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Montana politics, elections and legislative news

Montana Legislative News Roundup

Montana Senate.
William Marcus
Empty Montana Senate Chambers

The Montana Legislature is taking a spring break through Monday as it prepares for its final four weeks of work. MTPR Capitol Reporter Steve Jess has a look at what lawmakers have done so far.

The hottest issue by far is Medicaid expansion for low-income Montanans. The Governor’s plan to cover 70,000 people using a privately-managed insurance program died, as did a Republican alternative, to cover fewer people using only state money. A compromise plan combining Medicaid benefits with job training is still alive. It comes up for a hearing on Tuesday.

The water compact involving the tribes of the Flathead Reservation passed the Senate in late February and is scheduled for a rare Saturday hearing next week.

The House has passed a state budget, but the governor has threatened to veto it unless the Senate puts back funding that House Republicans cut. The governor’s plan for statewide preschool programs was cut, and the pay increase he negotiated with state employee unions was tabled in a House committee. Both issues might be revived in the Senate.

The governor has already vetoed one income tax cut, but another one landed on his desk Thursday.  So far, no word what he’s going to do about it.

Bullock’s statewide infrastructure bill, funded by a mix of tax and bond revenues, is currently stalled, but Republicans have put many of the same projects into other bills.

And the state House passed up a chance to make national headlines when it narrowly defeated a “religious freedom” bill, just as similar bills were sparking protests and boycotts in Indiana and Arkansas.

Lawmakers get back to work Tuesday morning at the Capitol.

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