By Clayton Murphy | UM Legislative News Service, University of Montana School of Journalism

Governor Encourages Action on ‘Homestead’ Property Tax Relief Bill

HELENA – Gov. Greg Gianforte continues to push lawmakers to pass a “homestead exemption” bill to help Montanans with rising property taxes by lowering rates for primary residences and long-term rentals.

Gianforte has said the plan is projected to provide direct permanent relief to 215,000 Montana homeowners, with average cuts of 15 percent. During his State of the State speech in January, the governor highlighted the proposal as one of his top priorities. 

“In my State of the State, I asked the legislature to pass the homestead rate cut by the middle of February,” Gianforte said at a press conference last week. “I always knew that would be a somewhat ambitious timeline, but the Department of Revenue needs some time to implement this rate cut for Montanans it takes effect this year.”

The governor is championing House Bill 231, carried by Rep. Llew Jones, R-Conrad. The House of Representatives advanced the bill on a 75-25 vote on Feb. 6, with yeas and nays on both sides of the aisle. The bill is now in the House Appropriations Committee awaiting a vote there before it can move forward. It will still need hearings and debate in the Senate.

When asked about House Bill 155, a Democrat-backed bill similar to HB 231 on its way to the House for debate, Gianforte said the Homestead Act is still “the way to go.”

“ The concept is simple,” Gianforte said. “If you’re a homeowner who lives in your home, you should get a property tax cut. If you’re a renter who lives in a long-term rental, property taxes should be lower for where you live, and your rent should reflect that lower tax.”

Bill Would Shield Anti-Abortion Pregnancy Centers from Oversight

HELENA — A bill in the Montana House of Representatives aims to protect the autonomy and free speech of pregnancy centers amid controversy across the country about how these centers handle abortion conversations with patients.

Crisis pregnancy centers or clinics, also known as anti-abortion centers, offer prenatal support, pregnancy testing and counseling, often as an effort to encourage mothers to carry pregnancies to term.

Derek  Oestreicher, chief legal counsel for the Montana Family Foundation, supported House Bill 388 at a committee hearing Feb. 14. He said the bill allows these centers to operate “according to deeply held convictions.”

“ Pregnancy centers have increasingly faced legal and regulatory pressure to violate their consciences by referring for abortions or including pro-abortion messaging in their services,”  Oestreicher said.

Other proponents said oversight of these centers would hinder their right to speak without coercion about pro-life beliefs and said they offer necessary, safe support for women facing unplanned pregnancies.

Quinn Leighton with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana opposed the bill, saying some sort of government oversight is necessary for these types of centers.

“Unregulated pregnancy centers could tell a patient anything, whether it’s true or not,” Leighton said. “And they could also treat a patient based on their own opinions rather than the medical options that are available to them.”

Other opponents said they worried that banning oversight could pose serious risks to patients, both in health and consumer protection, especially since most pregnancy centers are not subject to HIPAA laws and are exempt from medical licensure requirements.

The House Judiciary Committee did not immediately vote on the bill.

Ag Organizations, Implement Dealers and Farmers Testify on ‘Right to Repair’ Bill

HELENA — The third attempt at giving Montana farmers and ranchers the right to repair their agricultural equipment outside of dealerships hit the House Business and Labor Committee last week.

Proponents of House Bill 390 said when manufacturers require that certain repairs only be made by dealers, they leave farmers and ranchers with too few options. But the bill also drew criticism for overstepping in what opponents said could be an easy private-sector solution.

Retired Army Col. Richard Liebert is a cattle rancher in Cascade County and president of the Montana Cattlemen Association. He drew comparisons from his military career to support the bill, emphasizing “operational readiness.”

“You’ve got to keep everything in the fight as much as possible, every way possible,” Liebert said. “More technicians, more opportunities. All problems come down to resources, time and people.”

Eric Wareham, senior vice president of government affairs for the North American Equipment Dealers Association, spoke against the bill. 

“It’s a blunt instrument, and it has a lot of unintended consequences,” Wareham said. “So we greatly prefer a private sector solution that will not have those unintended consequences on a dealer’s business model.”

Wareham recommended the use of memorandums of understanding, formal agreements that are not legally binding.

HB 390 is carried by Rep. Paul Tuss, D-Havre. The committee did not take immediate action on the bill.

Bill Would Add Exposure to Marijuana to Child Endangerment Laws

HELENA — Montana lawmakers are attempting to add to the crime of child endangerment, including exposure to marijuana.

Senate Bill 261 would make exposing a child to marijuana and other dangerous drugs, which would include fentanyl, or forcing them to consume the drugs a punishable offense. It would also criminalize assisting minors in entering marijuana dispensaries.

Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, is carrying the bill. In a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Feb. 12, Hertz said SB 261 gives law enforcement agents more tools to protect the safety of children.

“Children look up to their parents and their behavior,” Hertz said. “Right now we have a problem going on in the state in regards to high-potency marijuana. It is causing problems across the state.”

Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said that if fentanyl or fentanyl paraphernalia is found in a home with a child, whoever is in possession could be charged with felony child endangerment under SB 261. These charges already exist with methamphetamine.

Committee member Sen. Daniel Emrich, R-Great Falls, said he worried that second-hand smoke could be charged as a felony. 

Knudsen said the bill requires “knowing and purposeful” exposure under a section of Montana Code that would be amended by the bill.

“ Just as a prosecutor, I think we’d have a hard time proving ‘purposely and knowingly’ under the requirements of Title 45,” Knudsen said.

There were no opponents in the bill’s first hearing. Another bill awaiting a hearing in the committee, House Bill 49, aims to make synthetic cannabinoids illegal.

Bills Seek to Support Mentorship for Beginning Teachers

HELENA — A bill its sponsor called “easy-peasy” would allow retired teachers to keep their benefits while returning to tutor their replacements.

The House State Administration Committee heard first testimony on House Bill 359 on Feb. 11 and then passed the bill onto the full Senate the next day on a 19-0 vote. 

“This just opens the door for retired teachers to perhaps get paid to help newly hired teachers that are taking over in their past teaching role without jeopardizing their retirement distribution,” said Rep. Jamie Isaly, D-Bozeman, the bill’s sponsor.

Rob Watson, Executive Director of the School Administrators of Montana and proponent of the bill, said that three years ago, about 30 percent of Montana teachers left the profession in their first five years.

“So one of the things nationwide that’s proved effective is having robust mentoring programs in the first couple of years,” Watson said.

The Montana Office of Public Instruction requires some sort of new teacher mentorship program for a school to be accredited. Under current teachers’ retirement system laws, newly retired teachers cannot return to their schools for 120 days. 

 ”But by the time school starts in August or September, if a retired teacher hasn’t come back in, chances are they’ve moved on and they’re doing something else,” Watson said.

Watson said HB 359 would allow those teachers to start mentoring immediately. The bill saw no opponents in its first hearing.

House Bill 340 is also making its way to the House. That bill also aims to increase retention rates by bolstering teacher training and mentorship.

The full House will now debate HB 340 after the House Education Committee advanced it on a 10-5 vote. 

Medicaid Expansion Bill Advances to the Senate

HELENA — A key Medicaid expansion bill passed the Montana House of Representatives last week, one step closer to removing the sunset date on a program that has provided insurance coverage to thousands of Montanans.

A 2024 report from the Montana Healthcare Foundation shows that in 2023, about 110,000 adults were covered under the state’s Medicaid expansion program. The expansion offers healthcare for Montanans who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line for income.

The bill passed with bipartisan support on a 63-37 vote Feb. 10 following rigorous debate the week before.

Rep. Ed Buttrey, R-Great Falls, is sponsoring House Bill 245. He said those covered by the expansion are working, contributing members of the state, and argued against worries about excessive state spending.

“If we choose to bury our heads in the sand and not provide our low-income citizens with a pathway to get healthy, a pathway to get help with addiction and a pathway to prosperity through employment, we’re going to pay for it down the road and we’re going to pay a heck of a lot more than we’re paying for the program now,” Buttrey said.

Some Republicans have pushed back on the program, saying the state needs to cut back and that they see the program as a handout.

Republican Rep. and Board Member of McCone County Health Center Jerry Schillinger of Circle said the bill “incentivizes poverty.”

“Everyone knows that anything that’s for free increases the consumption and increases the prices for everyone else that’s on private care and private pay because the demand for those services goes up,” Schillinger said.

Twenty-one of the 58 Republicans and all 42 Democrats in the House voted for the bill.

A bill that would phase out and end the program died the same week in the Senate. 

Clayton Murphy is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. Murphy can be reached at clayton.murphy@umconnect.umt.edu.