Local lawmakers meet with constituents during break

RONAN — Cherry Valley School may finally have the champion it needs to help it get a new boiler. Included in the hundreds of bills Montana’s state legislators are carrying, debating and voting on in Helena this year is Rep. Linda Reksten’s HB-192, which would revise major maintenance funding laws to allow schools to save up funds toward larger projects.

Reksten and her fellow Lake County legislators, Sens. Dan Salomon and Greg Hertz, and Reps. Joe Read and Mark Noland, met with constituents March 4 in a lively three-hour question-and-answer session at Ronan Community Center. Over 50 people attended, including Jake Santee, an aide to U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana.

Reksten said as a member of the Education Committee she is working on a “long overdue” revision to improve special education funding. As a member of the State Administration Committee, she is working to cut off same-day voter registration, revise voting rolls annually, and other changes regarding elections and the Office of Political Practices. She has received hundreds of comments from constituents on HB-505, a proposal to issue elk licenses specified for use on private lands.

Hertz, vice chair of the Taxation Committee, said he is carrying several bills related to taxes, Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Montana Comeback Plan, and many business-related issues. Upon returning to Helena, he said, “I’ve got a pretty significant bill coming up on tax simplification, and another related to reducing the cost of pharmacy drugs.”

Salomon, a member of the Finance Committee, has been hard at work on the Senate version of what will be the major appropriations bill HB-2. Some laws he has or would vote against, he said, but, “It’s not always about the bill, but all the things that can happen because of it.”

Salomon said if HB-112 passes, the state will lose $500 million in federal education funding. He voted against SB-215, the Montana Religious Freedom Act, intended to allow businesses to deny services based on their religious beliefs, because other states with similar legislation have suffered economic losses due to cancellations of conventions and other major events.

“Right now, the last thing this state needs is more shutdowns,” Salomon said. “We’re trying to open this state up.”

Salomon also explained his vote against SB-282, affirming the right of parents to “direct their children’s health care.” He said his objection was that people wanted to have the right to not vaccinate their kids, but they still wanted to put those children in classes with others.

“That puts all those other kids at risk. So whose rights are we really talking about here?”

Noland, who serves on Natural Resources and Legislative Administration committees, and is chair of Business and Labor, has already had one of his bills signed into law by the governor. HB-79 expands and revises liquor laws. He sponsored HB-406, passed by the House and transmitted to the Senate, which will require anyone wishing to collect and deliver voted ballots for someone else to register with the county election administrator and provide a receipt to the person they are collecting it from.

Noland agreed with a constituent who was concerned that “we’re not going to have a country anymore” if we are beholden to federal dollars that come with policy and civil rights requirements. “My proposal to our government is let’s get our economy up and running again,” including timber and mining, “because I’m sick and tired of having our hand out to the federal government.”

Read said Montana will not likely ever be independent of federal funding.

Some expressed concern that the 2020 election may have violated a Montana law prohibiting conducting federal elections by mail. Hertz clarified that the emergency declaration due to the pandemic allowed the governor broad authority, including to override election rules to make it safer to vote during the pandemic. He said that authority is being revised to “tighten up what the governor can do,” and if the state of emergency lasts beyond 30 or 60 days (not yet determined), the governor would have to come to the legislature to approve extending the emergency.

Concerns were raised about HB-137, which has passed the House. It removes the rights of local governments to regulate use of alternative nicotine products (e-cigs), and allow them in restaurants and other establishments if the owner chooses; otherwise, they have the right to not allow them or refuse service.

One constituent commented, “It is the most disgusting, foul odor you can imagine.” Noland said he trusted the Senate to fix the bill if it needed to be fixed.

Legislators encouraged their constituents to contact them or comment on proposed bills. To view the hearing schedule or provide verbal or written testimony, visit leg.mt.gov.