting he clarified that anything over 400 feet high is covered by the FAA and that his bill would concern the 200 ft above private property. He said that leaves between 200 and 400 feet for drone users to fly in.
Hertz is on the following committees: - Fish and Game; Local Gov; Taxation; Rules.
Linda Reksten, a Republican from HD 13, stated she worked with a very bipartisan committee that compromised on bills. She said, “A statutory requirement for education is the STARS bill.” She said $100M should go to the public schools and in particular to help elevate beginning teachers’ salaries to $45,000, especially since that is the starting salary at McDonalds. She went on to explain the importance of attracting quality teachers to the Montana school system.
Reksten said “Our reading scores are poor and they shouldn’t be.” She feels a critical component of education is reading and the legislature should support what works for kids. She said Montana education should focus on early literacy and mathematics. She went on to say it’s important to equalize funding across counties and that school districts should be encouraged to pool resources.
Reksten is on the following committees: - Education; Local Gov; House Admin.
Shelly Fyant, a Democrat from HD 91, explained that she introduced a bill to increase the monthly pension benefit for volunteer firefighters by $25, taking it to $200 from $175.
Fyant was also one of the primary supporters of HB 649, which would establish a farm to food bank fund for food banks to purchase from Montana producers.
Regarding property taxes, she said she thinks utilities like telecom and the railroads should pay their fair share of taxes.
Fyant is a member of the American Indian Caucus and shared her support for a change to the MMNA Task Force Advisory Council membership, changing participation from a Montana highway patrol person to a homicide investigator.
Fyant is on the following committees: Energy, Tech & Fed. Relations; Legislative Admin; Local Gov.; State Admin.
Following each senate and house representative’s statements, the floor was opened to questions from attendees.
Several sign carrying business owners made the most impassioned statements at the otherwise tame meeting. They commented on their opposition to HB 525, which disallows the sale of products not approved by the FDA. They claim this allows only vape products produced by large tobacco companies to be sold. Those speaking against HB 525 said that the bill “wipes away with the swipe of a pen the right of the people to choose … and affects hundreds of small businesses.” They went on to say, “This is our livelihood.” Those speaking against HB 525 also claimed there are 20 lobbyists helping the large tobacco companies. One business owner pointed out that 68 deaths were attributed to vaping last year as opposed to 490,000 deaths attributable to cigarette smoke.
Many attendees expressed their gratitude for voting to continue Medicaid expansion. One woman said she didn’t know anyone who was against it and when the uninsured get sick they go to the emergency room and “costs go up and (are) passed on to us.”
Sharp said he fears Montana’s budget being controlled by the feds if they decide to change the percentage they pay into Medicaid expansion, leaving less money in the budget for other Montana needs.
Hertz said this was the first time he’s voted for Medicaid expansion. He said the system is broke and we have a huge behavioral and mental health issues in this state. He said, “hospital and big pharma costs are out of control.”
SB 4 was co-signed by Jacinda Morigeau because she said she doesn’t want to see so much outside money in Montana elections.
Hertz said that individuals can spend as much of their own money as they want. He believes election money should go directly to candidates and not to PACS (political action committees) because then candidates are responsible for how it’s used.
HB 27 revises eligibility for classification of property as agricultural property. Hertz said it should die and was an “unfortunate bill.”
Sharp said the HB 27 bill “smacks of money grubbing.” He wants to be one of the people that proudly kills it.
One attendee stated they were caught off guard by the state’s new tax rules and forms. Hertz said the state is moving toward a flat tax of 4.7% He said it is a fairness issue. In Montana the top 6,000 taxpayers bring in 30% of the total taxes. Hertz commented that he believes Montana’s income tax system is very progressive and something he supports.
Other issues discussed during the evening were environmental concerns for Flathead Lake and the privatization of public lands.
Thedis Crowe gave out a handout on “How to Take Legislative Action” and “Navigating the Remote Participation Portal.” On it were listed the following web addresses: Legislative Participation Page: https://www.legmt.gov/participate/ and the Public Participation Portal: https://participate.legmt.gov/ You can give remote testimony, in-person testimony or call and leave a message for your legislator or an entire committee.
Several legislators encouraged citizens to email their interests and concerns regarding certain bills. Crowe encouraged constituents to “get your voice heard” and when emailing to be sure to put your subject and where you are from in the subject line of your email.
Sharp said that emails from constituents have in the past changed his mind on issues. He said he might have an opinion on a bill, but a constituent’s concerns have caused him to change his mind. He said, “We are here to represent you.”
The meeting adjourned as Gayle Decker thanked the Lake County Commissioners for attending the meeting and encouraged anyone with a question for them to stay after the meeting.
