Government
News from the office of Senator Tester According to information supplied this week by the Montana Association of Counties, 49 of Montana’s 56 counties have chosen to buck a directive from the administration of Gov. Greg Gianforte by scaling back their collections of a state-level school funding property tax. The dispute stems from differing interpretations about how a local tax cap law applies to the tax, which produces revenue to help the state balance funding between tax-base-rich and tax-base-poor districts. The situation has now produced multiple cases pending before the Montana Supreme Court. Those 49 counties will levy 77.9 mills of school equalization tax for 2023, a...
News from the Office of Sen. Jon Tester U.S. Senate — As a part of his continued work to modernize Montana’s power grids, U.S. Senator Jon Tester secured two awards totaling more than $9 million in funding for Missoula Electric Cooperative (MEC) to prevent and protect against wildfire....
News from MT Fish, Wildlife & Parks KALISPELL — General hunting season is underway in Montana. More than 1,600 hunters appeared at northwest Montana game check stations on Saturday and Sunday. It was a slow start to the season across the region based on check station results. The overall nu...
HELENA — Together with Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) Director Charlie Brereton and the Montana Healthcare Foundation (MHF), Governor Greg Gianforte recently announced the investment of $7.5 million to increase access to behavioral health and substance use disorder screening and...
News from the Dept. of the Interior WASHINGTON — On Nov. 5, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Wizipan Garriott will travel to Bozeman for the twelfth and final stop on “The Road to Healing,” a year-long tour across the cou...
News from Gwen Lankford, CSKT Executive Team PABLO — The United States and Canada have failed to meet their summer deadline to reach an agreement in partnership with the Ktunaxa on how to address pollution in the Elk and Kootenai/y Rivers, demonstrating the federal governments’ continued lac...
News from Montana Free Press HELENA — The Helena-based nonprofit law firm Upper Seven filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Gov. Greg Gianforte and the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, alleging the state has concealed information related to its compliance with federal anti-discrim...
News from the office of Senator Tester U.S. Senate — Speaking at a U.S. Senate Commerce Committee markup this week, U.S. Senator Jon Tester highlighted his successful push to force the Biden Administration to withdraw one of its Amtrak Board of Directors nominees and replace them with someone outs...
News from the office of Governor Gianforte HELENA – Governor Greg Gianforte recently announced Montana reached its 23rd consecutive month of unemployment below 3%. Prior to the governor taking office, Montana’s unemployment rate had fallen below 3% only three times since record-keeping began...
News from the office of Senator Tester BIG SANDY — As a part of his continued work to ensure Montana communities are prepared for extreme flooding and drought, U.S. Senator Jon Tester today secured $26,000,000 in funding from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration to support soil moisture...
