The Montana Capitol
Native lawmakers in Montana say this year’s legislative session brought laws created without tribal government input.
The 2021 legislative session got off to an unusual and difficult start for everyone due to the pandemic. That unusual start meant lawmakers didn’t receive their regular orientation briefing from law school professors, including a lesson on the
Legislator’s Handbook that, “the best interests of Montana Tribes will be served by engaging in government-to-government relationships designed to recognize the rights, duties, and privileges of full citizenship that Indians are entitled to as citizens of this state.”
According to Todd Everts, the director of Legal Services at the state’s Legislative Services Division, this legal crash course was cut because the technology to allow law school professors to join remotely was not operational.
Montana’s “Bad Actor” law does apply to an Idaho-based mining company and its executives for the pollution problems they left at a closed gold mine near Malta, a state judge
COVID-19 cases rise in younger people as vaccination in the county slows
Health department able to store Pfizer vaccine, need for testing high
Last updated 5/24/2021 at 11:40am
In a COVID-19 update Friday Hill County Public Health Director and Health Officer Kim Berg said only 36 percent of Hill County’s eligible population has been fully vaccinated, down by one percent since the last update two weeks ago. Berg said because the Pfizer vaccine recently obtained approval for use in people 12 years and older, the eligible population of the county has jumped from about 12,000 to 13,256. This has resulted in the percentage of vaccinated people eligible in the county falling a percentage point.
Suit targets laws that opponents say hurt Native voters
âThese new laws directly threaten our right to have our voices heardâ
Author:
May 19, 2021
Shelly R. Fyant, chairwoman of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana, poses for a photo Nov. 30 in Pablo, Montana. (Amy Schlatter via AP, File)
âThese new laws directly threaten our right to have our voices heardâ
Amy Beth Hanson
Associated Press
HELENA, Mont. A lawsuit was filed Monday on behalf of Native American voting rights organizations and four tribes challenging new laws they say are part of a broader scheme by the Montana Legislature to disenfranchise Native voters.