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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?
Seeley Swan Pathfinder -
UM Legislative News Service University of Montana School of Journalism
Montana Legislature adjourns; Marijuana plans, $12.5 billion budget, federal relief and more roll on to Governor s desk
Montana 67th Legislative Session - Week 17
2021 Montana Legislature Adjourns after Near-Marijuana Meltdown and Bill-Resurrecting Blitz
The 67th Montana Legislature adjourned on Thursday, April 29, following a week filled with policies brought back from the dead and capped by a failed high-stakes gamble by conservative Republicans to rewrite a major portion of the recreational marijuana plan passed just days earlier.
Both chambers adjourned “sine die” a Latin phrase meaning “without assigning another day to meet” just minutes apart, with Republicans touting a laundry list of bills their caucus passed cracking down on elections, promoting what they call religious freedom and cutting taxes and Democrats expressing frustration with legislation they
Republicans on Wednesday passed a heavily amended elections bill that now establishes broad conflict-of-interest guidelines for judges in Montana, while prohibiting some political activities in dorms and other areas on public college campuses.
The requirement for judicial recusals was added Tuesday as an amendment to a largely unrelated bill, and comes as Republican lawmakers have been escalating a fight with the judicial branch.
Under the freshly amended Senate Bill 319, judicial officers would be disallowed from presiding over a case if they received at least half of the maximum individual contribution from a lawyer or party during the previous six years. They would also have to recuse themselves if a lawyer or party to the case donated to a political committee that supported the judge or opposed their opponent in the past six years.
The Colstrip Steam Electric Station
A bill that would have allowed Montana’s largest electric utility to recover costs and a rate of return from its customers for coal-fired power generation was tabled in committee Wednesday.
Senate Bill 379 from Republican Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick of Great Falls has drawn heated testimony from supporters who say it would ensure NorthWestern Energy customers a reliable source of power from Colstrip and opponents who say customers would be saddled with costs the utility never spent.
The policy passed through the Senate earlier this month but was tabled in the House Energy, Technology and Federal Relations Committee on a 11-1 vote Wednesday.