Bill sponsor pushes for veto override after Gianforte rejects popular marijuana tax bill
“It is of utmost importance that you protect the Legislature’s ability to review and evaluate the Executive’s veto action,” Mike Lang wrote in a letter asking the secretary of state to give lawmakers an opportunity to override Gov. Greg Gianforte’s veto of a popular marijuana tax bill.
Latest Politics Reporting
Electric City’s political pivot
Each time Democrat Jon Tester won his hard-fought U.S. Senate races in Montana, he celebrated the victory at election-night parties in Great Falls, the working-class city on the banks of the Missouri River. But as Tester goes for a fourth consecutive Senate win in 2024, the city that’s been his political backyard and a once-Democratic…
Recreational marijuana tax bill headed to Gov. Gianforte’s desk
After passing its final Senate vote 49-1, Senate Bill 442 will land on Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk. Montana lawmakers have supported the measure with broad margins, but how Gianforte will receive the marijuana tax-allocation bill remains to be seen.
Where to allocate weed tax revenues?
Two proposals with competing visions for the tens of millions in taxes that Montana collects annually on the sale of recreational marijuana are still making their way through the Legislature as lawmakers work to set a two-year state budget.
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Gianforte appoints Bonilla to Montana 9th Judicial District vacancy
Gov. Greg Gianforte announced that he will appoint attorney Greg Bonilla to the upcoming vacancy in Montana’s 9th Judicial District Court, which comprises Glacier, Toole, Pondera and Teton counties.
Former Supreme Court Justice Jim Nelson’s war of words
Former Montana Supreme Court Justice Jim Nelson referred to Republican efforts to reshape the judiciary as a “jihad,” a “fight to the death” and “a war perpetrated by the supermajority Freedom Caucus, the Legislature, the governor, and the attorney general.”
Which party controlled Montana politics, year by year?
A couple of years back, longtime Montana reporter Chuck Johnson shared with MTFP a spreadsheet he’d compiled detailing which political party had controlled the Montana House, Senate and governorship year-by-year over the course of the state’s history. Chuck being Chuck, it included figures stretching back nearly to statehood in 1889, painstakingly tallied and color-coded.
Tester announces 2024 reelection bid
U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, the only Democrat holding statewide elected office in Montana, said Wednesday that he’ll seek reelection to a fourth term in 2024.
Following the 2023 session? Here’s how to do your part.
From registering for remote testimony to finding your senators and representatives, Montana Free Press has prepared this comprehensive guide for civic engagement with the Montana Legislature.
Lawmakers link up over bipartisan sausage
The sight as a group of Montana lawmakers gathered at an event venue outside Clancy Saturday morning, a week into the 2023 session of the Montana Legislature, wasn’t necessarily pretty.
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Lawmakers deadlock on political practices commissioner
A panel of four lawmakers failed to reach consensus last week on which of five applicants for commissioner of political practices to forward to Gov. Greg Gianforte. Now, all five automatically advance.
Committee probing judiciary adopts amended final report
The Republican-led select committee formed late last session to probe the state’s judiciary voted to adopt an amended version of its final report to the Legislature. The 4-2 party-line vote came after the chair of the Select Committee on Judicial Accountability and Transparency, Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, eliminated language in the report accusing Montana Supreme…
HD 80 hopeful questions whether reservation votes should count
A legislative aide with aspirations of representing House District 80 in the 2023 Legislature questioned in public remarks Tuesday whether members of tribes living on reservations in Montana should be able to vote in state elections. “If the reservations want to say they are independent countries … but they want a lot of handouts, why…
Districting and Apportionment Commission approves Senate pairings and amends House map
After almost 13 hours of negotiation and debate about now-familiar subjects like competitiveness, proportionality and compactness, the Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission has adopted a new map of state Senate districts and set the parameters of the next decade of state legislative elections.
Judge denies Gianforte’s ‘executive privilege’ defense in record request lawsuit
A Helena judge has ordered Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte to release government records that spurred a prominent right to know lawsuit. The lawsuit was brought by Helena resident and Democratic political consultant Jayson O’Neill, who filed a request in May 2021 for agency bill monitoring forms, which contain communications between the governor’s office and state…
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