Valley View
Two paths for the legislature…which one will they take?
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
It’s hard to predict which direction the 2025 Montana State Legislature will take. One path encourages Montanans to be divided and angry, fighting for scraps and looking for scapegoats. The other is a path towards prosperity, freedom, and a better future.
Legislators who would trample Montanans’ freedoms aim for more control of our everyday lives. No matter is too personal. They want the government to decide what we do in the privacy of our own bedrooms, bathrooms, and doctor’s offices, and they’ll use the heavy hand of the law to get their way.
These legislators want to use public dollars to fund a shadow system of schools for the rich while our public schools go wanting (SB 320). They would ignore local control of schools and require religious texts to be posted in public schools (SB 114).
They attack unions, interfering in the voluntary relationship between workers and their employers (SB 94). They would pass more tax breaks for billionaires, making it nearly impossible to fund quality schools, well-maintained roads and highways, safe communities, and affordable healthcare (SB 323).
At the cost of millions of dollars of legal fees (that we pay for with our taxes), the 2023 Republican supermajority passed many bills they were warned were unconstitutional. They are on track to do this again. They would make our court system more partisan, ignoring the separation of powers that protects our rights (SB 42 and HB 39 are two of 27 such bills).
They would overturn our vote and right to make our own medical decisions, passed by 58% of voters in 2024 (HB 316). They would ban women from getting healthcare even if it means losing their lives. They try to make it more difficult for Montanans to vote and to put initiatives on the ballot.
They would require teachers and public employees to check who goes into bathrooms (HB 121.) These legislators focus their disdain on the 1% of our population who is transgender while they would deny parents the right to determine their own children’s healthcare.
These bills come from other states, a nightmarish cookie cutter of terrible ideas that don’t matter to how Montanans live. Rather than getting government out of our lives, they would interfere with the proud, independent, “live and let live” legacy of Montana.
The other direction, forged by Democrats and a handful of courageous Republicans, finds solutions for what troubles everyday Montanans. These legislators want to address the unfair property taxes that threaten our seniors and workers (HB 154), a sad legacy of Governor Gianforte and the 2023 Republican supermajority. They know that tax cuts for the rich aren’t helping everyday Montanans, and that billionaires should pay their fair share.
These legislators are working to improve teacher salaries (HB 252), some of the lowest in the nation. They are trying to strengthen our public schools, schools 90% of Montana kids attend. The cost of housing is unsustainable, and they are looking for creative, market-based ways to increase affordable housing, protect renters, and protect mobile homeowners from predatory rental increases (HB 305).
These common-sense legislators are close to passing a state pay plan that was negotiated between state and university employees and the governor (HB 13). They are fixing the retirement system for public safety officers.
They work to reauthorize Medicaid (HB 245), knowing that 80,000 Montanans are healthier and better able to work in small businesses because they finally have health insurance. They aren’t interested in selling off Montana’s treasured public lands, and they see conservation easements as a win-win free market way to preserve open lands.
So, which direction will Montana’s 2025 Legislature take? Will it follow the path towards division, discrimination, and restricting our constitutional rights? Will it strive to emulate the chaos and destruction on the national level? Or will it take the path towards civility, common sense, and community, working together to make Montana a better state for everyone, a place in which our children can thrive and be proud to live?
The jury is still out. But we as citizens have a say in what happens. Contact your legislators; call them at (406) 444-4800 or find their direct phones and emails at https://www.legmt.gov/legislators. Ask them to address real problems. Tell them you support our Constitution and the protections it contains. Ask them to set aside partisanship and rancor. Ask them to deliver. Remind them they work for you and that you vote. Your voice matters.
Terry Minow is chair of Big Sky 55+, an organization of Montanans 55 and over bringing people together to work for solutions that make life better for Montanans of all ages. She is a fourth generation Montanan who ranches in the Boulder Valley south of Helena.
