Montana Politics

A lawsuit filed Wednesday argues Gov. Greg Gianforte unconstitutionally appointed a sitting legislator to lead an executive agency. It’s the fourth time the governor has tapped a state lawmaker for a political appointment.

The state psychiatric hospital has a new CEO. This will be the fifth leader of the embattled facility in the past four years.

State lawmakers have overridden Gov. Greg Gianforte’s veto of a bill that will pay county jails for holding inmates awaiting space at the state psychiatric hospital.

President Donald Trump is nominating a Billings attorney and state legislator to a federal bench in Montana.

Forward Montana and the Montana Public Interest Research Group say new voting regulations unduly burden young voters. The groups have successfully challenged similar legislation in recent years.

Montana policymakers made housing affordability a top issue at the statehouse, but mobile home park residents feel left out. After three legislative sessions of asking for more tenant protections, there’s been little change to the law. Residents are facing rent hikes and insecurity as parks are sold, often to out-of-state buyers.

Montana’s largest electric utility has temporarily pulled back on increasing customer bills. NorthWestern Energy raised customer rates by 17% in May but has now agreed to apply a smaller increase for at least the next few billing cycles.

The Montana State Hospital lost its federal certification in 2022 due to patient deaths. That decertification means the state can’t bill Medicaid or Medicare for patient services – a funding loss that has cost the state millions of dollars. State health officials plan to apply for federal recertification next year.

Montana’s only statewide food bank warns that at least 12,000 residents are at risk of losing some or all of their federal food benefits. The overhaul of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, coincides with growing demand for food pantry services in Montana.

A group of Montana politicians is backing a ballot proposal to rein in campaign spending. State launches investigation into Lee Enterprises over data breach. State park visitation has nearly doubled over the past decade, a new report says.