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Heading into this year’s session of the Montana Legislature, there was broad consensus across the political spectrum that one of the lawmakers’ must-do tasks was finding some way to provide meaningful relief to rising residential property taxes.
As the session enters its closing weeks, that’s still the case. However, as of this writing, at 3 p.m. on April 11, day 72 of 90 allocated to the 2025 Legislature, it remains unclear how — or if — lawmakers will get that job done.
Before lawmakers convened in early January, the leading tax relief proposal was Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s push to lower homeowner and landlord property taxes, in part by raising taxes on second homes and Airbnb-style short-term rentals. Developed by House Appropriations Committee Chair Llew Jones — the Conrad Republican who is perhaps the Legislature’s foremost dealmaker — and endorsed by Gianforte’s property tax task force, House Bill 231 dropped into the legislative gauntlet with all the grease the governor and his legislative allies could give it.
As rubber hit the road, grit bogged down the bill regardless as majority Republicans and minority Democrats introduced a slew of competing proposals. Some of those would pay for relief on modest homes by leaning on businesses or high-value homes regardless of ownership status. Others would offer relief without burdening non-residential property via credits funded by other types of taxes. Among that abundance of choice, the Legislature’s various political factions splintered.
As the governor’s bill skidded through the House Appropriations Committee, Jones amended it to focus more savings on lower-income residences, an apparent effort to win enough Democratic votes to overcome opposition from hardline Republicans. Those changes got the bill over the House floor but weren’t enough to propel it through the Senate Taxation Committee, where it was voted down April 2.
Opponents of the governor’s bill have voiced concerns about raising taxes on Montanans who own second homes. They also cited a quirk of Billings’ city charter that could keep its local taxes from readjusting to revenue neutrality if lawmakers dial back residential tax values — something many of this year’s tax proposals would do in an effort to offset the tax effects of skyrocketing home prices.
While other property tax bills are trudging along in varying degrees of legislative limbo, it’s unclear if any of them have enough support to pass the hurdles that remain between them and the governor’s desk — much less the governor’s veto pen. Gianforte, who is also pushing for income tax cuts this year, has said repeatedly in recent weeks he doesn’t want to pay for property tax relief with income tax dollars.
“I’ve been really clear about where the boundaries are on the negotiation box,” Gianforte said at a Thursday press conference. “I think it needs to be permanent — I also don’t think we can add additional burden on income taxpayers to subsidize property taxes, because we already have the highest income tax rate in the region.”
(Montana is, of course, also the only state in the Rocky Mountain West without a statewide sales tax.)
Hanging over tax debates inside the Capitol this year is a sledgehammer of sorts in the form of a constitutional initiative advanced by anti-tax advocates led by former Republican legislator Matt Monforton. That measure, which is cleared to begin gathering the signatures necessary to qualify for the 2026 ballot, would upend the state tax system by capping tax value increases for residential properties at 2% a year.
Lawmakers have voiced fears that a legislative failure on property tax relief this year could fuel that initiative push, which has been opposed in prior incarnations by institutional groups ranging from the Montana Chamber of Commerce to the Montana Federation of Public Employees.
With less than a month left in this year’s Legislature, depending on how soon restless lawmakers vote to adjourn, the clock is ticking for a critical mass of legislators to negotiate a politically viable tax relief compromise.
Among the bills still in the mix are House Bill 155, an alternative to the Gianforte bill championed by Democrats, and House Bill 528, a Republican-sponsored measure that would more or less implement a rate rebalancing proposal championed by Democratic candidate for governor Ryan Busse on the campaign trail last year.
There are some signs, too, that there may be life yet in Gianforte’s tax bill, which was revived in the Senate tax committee this week with begrudging help from Democrats, some of whom said they were working on further amendments.
“We have several property tax bills moving through,” said Sen. Mary Ann Dunwell, D-Helena. “Even though this is not one of my favorites, some pieces of it are.”
—Eric Dietrich
For the Record 📣
The search for the next leader of Montana State University came to a close April 7 as the Board of Regents named Brock Tessman the next president of the flagship Bozeman campus. The current Northern Michigan University president and a former deputy higher education commissioner in Montana, Tessman will take the reins from outgoing President Waded Cruzado on July 1, telling MTFP this week that the position will serve as a “homecoming” for him both professionally and personally.
MSU wasn’t the only Montana campus to announce new leadership over the past week. On April 9, the state’s university system issued a press release announcing Karen Marrongelle as the next chancellor at Montana Tech, the Butte-based institution with a heavy focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Marrongelle previously served as the mathematics professor and dean of Portland State University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and before that as a vice chancellor for Oregon’s public university system. She’s currently the chief science officer at the U.S. National Science Foundation, part of a robust science and research background that Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian said makes her a “perfect fit” to helm the state’s STEM-centric campus.
“I’m honored to be selected to lead such a vibrant campus with a long-standing history of excellence,” Marrongelle said in a statement accompanying the announcement. “My family and I are looking forward to joining the Butte community that welcomed us with open arms during our visit. The rich culture and pride of Montana Tech and Butte, Montana, are what drew me to this exciting opportunity.”
Marrongelle is slated to take over for outgoing chancellor Les Cook starting Aug. 4. Both she and Tessman will be the 13th leaders of their respective Montana campuses.
—Alex Sakariassen
Roll Call 🟢🔴
Over the past weekend, the U.S. Senate considered an amendment to the budget reconciliation bill that sought to bar the government from selling federal lands to reduce the federal deficit.
Montana Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy were the only Republicans in the chamber to support the amendment to the resolution, which is more of a big-picture budget “blueprint” than a binding directive. The amendment arrived at a relatively early stage in the convoluted, obstacle-laden process governing congressional passage of the federal budget.
The measure ultimately failed, with 48 lawmakers supporting it, 51 opposing it and one senator abstaining.
The amendment arrived after Republicans, including House Natural Resources Committee Chair Bruce Westerman, R-Arkansas, expressed support for selling federal land in areas near national parks and metropolitan centers.
“It would just be in areas where you can’t get affordable housing, like for gateway communities,” Westerman told POLITICO’s E&E News last week, “so you could actually have people to work in the national parks, maybe around some big metropolitan areas in the West.”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum recently co-authored a Wall Street Journal editorial describing the move as “a strategic effort to use our resources responsibly while preserving our most beautiful lands.”
But public land advocates argue supporters of selling federal lands are using the country’s tight housing supply as cover for something they’ve long sought — a reduction of the amount of land under federal administration.
“This is just one step of many that we’ve seen toward the commodification and development of our public lands,” Backcountry Hunters and Anglers government relations manager Kaden McArthur told Outdoor Life last month. “It seems like this is a perpetual one-way ratchet, and it’s not being done with a real sense of intentional purpose.”
In Montana, keeping “public lands in public hands” is a political message used by candidates of both parties — up and down the ballot — and officeholders. It can put Republicans at odds with their peers from other states, though.
In 2024, the Republican National Convention platform called for politicians “to open limited portions of federal lands to allow for new home construction” to “help new home buyers.” The Montana Republican Party in June of that year released a related endorsement, calling for the relinquishment of federal land to the state to “secure statehood equality and provide for better management of public lands.”
Conservation and public land groups including Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Wild Montana thanked Daines and Sheehy for their votes.
“Despite pressure from their party, they stood up for Montana’s public lands, demonstrating that protecting our outdoor way of life transcends partisan divides,” Montana Conservation Voters Executive Director Whitney Tawney said in a statement.
—Amanda Eggert
A Shot in the Dark 🔫
Interested in setting up a Montana-based gunpowder factory? A bill advancing through the state Legislature would offer you and your investors a remarkable deal — a blanket exemption from state taxes for any property or income related to that production.
The measure, House Bill 329, would apply to companies primarily engaged in manufacturing “ammunition components” — propellants, primers, and cartridge cases — provided they make their products available to Montana customers.
Supporters, including Montana Shooting Sports Association President Gary Marbut, have argued the tax exemption could draw a manufacturer that would relieve supply issues for Montana shooters and bolster an industry they consider crucial to national security. Marbut said at a Feb. 7 hearing that the bill would expand a narrower tax exemption passed in 2015, ultimately expiring without drawing any takers.
“We think this is necessary and useful in Montana,” Marbut said. “My dream is for Montana to be self-sufficient for these sorts of ammunition components.”
During debate on the House floor March 27, sponsor Ed Byrne, R-Bigfork, said most ammunition is currently manufactured overseas, in part because companies looking to build U.S.-based facilities face years-long timelines and start-up costs of $100 million or more.
“This is highly subsidized throughout the world, throughout Europe and other places in the world that are now picking up the heavy lift on this,” Byrne said.
Opponents, though, called the tax breaks an unnecessary giveaway.
“This bill goes too far. It goes way too far — it’s essentially a free ride for all the major sources of taxation we use to fund local government and state government,” said Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda.
“We can attract good, high-paying jobs without this kind of ridiculous tax incentive,” said Rep. Tom France, D-Missoula.
The bill narrowly cleared the House on a 51-48 vote March 28, drawing support from most Republicans and a single Democrat, Rep. Joshua Seckinger, D-Bozeman. As of this writing, it’s awaiting debate on the Senate Floor.
—Eric Dietrich
Legislation Graveyard 🪦
❌ House Bill 408, which would have mandated “obscenity filters” that activate during setup for minors on all electronic devices sold in Montana, has died in committee. The proposal placed civil liability on manufacturers if a minor accessed obscene content and allowed parents to sue for damages — up to $50,000 per violation. The Computer & Communications Industry Association, an industry trade group, testified in opposition to the bill April 7, warning the legislation l would create “unworkable compliance challenges” and that it would impose “steep penalties based on vague determinations of obscenity” or “over-filter” to avoid costly litigation. A similar bill, House Bill 349, was also tabled in committee during the 2023 session due to similar concerns. The challenge of defining obscenity is not new — in the landmark 1964 Supreme Court case Jacobellis v. Ohio, Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote about obscenity: “I know it when I see it.”
❌After a sprawling, nearly 30-minute discussion that touched on contrails, chemtrails, cloud seeding and geoengineering, Senate Bill 473 failed in the House April 10 by a 45-55 margin. Originally proposed by Sen. Bob Phalen, R-Glendive, to “prohibit weather modification,” SB 473 encountered a range of interpretations in both bodies. The House Natural Resources Committee amended it heavily in an attempt to treat cloud seeding — the practice of using aircraft to release silver iodide, typically, into clouds to increase precipitation, and thus, water supply — separately from geoengineering, defined in the bill as “large-scale, intentional intervention in the earth’s climate system designed to counteract or mitigate global climate change, including stratospheric aerosol injection, solar radiation management, and marine cloud brightening.”
❌Senate Bill 549, which would have established an income tax credit for educational expenses incurred by Montana families, died in committee April 4, just one day ahead of its deadline for transmittal to the House. The bill proposed a credit of up to $1,250 to compensate parents for the cost of instructional materials, educational therapies, tutoring, extracurricular activities and even school supplies like pens and markers. Sen. Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, initially proposed applying the credit to expenses incurred both within the public school system and in private and homeschool settings, but the Senate Taxation Committee struck the latter provision, advancing a version aimed strictly at public school expenses. Trebas successfully carried an amendment on the Senate floor restoring the homeschool option, and SB 549 passed its first full Senate vote 31-19 before meeting its final fate in Senate Finance and Claims.
❌Senate Bill 136, which would have removed a legal shield for medical providers who prescribe aid-in-dying medications to terminally ill patients, failed to pass an April 9 second reading in the House on a 42-58 vote. The bill has been brought every session for over a decade, ever since the Montana Supreme Court ruled that patient consent could be used as a defense in these situations if providers were charged with homicide. Another bill brought earlier in the session, House Bill 637, would have created a legal framework for officially legalizing and regulating aid in dying. That bill failed to advance out of its first House committee.
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- Lawmakers are debating how much to reimburse county jails for holding inmates awaiting a bed at the state hospital.
- After a decade of trying, a bill to establish Indigenous Peoples Day is on its way to the governor’s desk.
- The state could chip in more for school infrastructure under a bill advancing through the Legislature.
On Our Radar 
Alex — I’ve been grieving this past month over The New York Times’ decision to end its Matter of Opinion podcast. But the newspaper’s spin-off of a new series called Interesting Times, helmed by opinion writer and former Matter of Opinion co-host Ross Douthat, offers a bit of a silver lining — one that’s already served up interviews with such controversial figures as Steve Bannon and tech investor Marc Andreessen.
Matt — It doesn’t appear to be a seller’s market for luxurious, castle-like homes in Cascade County. This $4.2 million property, previously owned by a food-seasoning magnate and complete with an airplane hangar, has languished on the market for nearly a year. Homebuyers take notice.
Katie — Like many readers, I recently picked up the new “Hunger Games” novel, “Sunrise on the Reaping.” The book takes place 24 years before the original trilogy and follows District 12 mentor Haymitch Abernathy in the 50th Hunger Games. As a longtime fan of the series, I appreciate the cameos of many characters we get to know in other books, but the real highlight is the novel’s commentary on propaganda.
Zeke — The electric pop album “When the Sun Goes Down,” released in 2011 by Selena Gomez & The Scene, competes with Taylor Swift’s “1989” for the title of best soundtrack for a Friday night. But for slow Monday mornings and long Wednesday nights, there is no competition for Gomez’s recent 2025 release, “I Said I Love You First.”
Mara — Staring down the last few weeks of the Legislature has me thinking a lot about post-session vacations. Hot springs, hiking trails, vineyard tours in Italy — let the daydreams commence. Any recommendations for a fun, early summer getaway? Let me know.
Eric — I’ve read dozens of news articles over the last couple of weeks trying to understand the economic implications of President Trump’s China tariffs. I’ve learned more from this narrow-lense story from Ars Technica, exploring what the situation looks like to small businesses in one particular niche manufacturing industry, than I have from any of the politics-forward pieces published by the Washington press corps.
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