Itâs part of Shawn Reagorâs job to distill information for lawmakers and bring to the forefront human stories that illustrate complex policy. But the pace at which the Montana Legislature heard, advanced and dispatched bills in the last week made that a challenge.
âWe have a spreadsheet of everything and Iâm having a hard time keeping track,â said Reagor, program director with the Montana Human Rights Network. âFor any member of the public to be able to keep track and know who to contact and when and what to say? It makes it really difficult.â
Early in the week, Reagor testified on a bill that was one of 20 heard by the House Judiciary Committee in a single day. The session is careening toward the transmittal deadline, which is the cutoff for policy bills that donât deal with money to advance from their original chamber or face defeat.
Stop the attack on LGBTQ people in our state
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Montana lawmakers advance revived bill to block medical treatment for trans youth
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“Show us the law!” they chanted.
“Let Grandma out!” one shouted.
They had descended on Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash., the evening of Jan. 29 to protest the quarantine of Gayle Meyer, a 74-year-old patient who had refused to take a test for the coronavirus.
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Police in riot gear guarded entrances as the activists who authorities said were armed insisted that Meyer was being held against her will, a claim the hospital denied.
Meyer’s 49-year-old daughter, Satin, an anti-mask activist licensed as her caregiver, had summoned the demonstrators, foot soldiers in a rapidly expanding network called People’s Rights. With the tap of a thumb on a smartphone, members can call a militia like they’d call an Uber and stage a protest within minutes.