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After months of campaigning (and making campaign promises), each legislator heading into the 69th session of the Montana Legislature as it convenes in January must work alongside 149 others to identify and tackle the state’s most pressing issues.
As a news outlet covering the Capitol, it’s our job to help Montanans track the often messy legislative process that manifests as different ideas about what those issues are and how to best address them collide. To do that effectively, we need to have a clear sense of what our readers and the broader public want to see next year’s Legislature address.
As we work to build that sense here at MTFP, we’re launching a new initiative to directly ask Montanans about their legislative priorities.
What we’re calling the Voter Priority Project centers around public interest polls conducted over the next seven months. We’ll publish the results of those polls and use them to make sure we’re covering the issues that respondents prioritize, aiming to equip voters with the awareness they need to assess the Legislature’s actions.
We’ll be developing the questions used for these polls with the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling, a part of Rutgers University. We’ll also receive guidance from a multidisciplinary advisory board composed of Montana experts in political science, sociology, policy and governance. But we want your input too — to make sure we’re asking about the issues that are top of mind for you individually.
You can weigh in at the survey link below:
The results of this initial survey will guide the Voter Priority Project’s polling and reporting, giving you a chance to indicate the issues you want to make sure we poll about. We’re also looking for nuance about the issues we list and details on anything we might have missed.
Additionally, please don’t let this survey contain your thoughts, notes and ideas. If you have more to say about this project, or anything else, reach out via email to our editorial team anytime at [email protected]
—Zeke Lloyd
Wildlife Watch 🛣️
Trappers will be allowed to place traps and neck snares within 50 feet of some seasonally gated roads in Ravalli County south of Missoula following the state Fish and Wildlife Commission’s decision to scrap a longtime setback requirement.
On Tuesday, the commission voted 6-1 to remove a requirement that trappers in Ravalli County place traps and neck snares at least 50 feet off of a roadbed right-of-way. Region Two Commissioner Jeff Burrows, who also serves on the Ravalli County Commission, said the change would “help increase the efficiency of the trapping and trap checks” on seasonally gated roads, typically administered by the U.S. Forest Service, that aren’t commonly used by recreationists in Ravalli County.
Supporters of the change, including the Foundation for Wildlife Management, said it will make it easier for trappers to fulfill the commission-set wolf quotas, especially following a court order that shortened the wolf-trapping season across much of the state to reduce incidental harm to federally protected grizzly bears.
Burrows incorporated four exceptions to his proposal to account for routes that are commonly trafficked by the non-trapping public, including Nez Perce Pass Road, Skalkaho Pass and the Lost Horse Road. He added that his list of exceptions is not exhaustive and it’s incumbent upon trappers to exercise discretion in their trap placement.
“We thoroughly appreciate Commissioner Burrows’ research, his effort to maximize trapper opportunity while continuing the effort to minimize land user conflicts by excluding the roadways being utilized by other land users,” said Foundation for Wildlife Management Executive Director Justin Webb.
Opponents worry that the proposal will create a safety hazard for members of the public and their pets, particularly since trappers aren’t required to post signage alerting recreationists to nearby traplines.
“Our county population is increasing. Winter recreation is increasing, and the right to use these lands safely is essential,” argued Ravalli County resident Laura Jackson, who said she once had to free her dog from a trap. “The default 50-foot [setback] is a reasonable compromise that allows trapping but also protects other users. Even the snowmobilers occasionally have to pull over for a pit stop — to have a trap there that they happen to step in is not going to improve the day.”
Chris Servheen, board chair of the Montana Wildlife Federation, said FWP-compiled data found that 123 domestic dogs were captured in traps set for other animals statewide over a 5-year period.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks opposed the shift, arguing that it has “real potential to increase non-target captures of domestic dogs and reduce support for recreational trapping.”
District Three Commissioner Susan Brooke, of Bozeman, cast the lone dissenting vote on the change, which will go into effect this winter.
—Amanda Eggert
The Viz 📈
Montana’s Office of Public Instruction this week released preliminary results for an October headcount of students in the K-12 system, which recorded 145,650 full-time students in public school classrooms statewide. The count revealed a 1% drop in public school enrollment from fall 2023 and marked a second straight year of decline for one of the key numbers fed into the formula that produces the education budget the Legislature will consider next year.
According to data furnished by OPI, K-12 enrollment steadily increased ahead of the pandemic, and even posted a surge of roughly 3,000 new students in the fall of 2019 before plummeting the following year — an anomaly that should be taken with a grain of salt considering the upheaval caused by COVID-19 heading into fall 2020. The enrollment count bounced back over the subsequent two years, however, peaking at 149,189 students in 2022.
The latest headcount, which won’t be official until districts certify their data in the coming weeks, brings statewide enrollment back down to 2018 levels.
Student headcounts, conducted across the state once in the fall and once in the spring, carry significant financial considerations for Montana schools. State officials refer to the totals as “average number belonging” or ANB, a figure that factors heavily in the Legislature’s school funding formula. Lawmakers set a per-pupil amount every session, meaning the more students a district has, the more funding it gets from the state. District leaders and public school advocates have over the past year pointed to declining enrollment as a key contributor to local budget deficits. Citing a decades-long downward trend in the ratio of school-aged children as a share of the state’s overall population, education advocates also worry that the state’s reliance on ANB for budgeting may threaten the K-12 system’s ability to continue meeting the needs of Montana students.
—Alex Sakariassen
Following the votes 🗳️
Late nights and long lines have been fairly consistent features of Election Day in Montana in recent years. Individuals queue up at their county election offices for a variety of reasons — maybe they’re taking advantage of same-day registration to vote last minute, or perhaps prefer to vote in person despite having received a mail-in absentee ballot. The flurry of activity can stretch election staff thin, delaying full election returns by hours or even days.
State lawmakers in 2023 sought to expedite the release of those returns with the passage of House Bill 196. But as this month’s general election illustrated, the bill posed some new challenges for county election officials, delaying the release of initial returns in most major counties until well past a healthy bedtime.
One of the most significant changes was HB 196’s requirement that election staff continue their vote-counting activities uninterrupted. Election officials in several larger counties lodged their concerns with the notion early on, cautioning lawmakers that revoking the option to give staff a few hours of rest after midnight could result in fatigue and human error. Reflecting on election night 2024 last week, Missoula County Election Administrator Bradley Seaman told MTFP the new requirement meant election workers who had already worked long hours before the polls closed weren’t as “fresh” when running ballots through tabulators. In Yellowstone County, election administrator Ginger Aldrich noted it was difficult finding election judges willing to cover such late hours, especially considering that many election judges are retirees.
The bill also explicitly prohibited county election officials from releasing results from their counts until the last county voter in line at 8 p.m. had cast their ballot. Here, the long lines now typical of general elections in larger counties conspired to create lengthy delays in understanding how races were trending in key parts of the state. Any media stories or reports prior to midnight did not include a single vote from two of Montana’s most populous counties, Yellowstone (Billings) and Gallatin (Bozeman), where the last ballots weren’t cast until 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., respectively.
The challenges this year were born out in the initial findings from the Carter Center-led Montana Election Observation Initiative. Based on information gathered by 120 trained observers at 76 voting locations in 16 counties, the group reported this week that “high turnout and limited staffing led to long lines and delays for both voting and same-day registration at some locations.” As frustrating as long lines and lengthy waits for winners and losers can be, however, initiative advisor and coordinator Daniel Bruce stressed in an interview that observers had found no signs of irregularities in the results themselves and that Montana’s election process overall appears secure.
“We don’t see any reason for the results to come into question,” Bruce said.
—Alex Sakariassen
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
Newly elected and returning legislators chose leadership for the 2025 session of the Montana Legislature this week. MTFP’s statehouse team reports that the Legislature’s Republican majority selected outgoing Speaker of the House Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, as the new Senate President and Rep. Brandon Ler, R-Savage, as the new Speaker of the House.
A group led by Bozeman attorney Matt Monforton is taking another run at a ballot initiative that would cap residential property taxes. Eric Dietrich reports that prior versions of the initiative, similar to California’s landmark Prop 13, fell short before reaching the ballot amid litigation and opposition from groups such as the Montana Federation of Public Employees and the Montana Association of Realtors.
The crosses atop the Cathedral of St. Helena have a new luster following the conclusion of a $4.5 million renovation project. JoVonne Wagner reports that the project also involved roof and masonry repairs to the capital city landmark, which was built between 1908 and 1924.
On Our Radar 
Amanda — The Wide Open, a podcast about the Endangered Species Act reported and written by Livingston-based journalist (and occasional MTFP collaborator) Nick Mott, is a treasure trove of little-known facts about the ESA. A little nugget from the first episode: there are 18 threatened or endangered species in Montana and nearly 300 in Hawaii.
Alex — State wildlife managers approved some significant changes to long-standing fishing regulations in western and central Montana this week. As the Flathead Beacon reported, the changes seek to address the effects cultural and climatic shifts are having to native trout populations and reflect a broad catch-and-release ethos that many anglers, myself included, have practiced for years.
JoVonne — Last year, the Barbie and Oppenheimer movies were released on the same day, an event dubbed “Barbenheimer” by fans and film critics. This year, with Gladiator II and Wicked both set to premiere on Nov. 22, we’re seeing something of a repeat. This Deadline article discusses the “Glicked” effect and its impact on movie ticket sales with one of the Wicked stars, Jeff Goldblum.
Matt — Thirty years ago today, TLC released its second album, CrazySexyCool. It went 11x platinum (certified diamond) and is a top-to-bottom excellent fusion of Atlanta hip hop and R&B in this reporter’s view.
Jacob — Twenty years ago, the Mozilla Foundation released Firefox, a browser that displaced Microsoft’s monopolistic Internet Explorer and led to the rise of other alternatives, namely Google Chrome. The anniversary comes in a time of turmoil for Mozilla. The layoff of 30% of its staff and the shuttering of its advocacy division brings into question the organization’s ability to fight for a “free and open internet.”
Tom — With the election behind us, I’m back to rereading “The Scout Mindset: Why some people see things clearly and others don’t,” Julia Galefs’ book about seeing things as they are, rather than how you want them to be. In practice, it’s about acquiring new information, evaluating it critically and then shedding assumptions that don’t prove out. It’s a good annual read.
Zeke — Montana’s leafless deciduous trees and strong, cold winds prompted me to rewatch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a movie that takes place entirely in winter. The science fiction romantic drama asks a profound moral question: Is it better to forget our exes entirely or retain the memories, good and bad, of our failed relationships?
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