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Friday marked the final day for Montana legislators to move policy bills from one chamber to the next. In the week leading up to the transmittal break, both the House and Senate scrum to pass bills — hearing, debating and voting on hundreds of proposals.
After four days of consecutive floor sessions that ran late into the evening, House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, commended the body as they adjourned just after 7 p.m. on Thursday.
“I think we’ve had good debate. It’s been, at times, emotional, but we’ve done a good job of staying on the issues and getting through the work,” Fitzpatrick said.
The gavel fall Friday morning marked an exodus of lawmakers from the Capitol for transmittal break, a week-long respite from legislative duties. Many senators and representatives return home to spend time with their families and consult with constituents, often through events organized by local political parties.
As legislators seek feedback from the residents in their districts, the Montana Free Press newsroom will also be spending the break gauging the temperature of Montanans on major issues facing the state by digging into data collected by the MTFP-Eagleton poll, a recent survey of more than 900 people statewide that asked about public opinions across a range of political issues.
The survey was conducted by MTFP in partnership with the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling at Rutgers University and marks the first stage of Montana Insights, a project slated to include two more public interest surveys scheduled for later in the year. Unlike horse-race polling, the more-common form of political survey that solicits preferences on candidates for political office, the MTFP-Eagleton poll sampled the state’s general population instead of only registered or likely voters. Our aim is for the project to inform residents, policy-makers and elected officials through data-driven results about the priorities, concerns and perspectives of people across the state.
Much of the poll centered around economic issues. One in 4 Montanans said it was very difficult to afford five regular costs like education (including the cost of materials and student loans), rent or mortgage payments, health care, groceries and other food, and child care. Two in 5 Montanans spend more than 30% of their total monthly income on housing.
In interviews with the press before the transmittal break, lawmakers from both parties spoke about the slew of bills drafted by a Republican select Senate committee over the interim to reign in what the lawmakers claim is overreach by the judiciary in Montana. Our poll asked Montanans how they feel about the judicial branch of government.
Overall, 4 in 10 think the courts have just enough power, compared to 2 in 10 who think they have too much and 1 in 10 who said they have too little.
While reporters continue to comb through details buried in the data, a simpler, apolitical trend indicates a nuanced optimism across the state. While a supermajority of Montanans felt that the last five years had been somewhat mediocre — almost half of the respondents said they were financially worse off now and another 1 in 3 said nothing had changed — only a quarter anticipated being worse off in 12 months.
—Zeke Lloyd
Verbatim 💬
“This is a choice that other countries can make. If they’re willing to open up their markets to American goods, we’re going to open up American markets to their goods. But it’s their choice, and we have not been treated fairly for a long time.”
—Gov. Greg Gianforte
Gianforte was in Great Falls on March 5 touting his preferred property tax legislation that could bring some relief to primary homeowners. In a brief interview that followed his prepared remarks, I asked for comment on the tariffs that the Trump administration enforced on Canadian and Mexican goods.
That same day, I was working on an article about concerns that tariffs could impact a very interconnected Montana-Alberta regional agriculture economy. As I spoke with Gianforte, a delegation of officials from the Montana Stockgrowers Association was in Washington, D.C., to meet with Montana’s federal delegation to talk about issues including tariffs, which threaten to increase costs for producers and consumers on a range of goods.
The governor took a broader view of the situation. He said he shared the Trump administration’s concerns about fentanyl trafficking, which motivated Trump to impose the tariffs in order to get the countries to beef up border security. Gianforte allowed that tariffs could create “some disruption,” but he didn’t speak to specific impacts within Montana.
Two days after announcing tariffs, it was Trump who made the choice to issue a broader pause on the taxes for goods that comply with a prior trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. Both countries have backed off on retaliatory measures. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote on X that she would work with the White House on border security. The tariff pause expires April 2, though new developments are likely in the meantime.
—Matt Hudson
Say Again? 🤔
Daylong marathon floor sessions in the Montana House and Senate on Wednesday and Thursday this week had lawmakers of all stripes struggling to hold their attention on the hundreds of bills coming before them. One state senator, Columbus Republican Forrest Mandeville, resorted to streaming the Montana High School Association Class B divisional basketball tournament from a laptop on his desk in the back row of the Senate chamber.
“We might be on the floor all day, but at least I can still watch basketball! Go Cougars!” Mandeville wrote in a social media post, referencing the Columbus girls’ pending showdown with the Baker Spartans.
According to MTN Sports, the Columbus girls lost what was their first game of the double-elimination tournament, 49-65. During its floor session Wednesday, the Senate debated more than 50 bills.
—Eric Dietrich
Roll Call 🟢🔴
The Senate made quick work over the past week in passing a late-breaking bill to allow Montana public schools to employ paid or volunteer school chaplains. Senate Bill 525 had its first committee hearing Tuesday, with sponsor Sen. Theresa Manzella, R-Hamilton, touting the proposal as a potential boon in addressing the state’s youth mental health crisis. State education leaders and mental health professionals didn’t see it that way, openly questioning the bill’s lean qualifications for school chaplains (at least 18 years old and of “good moral character”) as well as the logistics of licensing or certifying such individuals. During the same hearing, the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee approved SB 525 on an 8-6 vote with Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, joining Democrats in opposition.
Two days later, on Thursday, Manzella again pitched her measure to colleagues on the Senate floor, noting her desire to see two provisions — one allowing districts to employ a school chaplain in lieu of a school counselor and the other mandating that chaplains be certified by the state superintendent — amended out. She cited a list of statistics on the use of school chaplains worldwide, arguing “anybody who’s looked at our situation in our schools knows we need to try something new.” Senate Democrats weren’t entirely averse to the notion, with Sen. Sara Novak, D-Anaconda, explaining her opposition was largely based on SB 525’s current language creating a situation where a school chaplain might replace a school counselor.
“It could be beneficial to have both, especially in a crisis situation,” Novak said. “It’s really just the replacement of or in lieu of language, so I’m going to be a no for today, but I do hope it gets switched in the future.”
Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, echoed that sentiment, saying the concept “has some merit” but was hard for him to support in its current form. Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston, agreed the recommended changes should be made, adding that she’d encourage some inclusion of Native American religious considerations in an amended draft. Both Beard and Fern ultimately voted in favor of SB 525, while Tempel’s opposition and that of the Democratic caucus save Fern held out. SB 525 passed the Senate on a vote of 32-17, with Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, absent.
—Alex Sakariassen
Legislation Graveyard 🪦
❌ House Bill 404, a bill that would block the National Guard from “federal duty” without a congressional act, failed on the House floor Wednesday. Parallel attempts to prevent the Guard’s deployment in armed conflict overseas have been making their way through other state legislatures, including Virginia and Maine. In Montana, the bill was tabled in committee before the House resurrected it for a second reading. It died 51-48 with roughly 85% of Democrats and about 40% of Republicans in the chamber voting against the legislation.
❌ House Bill 519, a measure that would have repealed a program giving nonresident landowners with large holdings licenses to hunt deer and elk on their property, is dead on arrival. On Tuesday, HB 519 sponsor Rep. Jedediah Hinkle, R-Belgrade, pulled the measure from consideration after twice canceling scheduled hearings for it in the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee he chairs. The program doles out up to five big game combination licenses to nonresident landowners with 2,500 acres of holdings or more. Hinkle could not be reached for comment on his decision to nix the bill.
Highlights ☀️
In other news this week —
- The state Senate forwarded to the legislative auditor a complaint of “waste, fraud and abuse” against its president for his hiring of a lawyer starting in 2023.
- A budget subcommittee cut the program that uses federal dollars to connect 76,000 children with food assistance.
- A splinter group of Latter-day Saints in Pinesdale is suing to own the land under their homes.
On Our Radar 
Alex — Curious what former Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester’s been up to lately? I’ve been catching up this week on the new podcast “Grounded” that he’s co-hosting with veteran Montana journalist Maritsa Georgiou. It’s been a trip so far, with the two dissecting recent headlines and chatting with a heady list of guests including George W. Bush-era White House ethics counsel Richard Painter and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
Zeke — Unlike potatoes or onions, I recently learned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says perishable vegetables such as broccoli can go bad quickly and need to be kept refrigerated. When I recently found myself with an excess of the vegetable, I quickly discovered a number of easy ways to cook a superb standalone dish.
Nora — Aaniiih Nakoda College on the Fort Belknap Reservation was recently featured on “The College Tour,” a TV series that highlights campuses across the country. ANC is the first tribal college to be featured on the show. Watch the 30-minute episode here.
Mara — The sprint toward transmittal break at the Legislature demanded a reliable supply of sugar and carbs for the press corps in the Capitol basement. In addition to pizza orders and Costco snacks, I baked two different types of cupcakes Wednesday night (chai spice and lemon blackberry) for the MTFP crew and our colleagues from other media outlets. We can confidently report that they’re both worth making for any occasion.
Holly — I’ll admit it, I watch and enjoy “The Traitors,” the reality television show on Peacock. But I’m 99% here for Alan Cumming. The show is best watched while eating one of Mara’s cupcakes.
Eric — Here’s what happens when you overclock the batteries on a Tickle Me Elmo.
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