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

HELENA — The Montana Senate has amended and advanced a draft of the state’s two-year budget, with some disappointed Republicans saying “the cake was already baked” and that they saw the vote from a mile away.

The vote board was a near-constant 27-23 during the entire debate on House Bill 2 and the Senate’s amendments to it. A group of nine Republicans that have aligned with Democrats since day one again joined forces to pass the bill, while the other 23 Republicans voted against.  

Republican Senate President Matt Regier said before the session started, the Legislative Fiscal Division told him that the state had a $522 million surplus. The current proposal, which he voted against, shows that number down 200 percent.

“Look at where we are now on the graph. Right there, the big headline, negative $500 million,” Regier said. “We have spent it all over twice.”

But Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, supported the Senate’s draft.

“I think in total, we’re sending this budget back to the House, spending substantially less. I think it’s a good compromise budget. I think it meets the needs of Montanans in a fair and meaningful way,” Flowers said.

Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, agreed with Regier’s frustration. Beard said she was disappointed with the departure from a goal she assumed was universal: to provide property tax relief.

“The further we got into this session, the more we forgot about the fact that taxing individuals is directly related to how we spend money,” Beard said. “And of late, I have just seen the money just being doled out like crazy.”

Lawmakers Pass First Major Property Tax Bill

HELENA — The first major bill in the Montana Legislature aimed at addressing rising property taxes is on its way to Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk. Senate Bill 117 would require local governments to roll 25 percent of newly taxable residential property value into reducing rates and would increase the money those governments receive for inflation adjustments.

The bill passed a final vote in the House on a 67-31 vote. 

“This is a long-term solution,” said Rep. Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings, who carried the bill in the House. “This bill, if we pass it today, I think is one of the few bills that we can look [at] 10, 20, 30 years in the future and look back to this day and say, wow, we really did something.”

There was little vocal argument during the House floor debate last week, but the bill barely passed by an 8-vote margin on its first vote.

The bill came at a time of extreme stress for lawmakers — 75 days in and with at most 15 to go, just one of the major property tax bills proposed this session has made it to the governor’s desk.

Senators voted to kill the governor-backed “Homestead Act” on April 17, while both chambers debated the two remaining prominent property tax relief bills. While they are still alive, each continues to be voted down.

At a press conference earlier in the week, House Minority Leader Katie Sullivan, D-Missoula, said her party is continuing to push for relief that doesn’t rely on credits or rebates — Sullivan said those strategies are not long-term solutions.

“We’re open to being part of any conversation,” Sullivan said. “We just wanna get a bill across [by] the deadline, before next week, and we are here to negotiate. We’re here for it. We are here for the Montanans who sent us here to negotiate on this important subject.”

The 90-day Legislative session is scheduled to wrap up on or before May 5.

Bill Increasing Starting Teacher Pay Nears Governor’s Desk

HELENA — It’s the final stretch for a bill that would fund increases to beginning teacher pay in Montana. Having passed the House and with one more vote left in the Senate, the Student and Teacher Advancement for Results and Success Act – the STARS Act –  is careening toward becoming law.

School districts could then choose to dip into funds created by the act, yearly pools of up to about $350,000, depending on district enrollment.

Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, is carrying the bill through the Senate and said during debate on the bill on the Senate floor that it’s worth the price tag. 

“Some of you may know that I’m so tight, I squeak when I walk, but I do support public education and I support it fiercely,” Fuller said.

To qualify for funding in the coming fiscal year, districts would have to pay educators a salary that is at least 62 percent of 2025’s average teacher pay.

Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, agreed that $55 million in estimated yearly spending seems steep, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“This is an issue that we have been looking at on the interim, sitting on the interim budget committee. And I think that the shortfalls that school districts across the state have been experiencing in this last interim. This will help. Probably [will] not make it whole, but at least put back some of the shortfalls that the school districts have been experiencing,” Windy Boy said.

Lawmakers Set Up Studies of Media Literacy, School Safety, Special Education and School Counselors

HELENA — As the 2025 legislative session comes to a close, lawmakers are moving to set themselves up for next session with a series of bills that would start studies analyzing the efficacy of public school programs like special education, media literacy, school safety and counselors.

Jessica Reynolds is a speech pathologist for Helena Public Schools and supported the special education study, representing the Montana Speech Language Hearing Association.

“I’m ending my 11th year with Helena School District, and I can tell you that the needs faced by special education when I first started are drastically different than they were when I left the building this afternoon,” Reynolds said.

She said that cases, needs and funding are becoming more and more complex. She emphasized the need to “look at the big picture” and investigate the efficiency of special education programs across the state.

Rep. Jamie Isaly, D-Bozeman, is carrying a bill that would fund a study on how to increase the impact of school counselors. Isaly worked as a counselor for the Livingston School District, during which he said he was “flabbergasted” by Montana’s standard of 400 students to one counselor. It’s a ratio he had to deal with personally — Park High School’s enrollment was just more than 400 in 2024.

“Along the way, I learned that the current ratio is not law and statute but instead an accreditation standard set by the Montana Board of Public Education and that trying to push legislation onto that board was not looked upon in a friendly manner,” Isaly said.

Isaly instead opted to propose a study to identify and eventually address the problem.

Both the special education and counselor studies, along with the two others, passed committee with close to zero opposition and are now in the full House for debate.

Bill Providing Workers’ Comp Coverage of PTSD Treatment for First Responders Edges Closer to Becoming Law

HELENA — First responders could have treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder covered under workers’ compensation if a bill in the Montana Legislature passes.

Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman, is carrying Senate Bill 394. She said there are proven physical damages from PTSD and it should be treated the same as any other work-related injury.

Joel Gaertig with the Montana State Firefighters Association said the bill will help prevent suicide and resignation, a sentiment shared by each of the six proponents of the bill at a House committee meeting last week.

“In our opinion, one life prematurely taken is one life too many. If there’s an avenue to get our first responders help for mental health injuries on the job, it’s also our response to make sure they’re taken care of so we can protect our community,” Gaertig said. 

Peter Strauss with the Montana Self Insurers Association, who testified against the bill, said he worried about additional costs to taxpayers.

“Additional coverage means additional costs for municipalities, counties, special districts — that means additional tax dollars have to be directed towards this,” Strauss said.

After a similar House bill failed earlier in the session, SB 394 successfully passed its first round of debate in the Senate and is now working its way through the House. Neumann said she is working to make her bill narrower and less expensive to address the concerns of opponents like Strauss.

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.