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.
Lawmaker resigns to accept appointment to parole board
June 1, 2021
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MISSOULA, Mont. (AP) A member of Montana s House of Representatives resigned his seat late last month to accept an appointment to the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole, even after an attorney for the legislature questioned the constitutionality of the move, a Montana news outlet reported.
Republican Rep. Jimmy Patelis of Billings announced May 23 on social media that he was resigning from the House to accept Gov. Greg Gianforte s appointment to the parole board, effective Tuesday. The job pays about $87,000 a year, according to state employee data. NBC Montana obtained emails from January indicating Patelis asked the Legislative Services Division for an opinion on whether it would be permissible for him to accept an appointment to the board.
Republican Rep. Jimmy Patelis of Billings announced May 23 on social media that he was resigning from the House to accept Gov. Greg Gianforte s appointment to the parole board, effective
Montana lawmakers will continue allowing remote participation in legislative committee meetings between legislative sessions.
During the 2021 legislative session, Montanans were able to give testimony on policy proposals by calling or video-chatting into meetings for the first time ever, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Legislative Council, charged with creating rules for interim committees, voted unanimously Monday to continue the practice for both legislators and the public.
Twenty interim committees will meet over the next two years, each covering a specific topic. Lawmakers passed 28 study bills during the session that will require committees to research and publish reports.
Lawmakers participate online during a joint House & Senate Rules Committee meeting, December 16, 2020.
Twice during the legislative session, minority Democrats mustered enough support from Republicans across the aisle to kill GOP bills aimed at ending continuous eligibility in the stateâs Medicaid expansion program.
But at the end of the Legislature the policy was enacted anyway, folded into the appropriations bill for the operations of state government. This policy idea was thoroughly vetted . and was defeated on a bipartisan vote because it s awful policy, said Rep. Ed Stafman, a Bozeman Democrat, in the waning hours of the session.
So how did the provision â which Democrats argue could kick the working poor off health care coverage and some Republicans say is necessary to prevent abuse of the program â resurface and end up becoming law?