Montana’s 2023 Legislature has adjourned “Sine Die” (indefinitely)

Legislative Bulletin #16, May 5, 2023

When Minority Leader Sen. Pat Flowers (D-Belgrade) made the non-debatable motion to adjourn “sine die,” 10 Republicans and all 16 Democrats voted to end the session on the 87th day.

And that was a wrap… in the Senate.

The House, still working on amended bills from the Senate or conference committees, took a few more hours to finish up. Some bills, interim study resolutions, and Governor’s amendatory vetoes were still in the pipeline.

The final days of the legislature can be a time when bad policy decisions are made:

• In free conference committees, lots of shenanigans were happening.

• Additionally, bad dead bills had been emerging from the graveyard -- an alarming and growing trend in a single party state where both the legislature and the executive branch have little to no checks on their power.

It was time for the session to be over!

Two dominating themes of the 2023 session were the allocation of the state's largest surplus ever, and dozens of culture war bills. These bills ranged from banning books in schools and libraries to assaults on women’s reproductive health care, and assaults on Montana’s small transgender community, especially youth and their families.

Consequential changes passed under the radar.

With a supermajority, Republicans had enormous clout to push things through, and the number of bills introduced and passed broke all previous records. Much of the change that was wreaked has been below the radar of Montana’s limited news services. Some changes are immediate and dramatic, while others are more subtle and nuanced and may take years to fully impact Montanans.

For example, when Judge Mike Menahan ruled against a temporary restraining order for Rep. Zooey Zephyr’s challenge to House leadership expelling her from discussions on the House floor, he cited Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick’s SB 191, a bill that passed just a few weeks prior, affecting when and how a court could act to protect a plaintiff from irreparable harm.

Another illustration is Sen. Keith Regier’s SB 176 which, among other things, puts Montana’s Consumer Counsel, a constitutionally independent advocate for ordinary utility ratepayers, under the control of the ruling majority party.

• As demonstrated in several bills in 2023, the majority party in Montana is closely aligned with the interests of Montana’s largest monopoly utilities, NorthWestern Energy and Montana Dakota Utilities.

• This subtle shift on the committee that hires and fires the consumer counsel may take years or even a decade to fully unfold in our pocketbooks.

• It should be noted that Montanans now pay some of the highest electric rates in the region and nation due to the disastrous effects of electric utility deregulation 25 years ago, yet another illustration of a majority party throwing its weight around wreaking havoc still being felt.

How Big Sky 55+ Priorities fared:

Senior Long-Term and Community-Based Care

“It’s nothing to shake a stick at! We came very, very far,” Rep. Mary Caferro (D-Helena) said in closing remarks on House Bill 2 (the state budget) specifically in reference to one of the dominant debates of the session - reimbursing providers of senior long-term care.

Will Montana nursing homes survive the 2023 session? The jury is still out. But we pushed hard every step of the way and in the end, we came pretty close to covering the costs of caring for seniors and adults with disabilities and adequately funding the folks who provide vital human services to Montana’s most vulnerable people.

Part of the problem was how far under water those providers were at the outset. Eleven out of 72 nursing homes closed in 2022!

• Shockingly, they were given very little help in the Governor’s budget.

• The House Appropriations and the Senate Finance and Claims Committees, controlled by Republicans, moved the needle only partway, despite a clearly defined benchmark set by the $2 million independent Guidehouse analysis of what it costs to provide nursing home, group home, and community-based care in Montana.

Finally, last week on the floor of the Senate, Sen. John Esp (R-Big Timber), Chair of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee offered a $45 million addition to HB 2 that bumped the reimbursement rates almost to the benchmark.

This amount fails to account for the inflation since mid-2022 and won’t reach the benchmark set by Guidehouse until the end of the new biennium, but we celebrate and give thanks for the last-minute addition and hope it will be enough.

Attempts to pass HB 649, which by last week had been amended to provide $15 million to help stabilize the most at-risk providers in the immediate short term to prevent additional closures, failed to pass the Senate.

Soon, Montanans will see if providers can make it work, and recruit and retain the workers they need to care for our most vulnerable elders.

Finally, HJ 28, an interim study of the continuum of care for seniors that had been successfully moving through the process died because it had not yet been put on the second reading board in the Senate prior to sine die. Sponsored by Rep. Mike Yakawich (R-Billings), HJ 28 passed the House 93-6, and was unanimously recommended by the Senate State Administration Committee. But time ran out.

We will work with lawmakers on interim committees to bring some of the questions coved in the study to their interim work.

Tax Fairness

The State of Montana went into 2023 with a once-in-a-lifetime surplus in its accounts, due in large part to federal action to ensure that the national economy and state and local governments did not spiral into economic recession or depression during the global pandemic that shut down economic activity for much of 2020-2021.

Other states with similar surpluses, including Colorado, Minnesota, and California, invested strategically in the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic, including childcare and affordable housing:

• Helping moms and dads get back into the workforce by rebuilding affordable and safe childcare options.

• Investing in affordable housing where local wages could not sustain access to local housing.

• Sharing tax rebates evenly among taxpayers rather than funneling the largest measures to those who needed it the least and were least likely to use it to spur the economy.

But not Montana. With a supermajority in the legislature and the Governor’s office, Montana Republicans instead rewrote Montana’s tax code, directing most of the largesse into the pockets of Montana’s super rich families. See more on the Tax Fairness page of our website here.

Fiscally responsible proposals to target ongoing residential property tax relief and senior income tax relief, targeted at lower- and middle-income households were blocked:

• Sen. Shannon O’Brien’s (D-Missoula) SB 15 (property tax relief)

• Sen. MaryAnn Dunwell’s (D-Helena) SB 258 (income tax relief for middle income households that depend on social security)

Affordable Housing

First, the good news! HB 889 Rep. Jonathan Karlen’s (D-Missoula) bill to balance the rights of manufactured-home owners in mobile home parks passed both houses and is headed to the Governor for his signature.

Manufactured homes are an enormously important component to affordable housing and benefit older Montanans, young families, and adults with disabilities. While manufactured home park residents own their homes, they rent the land beneath it, and can be forced to accept exorbitant increases in rent and utilities without adequate notice or recourse. It is very difficult to move a manufactured home and doing so can cost thousands of dollars.

HB 889:

• gives lot renters 60 days to decide whether to move when the terms on their lot rental change,

• establishes some balance around lot renters' ability to sell their homes, and

• prohibits retaliation by park owners if residents organize an association or speak to government decision makers about their situation.

We need your help to encourage the Governor to sign HB 889.

If you haven't yet contacted the Governor and Lieutenant Governor about HG 889, please do so!

One consensus bill around land use planning that Big Sky 55+ supported did pass: Sen. Forrest Mandeville’s SB 382. This bill, which will help speed up permitting for developers, also gained the support of a broad spectrum of local governments, industry, conservation groups, and housing advocates.

And the bad news

Much of the legislative energy around affordable housing in this session was spent on bills telling local governments what they could and couldn’t do in managing their services, infrastructure, zoning, and land use planning.

Most were bad bills, some were not too terrible, many passed.

Bills that brought money to the table for proven effective strategies to build affordable housing units fared poorly, for the most part. The most potent tool, Rep. George Nikolakakos’ (R-Great Falls) HB 829 was killed before it left the House. It would have leveraged hundreds of affordable units at very little cost to the state through workforce housing tax credits, an idea that originated with Jack Kemp and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s and is successful working in almost half of the states.

A potentially good bill, HB 819 sponsored by Rep. Paul Green (R-Hardin), was amended by adding three other bills and investing $165 million (either by appropriation or revolving loans from the coal trust) in a variety of strategies to encourage housing. It was adopted in the last minutes of the session.

Unfortunately, late amendments to this bill gutted its most effective tool: the $65 million lower-interest revolving loans from the coal trust.

• Prior to amendment, this fund was poised to enable the building of as many as 650 desperately-needed affordable units.

• Low interest rates are critical for developing units to meet the needs of front-line workers like caregivers, clerks, servers, seniors, veterans and persons with disabilities.

• Low interest loans have also shown they will leverage a similar amount of private investment, resulting in $130 million in affordable housing construction.

The amended bill limits the revolving loans to higher interest rates, reducing the affordability of construction fostered by the bill.

HB 819 does incorporate an interest rate buy-down for mortgages for workforce housing, providing an entry level to home ownership for young families. This is a new concept and not yet tested, so we will watch it closely.

Defending the Constitution, the Courts

One of the best outcomes to report for 2023 is the failure of the legislature to refer ANY constitutional amendments to the ballot, despite more than 67 draft requests and 19 introduced bills.

The following bills made it out of committees and through both chambers, but, fortunately, their final tallies fell short of the 100 total votes required to get on ballot:

• HB 372 (Fielder) Establish right to hunt and trap: 90 votes total

• HB 517 (Hopkins) Board of Regents: 88 votes

• HB 551 (C.Knudsen) Constitutional right to carry concealed weapon: 95 votes

• HB 915 (Mercer) Governor appoint Supreme Court: 82 votes

• SB 534 (McGillvray) Change redistricting: 96 votes

The courts and the vote are another story.

While dozens of bad bills were blocked, there were many bills that made it through. How these bills will affect justice, elections, consumers rights, prisons and public safety is yet to be determined.

As mentioned above, SB 191 was instrumental in the Court’s denial of a technical restraining order in the case filed on behalf of Rep. Zooey Zephyr in the waning days of the session.

Montana hit the headlines this past week, and not in a good way.

The Speaker of the House, Matt Regier and Majority Leader, Sue Vinton led their caucus in a series of decisions culminating in expelling Freshman lawmaker Rep. Zooey Zephyr of Missoula from the House chamber and lobby.

What precipitated the escalating sanctions and penalties? Rep. Zephyr spoke with anguish and passion against SB 99, a bill to deny gender affirming care in Montana for minors. She characterized the effects of the bill on transgender youth as torture.

SB 99 was opposed by thousands and, importantly, by medical professionals and their associations, including the Montana Medical Association (MMA) and the Montana Academy of Pediatricians. An emergency room physician and former leader of MMA sent each member of the legislature a letter explaining that, already, a youth had been brought to a nearby emergency room for attempted suicide directly linked to the legislature's debates and actions on SB 99.

In her speech, Zephyr said,

"If you vote yes on this bill and yes on these amendments, I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands.”

She has pointed out since that her statements were not hyperbole.

While Republicans were offended and immediately objected to her remarks, others argue the remarks were no more offensive than statements routinely countenanced in committee hearings, and that they were germane to the discussion on the bill.

After legislators officially stated their objections on the floor, Speaker Matt Regier demanded an apology and, when he did not receive one, cut Rep. Zephyr’s microphone for days.

Three hundred Montanans, including Rep. Zephyr’s constituents, gathered on short notice at noon on Monday on the plaza north of the Capital in support of Rep. Zephyr. Some of them flowed into the House gallery for Monday’s floor session where uniformed troopers and Helena police were already lined up.

When Zephyr attempted to punch in to speak on a bill and was not recognized, her supporters began to chant “Let her speak.” The House gallery was then cleared by officers clad in riot gear, and a handful of supporters who refused to move were arrested. Rep. Zephyr stood at her seat with her microphone held up while her supporters chanted, after House members were asked to stand at the sides of the room.

It needn’t have come to that, but once it did, Rep. Zephyr was blamed. After suspending business on Tuesday, House leadership on Wednesday brought a motion to expel Montana’s only transgender lawmaker and it passed on a party line vote.

Business was again suspended on the 82nd legislative day.

House leadership had several opportunities to alter the course of these events and avoid the extreme outcome.

• House leaders could have registered their objections and left it at that, as so many others have had to settle with throughout the session, in committees and on the House and Senate floors.

• Once leadership denied the Representative’s voice on the floor for a day or two, they could have quietly rested on their point and reinstated her microphone.

• On Monday, with the House gallery full of her supporters, leadership could have de-escalated by calling the House into recess and allowing the crowd to disperse with polite encouragement from the legislative Sergeant’s staff.

• Only when and if the crowd did not disperse after a couple hours, leadership could have asked for law enforcement assistance.

• Rather than invoking a constitutional confrontation, leadership could have invoked House Rule 20-80 and deliberated on how to resolve the situation in the House Rules Committee. This discussion could have taken place on Thursday or Friday (April 20 or 21) before cutting Rep. Zephyr's microphone.

Instead, by Thursday, April 27, Rep. Zephyr was perched on a bench in the snack bar tuned in through audio on her computer to House proceedings and voting remotely. House leadership was reassigning bills away from her committees to avoid dealing with her presence, and the public was blocked from the House gallery after losing two critical days nearing the session’s final motion to Sine Die.

In the face of the controversy, Rep. Zephyr’s star rose on a national stage, sparking analogies to the authoritarian expulsion of two young black lawmakers in Tennessee earlier in April. She spoke eloquently on CBS, BBC, and The New York Times as well as Montana’s daily newspapers. Her speeches went viral on social media. She was interviewed on MSNBC beside one of the young Tennessee lawmakers, Rep. Justin Jones, and 26-year-old freshman Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost.

Rep. Zephyr is a poised, measured, and well-spoken champion for the basic human dignity, respect and rights of transgendered Montanans and Americans. The first to issue a statement in solidarity with Rep. Zephyr was the Montana American Indian Caucus, whose respective nations have recognized and honored Two Spirit members for many generations.

All of this unfolded in the closing days of a session where culture wars often eclipsed other issues of critical importance yet to be resolved:

• Funding for Montana’s failing nursing homes remains well below recommended minimum levels

• Desperately needed funding for affordable housing remains unfinished

• A late-breaking attack on the Montana Environmental Policy Act was flying through both chambers.

• The state budget was under water despite the largest surplus in state history

• Hundreds of bills were still working their way through the system.

Into this highly charged moment, House leaders unnecessarily escalated the conflict with Rep. Zephyr, shutting down the House for two days, with only 8-9 workdays left to Sine Die.

In other news:

HB 819: Affordable Housing Mega-Bill Passes the Senate

On Thursday, the Senate Finance and Claims Committee amended HB 819, (Rep. Green-Hardin) wrapping four major housing initiatives into one large bill.

What began as a bill to buy down mortgages for middle class working families to access home ownership, now includes the following bills:

• the Governor’s bill to facilitate infrastructure for affordable housing using state dollars and incentives for local governments to plan for and permit affordable housing projects,

• a bill to construct affordable housing near state facilities that cannot find workers (such as the Montana State Prison), and

• a bill to make $65 million in the coal trust available for lower interest revolving loans to help finance affordable multifamily housing across the state.

The third bill, HB 546, was strongly supported by Big Sky 55+ because the idea worked so well in 2019, using an initial $15 million investment from the trust.

• That investment resulted in 152 units across the state, much of it rehabbed senior affordable housing.

• The coal trust loans also leverage an equal amount of private sector financing which doubled the impact.

• The principal trust moneys are not spent, allowing the investments to continue to earn interest.

• Instead, the bill puts coal trust dollars to work in Montana on a critical priority - affordable housing for workers, seniors, veterans, and young families.

In 1982 Montanans passed Initiative 95 directing that a portion of coal trust dollars (25%) be invested in-state to generate economic development and jobs. That is what this portion of HB 819 does. This portion alone could finance over 650 affordable housing units.

"Big Sky 55+ supports HB 819 with the $65 million revolving loans for affordable housing units financed by coal trust money.

Long-Term Care update:

HB 2, HB 649, and HJ 28:

HB 2: Budget Amendment on Senate Floor Adds $45 million (State and Federal) for Senior Long-Term Care and other Providers

HB 2, the state biennium budget, has passed both House and Senate, and has been referred back to the House for approval of Senate amendments.

One of those amendments was a $45 million bump ($15 million state general fund matched by approximately $30 million federal dollars) to bring up provider rates, including nursing home reimbursements. While this amount still does not reach the minimum set by the Guidehouse $2 million study of what it costs to provide care in Montana, it is an important step toward that goal.

Meanwhile HB 649, which now would provide immediate money to stabilize providers was tabled in Senate Finance and Claims last week… twice.

On Monday it was tabled. On Tuesday it was taken off the table, amended to make it effective immediately and then tabled again. As it sits on the table, it would make up to $15 million available to the Director of the Dept. of Public Health and Human Services between now and the new fiscal year July 1, 2023, to bolster struggling nursing homes that are in danger of closing their doors.

HJ 28 shines a light on the growing presence of older Montanans and their emerging needs.

By the beginning of the NEXT biennium (2026-27) the first cohort of the Baby Boom generation will turn 80. Montana is already the 6th oldest state demographically with 26% of its population over 60, and by 2030 it will be 30%. People over 85 require five times as much help as people 65-74.

It is important to survey where older Montanans reside, and to assess what kinds of systems can help them and their families navigate an increasingly frail and challenged population. Some states offer good examples and innovations with wise investments that can help divert adults from higher acuity skilled nursing care with in-home and caregiver support systems.

HJ 28, an interim study bill carried by Rep. Mike Yakawich (Billings), addresses the whole continuum of senior care, including assisted living and skilled nursing facilities. Big Sky 55+ worked with lawmakers of both parties to craft this bill. It would give lawmakers the information necessary to plan thoughtfully and wisely for an aging, increasingly frail and significant population across the state in rural and urban settings.

HJ 28 passed the House 93-7 and has been referred to the Senate Public Health Committee.

Please send a message in support of HJ 28 to all Senators in hopes that the bill will come before that body in the next few days.

And finally, please join us for our final Virtual Legislative Town Hall

2023 Session: The Winners and Losers

Budget, Taxes, Constitution, Culture Wars, and more!

May 04, 6:00 PM – 7:00 PM MDT

Please join Sen. Pat Flowers (Belgrade), Senate Minority Leader; Rep. Emma Kerr-Carpenter (Billings), member of House Appropriations completing her 3rd term in the House; and Rep. Jonathan Karlen (Missoula), freshman lawmaker and member of Business and Labor, along with Big Sky 55+ Chair Terry Minow in a discussion looking back at the 2023 Legislative Session.

Many Montanans are groaning as they read of the latest news from the legislature:

• a bill that would effectively gut the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) being introduced well past the deadline for bill introduction,

• efforts to silence and censure one of the only transgender members of the Legislature,

• the unprecedented number of bills working their way through the chambers, and

• the variety of substantive changes that will soon impact Montanans' lives.

It seems like it would be a good idea for the legislature to wrap it up and go home!

Montanans simply are asking lawmakers to address things that make our lives better:

• fixing our community elder care, including stopping the closure of nursing homes;

• helping young workers with childcare, so they can get to work;

• helping Montanans perhaps live in the same community where they can find a job.

However:

With single-party control of the Legislature and the executive branch, lawmakers have taken some wide swings at social issues and culture wars, even garnering national attention on some legislation.

Republicans took umbrage when, during the debate on SB 99 (denying gender affirming care for youth under 18), Rep. Zooey Zephyr (Missoula) stood to express her deep pain and worry for children who have attempted suicide in Montana following the series of bills singling them out for discrimination and denying them critical health care services.

House Speaker Matt Regier (Kalispell) escalated the conflict by acceding to calls from within the Republican caucus to deny Rep. Zephyr's “voice” on the House floor. Others throughout the session have spoken passionately on bills without facing this type of censure. The controversy has put Montana in a negative light, drawing national news coverage and comparison to the train wreck that is the Tennessee legislature.

Part of being a leader is to be able to bridge the conflict and figure out how to navigate the choppy waters of strong feelings and deeply diverse viewpoints toward a place where the work can be done with a mutual level of decorum, civility, and respect.

Big Sky 55+ stands in solidarity with Rep. Zephyr, and we call on House leadership to ensure that all members feel safe to speak on issues that affect them and their constituencies. We urge leaders of this Legislature to rise above the present controversy and focus on the real needs of Montanans.

HJ 28 - Interim study of continuum of long-term care services

By the beginning of the NEXT biennium (2026-2027) the first cohort of the Baby Boom generation (born in 1946-1947) will turn 80.

• 80 is a stage in life when the need for supportive services accelerates rapidly.

• People over 85 require five times as much help with personal care as those 65-74.

• What we do now, during this biennium, will have enormous impact on how these older Montanans are able to find healthy, independent living opportunities and not prematurely find themselves in need of high acuity skilled nursing or assisted living care.

Overwhelmingly, Americans wish to remain in their communities as long as possible. This is also cost effective! The median annual cost of care in 2021 was:

• Nursing Facility: $108,405

• Assisted Living: $54,000

• Home and Community Based Services: $25,900

One thing that has been made clear in 2023 is that no part of Montana's government is ready for this rapidly growing cohort with high needs: not the Legislature, not the Governor and the executive branch, and not our community agencies!

Last week Big Sky 55+ worked with lawmakers of both parties to craft HJ 28, an interim study of continuum of long-term care services. This interim study will:

• take a comprehensive look at the whole continuum of services to elders in our communities,

• analyze where older Montanans live and where they are in life, and

• ensure a continuum of appropriate services from in home support to skilled nursing.

HJ 28, sponsored by Rep. Mike Yakawich (R-Billings) and co-signed by 36 bipartisan lawmakers, passed out of House Human Services on Friday and will soon be on the floor of the House.

Please reach out to the full House membership to support this important interim study!

Update on HB 649

Rep. Mary Caferro (D-Helena) presented HB 649, “Implement rates from the provider rate study,” to the Senate Finance and Claims Committee on Friday morning in a rapid-fire series of hearings with limited testimony.

Thank you to you early birds who called and left messages for the committee early Friday morning!

Proponents argued that the bill provides an important bridge toward giving nursing homes and community-based caregivers sufficient reimbursements to try to recruit and retain workers in a competitive labor market.

• Sixty percent of Montana nursing home beds are occupied by patients who have gone through their savings and rely on Medicaid to cover their healthcare costs.

• Adults with disabilities living independently who require caregiving in order to participate in jobs and community also cannot find caregivers and are struggling.

• If the state reimbursement rate is far below the labor market, it puts nursing homes, group homes and community-based caregivers under water.

• That is why the state lost 11 nursing homes and many group homes for adults with developmental disabilities in 2022.

HB 649 would add $15 million to help with provider rates. As amended by the House Appropriations Committee, it no longer meets the Guidehouse study minimum benchmark rates, but it should help stem the tide of nursing and group home closures.

We are asking Senators to vote FOR HB 649! You can still send in your comments on this bill.

HB 774 tabled by Senate State Administration

This 118 page bill would have radically changed Montana’s election system. It aimed to put almost all elections on the same ballot on even year primary and general election calendars, overshadowing the importance of local concerns with the highly partisan and expensive top ticket races for federal and statewide offices.

HB 774 was roundly criticized by three former Secretaries of State (Republican and Democrats) in an Op-Ed that you can read here.

The bill was amended by the House Appropriations Committee to address concerns of school boards, but those amendments were so confusing and problematic that the sponsor, Rep. Mike Hopkins (R-Missoula) and the school boards presented a whole raft of new amendments during Tuesday’s hearings on the bill before it was finally tabled.

Cities, counties, election administrators, teachers, the MT Federation of Public Employees and Big Sky 55+ all strongly opposed the bill at the hearing.

HB 819 is now the omnibus affordable housing compromise

package

On Wednesday, the Senate Business and Labor Committee amended HB 819, sponsored by Rep. Paul Green (R-Hardin) “Create Montana community reinvestment act to fund workforce housing”, to wrap in elements of bills that Big Sky 55+ supported for workforce and affordable senior housing, including:

• Rep. Dave Fern’s (D-Whitefish) HB 546 to create a revolving loan fund for low-income and moderate-income housing loans from the permanent coal tax trust fund,

• Speaker Matt Regier (R-Kalispell) and Minority Leader Kim Abbott’s (D-Helena) HB 927 to put $130 million in coal trust dollars into housing loans, and

• Gov. Gianforte’s HB 825 carried by Rep. Mike Hopkins (R-Missoula) creating infrastructure grants to cities and towns that adopt reforms in zoning and planning programs to facilitate affordable housing.

HB 819 bill as amended puts $50 million into a community reinvestment account that enables regional community reinvestment organizations to reduce the cost of housing by assisting with deed restricted affordable mortgages for Montana’s workforce.

The amended bill also allows an additional $50 million of Coal Trust fund revolving loans for workforce housing, and puts $50 million in the Hopkins infrastructure bill.

HB 971, taking aim at MEPA, is about to pass the House

HB 971 would prohibit the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from considering climate change when it analyzes environmental impacts and accepts public comment on projects under MEPA. The legislative rules were suspended to allow Rep. Josh Kassmier (R-Ft. Benton) to introduce the bill on April 14, long after deadlines. Big Sky 55+ opposed the bill on Monday in a time-limited hearing, along with dozens of Montanans who traveled or Zoomed in from all over the state to oppose the bill. It passed out of the House Natural Resources Committee and passed second reading 71-29 in the House on Friday.

HB 889 protecting manufactured home owners’ rights passes in the Senate!

By a sizable margin, HB 889, Rep. Jonathan Karlen’s bill to provide a more even playing field for owners of manufactured homes who rent lots in mobile home parks, passed the Senate 30-20. Because the bill was amended in the Senate, it will need to get through the House: one more round of votes to accept the amendment and then final passage of the bill.

to any Bad Bill!"?

Legislative Bulletin # 13

Some of us thought the essence of “conservatism” was caution and a healthy respect for unanticipated outcomes in the face of radical change.

That would in no way describe the party with the Super Majority in 2023.

• Montana super majority lawmakers have pretty much thrown every idea they’ve ever had at the wall to see what will stick.

• The bad news is, way too much of it is passing into law.

• Montana is in for quite a ride in the next couple years!

This legislature is dramatically rewriting the statutes of Montana:

• Rewriting the tax system.

• Rewriting the liquor laws.

• Rewriting the judicial system and civil procedure.

• Rewriting the election laws.

• Rewriting land use planning and municipal zoning laws (from afar and without consultation, for the most part.)

• Rewriting water protection and environmental oversight.

• Rewriting energy regulations (including gerrymandering the Public Service Commission)

• Rewriting landlord-tenant laws.

• Rewriting child protection codes.

This is all in addition to the trove of culture war bills, including:

• telling teachers, school boards, and libraries what they can teach or must censor, and what pronouns they may or may not use, and

• telling Montanans what health care they can access for their children and families, including family planning and gender affirming care.

Theoretically, the pace of the legislature in the 2nd half of April should be slowing considerably. Instead, there is little let up:

• Dozens and dozens of bills are still making their way through the process.

• The days are running early and late, and many bills that shouldn’t get through are passing.

• No bill is truly dead until after its transmittal deadline.

• Bad bills that were initially tabled or voted down with both Republican and Democratic votes are being resurrected or reconsidered, only to sail all the way through to the Governor’s desk. Ordinarily, tabling or a loss on 2nd reading would be the end of it.

One of the few bright spots: numerous bills to refer amendments to the constitution are not faring well, mainly because it takes 100 votes to get on the ballot, rather than a simple majority.

Will nursing homes survive the 2023 Legislature? (Round 7)

The jury is still out on this important priority for 2023!

The Senate Finance and Claims Committee failed to raise the reimbursement rates for the state’s skilled nursing facilities to the MINIMUM recommended by the $2+ million Guidehouse Study. The committee voted on a party line vote against an amendment from Sen. Chris Pope (D-Bozeman) to bring the budget up to the minimum set by the study.

Four that voted NO to provide full-funding are Senators representing communities that lost their nursing homes in 2022(!):

• Sen. Forrest Mandeville (R-Columbus),

• Sen. Ken Bogner (R-Miles City),

• Sen. Mike Lang (R-Malta), and

• Sen. Shelley Vance (R-Bozeman).

Additionally, the Billings Gazette reported that one of the state's largest nonprofit nursing homes, located in Billings was planning to reduce 60 Medicaid bed units due to inadequate, unsustainable state reimbursement rates. Despite this, two Billings Senators also voted NO:

• Sen. Tom McGillvray (R-Billings) and

• Sen. Dennis Lenz (R-Billings)

It’s not as if the legislature doesn't have the money. They are sitting on a once in a generation surplus, and at this juncture of the budgeting process, they are only $25 million in general fund short of meeting the $278 benchmark recommended by the study.

The Guidehouse study was commissioned in 2021 by the Legislature in partnership with the Governor’s team. But when presented with the well-vetted and irrefutable numbers they paid for, lawmakers choked.

Sen. Pope will bring an amendment to the floor of the Senate later this week to again attempt to raise the reimbursement rate to the minimum recommended by Guidehouse. Please send a message to your Senator asking them to fully fund the Guidehouse recommendations.

Manufactured-home owners would get some relief in HB 889

Manufactured home parks have long been a critical housing source for aging Montanans on fixed incomes. Across the country private equity firms have been purchasing these parks - often without advance notice to the park’s residents. Three years ago, a Utah-based firm, Havenpark, purchased seven parks with 1,800 lots in Billings, Great Falls, and Kalispell. These firms can extract enormous profits by raising rents, decoupling utilities, and neglecting maintenance and upkeep.

Cindy Newman, resident of the Highwoods in Great Falls testified describing her community:

• 80% of the residents are retired seniors,

• 7 out of 10 subsist on a single, fixed income, and

• 1 out of 3 with a disability.

Manufactured-home owners have a substantial investment in their home, and the added cost of finding a new location and moving the home can easily be $10,000 or more.

Rep. Jonathan Karlen (D-Missoula), with strong support from co-sponsors Sen. Pat Flowers (D-Belgrade) and Rep. George Nikolakakos (R-Great Falls), brought HB 889 to provide a more even playing field for the residents who rent lots in these parks.

The bill, as amended in the House:

• Gives tenants 60 days’ notice of changes in the terms of their lease

• Gives tenants sufficient time to move their home if they cannot come to an agreement with the landlord

• Protects homeowners from retaliation for testifying before government bodies or forming an association

• Puts reasonable sideboards on the landlord’s ability to limit tenants' ability to sell their homes

Click here to read an op ed in The Missoulian on HB 889.

You can still send messages to the Senate supporting this bill!

HB 971 blocks consideration of climate impacts and weakens MT Environmental Policy Act (MEPA)

On Friday the House voted to suspend the rules to allow introduction of a new special interest bill,

HB 971 (Rep. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton), at the behest of the state’s largest utility, NorthWestern Energy.

HB 971 would would prohibit the Montana Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) from considering climate change when it analyzes environmental impacts and accepts public comment on projects under MEPA.

• Worse yet, if the Supreme Court ever rules that our Constitution requires the state to consider climate change, then DEQ would be exempt from complying with MEPA for all hardrock mines, open cut mines, oil and gas developments, coal mines, and air pollution permits, regardless of impacts to public health, safety and welfare. (source: Montana Environmental Information Center)

The bill was written in response to a district court ruling in Yellowstone County regarding NorthWestern Energy's methane plant being constructed on the banks of the Yellowstone River near Laurel.

This is an egregious attack on our right to a clean and healthful environment. The hearing in the House Natural Resources Committee happened today (April 17). We'll keep you posted on this extreme anti-environment bill.

First the Good News! Constitutional Amendments:

Of eight constitutional amendments that were brought to the House or Senate floors last Monday, it appears that only one passed 3rd reading with enough yes votes to have a path to the 2024 ballot (HB 563, see below). This is as long as Democrats maintain their united front opposing rewriting the constitution by way of multiple incremental ballot referenda.

If there is a mathematical path to garner 100 total yes votes, the bills DO advance to the other Chamber, so we will continue to watch them closely. Two of concern:

• HB 517 weakens the Board of Regents' ability to govern higher education in Montana. Seven Republicans voted NO on third reading, enough to jeopardize its passage to the ballot.

• HB 915, lets the Governor choose the Supreme Court and removes Montanans ability to vote for Supreme Court Justices. It also lost eight Republican votes on third reading in the House.

Other amendments establishing trapping as a constitutional right, concealed carry as a constitutional right, sheriff supremacy over all other law enforcement entities, and allowing gerrymandering and partisanship in redistricting all fell short.

All of this is contingent on whether Democrats in the other chamber maintain their united front in opposition to these amendments.

One that might make it to the ballot is SB 563 (Bogner), a constitutional amendment to create a trust fund for mental health within the coal trust. It does not, however, deposit any funds into the trust. In a year with a once-in-a-lifetime surplus, lawmakers could have simply appropriated those funds and placed them in the trust and would not need to amend the Constitution to achieve this.

Constitutional Votes Explained...

This graphic, used with permission from Eric Dietrich of the Montana Free Press, does a fantastic job illustrating the votes that would be needed for a Constitutional amendment to advance or not advance to the ballot.

Read more in Montana Free Press's story here. (Montana Free Press is a news outlet and does not advocate for or against any legislation. This graph is purely informational.)

In the words of Shakespeare, “Mischief is afoot!”

One of the dominating themes of the session is a relentless assault on Montana’s municipal and local governments, especially its cities.

Considering that these urban economies are the engines powering the state’s thriving economy and surplus revenues, it is dismaying to see them under attack.

• There are numerous bills that attempt to undermine their ability to maintain fiscal solvency and provide basic services.

• Others brazenly restructure their polity notwithstanding these cities have their own voter-adopted charters of governance.

• Finally, a trove of zoning and land use bills remove discretion needed to plan for water, sewer, streets, sidewalks, parking and schools.

Two dangerous bills would sow havoc in local and school elections:

HB 774 (Hopkins) puts most local and school elections on the even year June and November ballots. This means that elections for city councils and commissions, mayors, mill levies and bond issues, some schools, and infrastructure districts would be piled onto already lengthy ballots.

• It was drafted without consultation or conversation with school boards, local election officials, or local governments.

• It makes administration of elections into a Rubik’s cube for local officials.

• The bill changes how school funding is managed.

• Amendments in the House added a short period where some school districts would be given an incentive to test the process.

• It passed the House even as proponents acknowledged it is not ready for prime time.

HB 774 is scheduled for a hearing in the Senate State Administration Committee on April 19, 3:00.

SB 381 (Freidel) would require several major Montana cities to redraw their wards and in some cases reduce the number of city council seats. It has an immediate effective date -- in the middle of an election cycle(!), with filing for seats scheduled to start in a matter of days.

• It conflicts with some cities’ voter-adopted local government charters as provided under Montana’s Constitution.

• It was drafted and brought without open or public consultation with the affected jurisdictions, their elected bodies, or their wider communities. Legislation that dramatically affects local governments needs to happen in consultation with those bodies.

• It is an aggressive, gross overreach by the legislature.

SB 381 is headed to the full House of Representatives, having narrowly passed the House Local Government Committee. Please join us in sending a message to the House of Representatives urging them to oppose this bill.

Affordable housing in Montana requires real investments and public-private partnerships.

Several bills that bring real and necessary investments in affordable housing for Montana’s workforce, seniors, veterans, young families, and persons with disabilities fell by the wayside over the past two weeks.

This week, let’s focus on the few remaining vehicles to get much needed housing moving in Montana:

HB 546 (Fern) uses coal trust money to invest in affordable multifamily housing for Montanans.

• It would add $15 million to an existing revolving loan fund that helped generate 252 units across Montana, including rural areas like Belt, Cascade, Joliet, Havre, and Livingston.

• This proven effective investment using state coal trust dollars to meet community priorities is exactly why the coal trust was established.

• The program doesn’t reduce the trust, but instead puts those dollars to work in revolving loans that strengthen and build our communities.

The bill was heard in the Senate Business and Labor Committee last week.

Big Sky 55+ supports this bill.

HB 927 (M. Regier and Abbott) would earmark $130 million of coal trust dollars in revolving loans administered through the Board of Housing to support construction and rehab of affordable housing across the state.

• The rationale is the same as HB 546, but the amount of trust fund dollars invested would be significantly higher.

It has also passed through the House and is set for hearing in the Senate Local Government Committee for April 14 at 3:00.

Long-term Care Math: “2 x 0 = 0, still.” Will nursing homes survive MT Leg 2023?… Round 5…

Nursing home reimbursement rates in HB 2, the state’s budget, remain under water.

We know what it costs in Montana to provide this important care because the State spent $2 million to figure it out over the interim. Here's a review:

• The Guidehouse report set a “minimum benchmark” of $278/day, which is well below the average cost of providing this care ($328/day).

• The state currently reimburses $212/day for Medicaid beds in nursing homes.

• The budget, as it currently stands, is at about $253/day for the first year of the new biennium.

• Because HB 2 still falls short of the minimum identified by the Guidehouse study, it risks the loss of even more beds and nursing homes across Montana.

Senate Finance and Claims is just about the last stop on the road to the biennium budget. Join Big Sky 55+ in asking the Committee to amend the budget by adding $25 million in general fund, which would then be increased by an additional federal $50 million match.

Click here to watch Big Sky 55+ lobbyist, Margie MacDonald's testimony on HB 2 before the Senate Finance and Claims committee.

To read recent news articles describing the challenges of senior long-term care in Montana click here and here.

Culture wars!

Throughout the 2023 session much time has been spent on a series bills taking aim at LGBTQ+ children and youth. One of them is HB 359 (Mitchell), “Prohibit minors from attending drag shows,” which passed the House and was heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee last week.

• In a Q & A exchange with a Senator, lobbyist SK Rossi, explained why it matters and the implications of bills like these for transgender and LGBTQ+ Montanans and their families. We would like to share it with you here (about 3.5 minutes).

“Only two people showed up to testify against the bill. The 8 a.m. hearing had been scheduled the night before and the actual text of SB 557* wasn't readily available.”

"Bill to Undo Court Action Advances"

April 4 is the deadline to transmit all revenue and constitutional amendments to the other chamber. There was a flurry of last-minute, newly introduced bills that got “short shrift.”

• Consequential bills were set for early morning hearings posted late the night before, precluding public sign-up for remote testimony (5:00 p.m. deadline) and too late to travel to Helena from many corners of the state.

• Hearings stacked up 7-9 bills rushed along by harried Chairs.

• Citizens were chided, pushed and interrupted as Committee chairs tried to get through a ridiculous volume of legislation.

The volume possibly reflects the lack of partisan balance in Montana legislative and executive branches. With a Republican super-majority and a Republican Governor, Republican lawmakers appear to have decided there is little or no filter and they are aggressively pushing lots of novel and radical bills through the process.

[*SB 557 limits citizens ability to bring actions to require state agency enforcement of the Montana Environmental Policy Act. Despite the lack of public notice for the hearing, it passed the Committee and will be on the floor of the Senate on Monday, April 3.]

2023 Session as of April 2

1,639 bills introduced (Day 66 of 90)

986 bills passed 2nd reading 1st Chamber

891 bills transmitted to 2nd Chamber

288 bills passed 2nd reading 2nd Chamber

169 bills passed TOTAL

Recent sessions TOTAL bills introduced:

1,313 bills introduced in 2021

1,309 bills introduced in 2019

1,188 bills introduced in 2017

1,187 bills introduced in 2015

1,201 bills introduced in 2013

1,179 bills introduced in 2011

Montana Constitution under attack!

Eight Constitutional amendments are heading to votes in the Senate and the House Monday and Tuesday. Only one of them is not terrible - it is just unnecessary. The remaining seven constitutional amendments would change Montana in dramatic and troubling ways, fundamentally destroying some of the pillars of our constitution, fraught with unintended consequences, and fundamentally duplicitous in their presentation to the voters of Montana.

These bills need 51 NO votes in either house to keep them off the 2024 ballot.

• HB 327 (Fielder) Right to hunt and fish in Constitution - Decades of law and game management practices that restored Montana’s iconic wildlife from near decimation in the early 20th Century is at stake. It also would establish “trapping” as a constitutional right making oversight of this already legal activity problematic. 2nd reading in the House April 3.

• HB 517 (Hopkins) Constitutional amendment regarding board of regents - Interferes with the ability of Regents to govern one of the strongest, most respected higher education systems in the West, competitive on every level nationally, academically, athletically, and student life. 2nd reading April 3 in House.

• HB 551 (C.Knudsen) Implement constitutional carry into the Montana Constitution - Makes communities less safe as gun violence explodes in communities across the state. 2nd reading in the House April 3.

• HB 915 (Mercer) Constitutional amendment to change process to select supreme court justices - Fundamentally defies the separation of powers and the independence of the Judiciary, putting the Supreme Court under the thumb of whichever Governor and party control the Executive Branch.

• HB 965 (Schillinger) Constitutional amendment to remove Supreme Court rulemaking authority - Takes away the independence of the Judicial Branch, a key to what has made America’s constitutional system so resilient over nearly 250 years.

• SB 272 (Manzella) Constitutional amendment to secure the office of County Sheriff - This theory of sheriff supremacy would open the way for unchecked abuse and corruption in law enforcement.

• SB 534 (McGillvray) Constitutional amendment on redistricting - Takes away the tools that the Supreme Court has upheld to overrule gerrymandering of legislative districts by packing some party voters into fewer districts than their numbers reflect in the state overall.

• SB 563 (Bogner) Constitutional amendment establishing a mental health trust fund - The same outcome could be achieved legislatively by placing a substantial investment in the constitutional Coal Trust fund, as has been proposed in other bills.

Will Montana nursing homes survive the 2023 Legislature? The jury is still out. Here is where things stand:

There are three bills where senior long-term care and other providers can still get the help they so desperately need. Here they are!

• HB 649, (Caferro) to raise provider rates to an independently verified reimbursement benchmark came out of House Appropriations 14-9, with the sponsor's support. The bill now contains approximately $15 million (general fund + federal match) toward meeting the minimum benchmark. It is still $60 million short of the minimum benchmark recommended by the Guidehouse study, but it moves the needle toward the benchmark. The House votes on HB 649 April 3.

• SB 296, (Beard) to help stabilize nursing home finances moving forward, passed out of the Senate Finance and Claims Committee (12-7) after a motion to revive the tabled bill on Friday. It was amended to remove the part of the bill that established an inflationary formula for provider rates moving forward but kept a section that provides some direction to the DPHHS to divert Medicaid eligible seniors who are on the long waiting list for the Big Sky Waiver waiting list to the Community First Choice for assisted living where appropriate. The Senate votes on SB 296 April 3.

• HB 2, (Jones) the biennium budget will be heard in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee on Wednesday and Thursday. This is one of our last opportunities to save Montana nursing homes teetering on the brink. As it stands, Section B is $25 million (General Fund) short of the recommendations made by the $2 million Guidehouse study.

Affordable housing

• HB 829, (Nikolakakos), to create low-income housing tax credits, was tabled in House Appropriations. It looks like the dollars to help finance affordable housing will be in the form of:

• HB 927 (Speaker Matt Regier and Minority Leader Kim Abbott!) which would put $115 million from the General Fund in the Coal Trust to use as revolving loans to construct affordable housing. HB 829 was $1.5 million/year, sunset after six years that would leverage tens of millions in affordable housing construction almost immediately.

• HB 889, (Karlen) to create a mobile home park renter's bill of rights. Remarkably, it passed out of House Judiciary and just passed second reading today (April 3). People own their mobile homes, which are not in fact very mobile, and have been impacted by a large, out-of-state private equity company that purchased seven large Montana parks with over 1,800 units. Havenpark, a Utah-based company, immediately set about raising lot rents (by hundreds/month) and adding utilities to the costs of lot rentals. Mobile home parks are critical affordable housing, especially benefiting seniors. Cindy Newman from The Highwoods in Great Falls testified that 80% of the residents are retired seniors, 7 in 10 rely on a single, fixed income and 1 in 3 have a disability.

Legislature attacks local government elections and taxing authorities

Bills that squeeze a wide (and overwhelming) array of local government officials and districts onto federal and statewide election ballots are highly disruptive and contemptuous of the importance of schools, city governments, and other smaller districts that have organized to provide water, fire, and a variety of infrastructure. These efforts are being pushed hard by Republican legislative leadership.

• HB 774 (Hopkins) is a massive intrusion in longstanding governance and decision-making at the local level in multiple jurisdictions. It represents a partisan power play to diminish the opportunity to address local issues of consequence, including schools. A good faith effort to do something as dramatic and massive as HB 774 would have been grounded in a respectful and collaborative process involving local entities and leaders. HB 774 emerged as a “conversation” to be had while effectively changing the entire system by which local entities are constituted and operated. It came out of nowhere - no interim study, no special commission, no public hearings or meetings, no give and take, no good faith and no integrity. The House State Administration Committee tabled it in short order, only to be pushed by House Republican leadership into bringing forward a 70-page bill dropped out of the blue late in the session. Even its sponsor and chief advocates concede that is “not ready for prime time.” (Or should we say half-baked.) Skeptical lawmakers on the Republican side of the aisle have reluctantly moved it forward on the pretext that it has a delayed implementation date and that we can figure it out over the next couple of years. County election officials are unequivocal in asserting that it is incomprehensible and utterly unworkable. It will be on second reading Monday April 3.

• SB 420 (Freidel) requires the election of city officials on even years. This is a similarly insulting and unilateral assertion of raw power against the well being and autonomy of local governments. It will smother civic discourse around municipal elections, making them more vulnerable to the corrupting effects of unlimited campaign funds by special interests. HB 420 has already sailed through the Senate and was heard in House Local Government where it is expected to pass, although we are working to help Montanans understand the attack on their local polity and ability to engage important matters.

• SB 511 (Zolnikov) SB 511 is a legislative attempt to take authority away from locally elected city and county leaders. Local decisions should be made by local leaders, not the Montana legislature. It imposes arbitrary limitations on local government revenues and expenditures that will cripple local public services, including law enforcement. “Montana legislators say they back the blue, but SB 511 does just the opposite,” Montana Federation of Public Employees leader Amanda Curtis wrote to her members this weekend. Curtiss urged members to contact every member of the Senate to vote no on this bill which will be on 2nd reading Monday April 3.

In this bulletin:

• Affordable workforce housing came to the forefront this week as three bills that would encourage investments and construction were heard in the House Taxation Committee (HB 829, HB 819, HB 825). Additionally, a sweeping rewrite and streamlining of Montana’s Land Use Planning code (SB 382) was heard in House Local Government.

• In the Senate, three bills that undercut the security of renters in a hot rental market were heard in Senate Local Government (HB 282, HB 488, HB 731).

• A gobsmacking surprise rounded out the week when the Dept. of Public Health and Human Services came into House Appropriations asking for $150 million (HB 835, Keenan) to help it cover a large shortfall due to skyrocketing costs for its institutions, especially the State Hospital at Warm Springs and its unanticipated Medicaid caseloads. The Department explained that extraordinary workforce challenges, inflation, and failure to adequately estimate and anticipate these costs at the end of the 2021 legislature led to significant shortfalls. It will need $150 million to close the books on the current biennium on June 30, and to make it through the coming biennium.

• House Bill 2, the state’s biennium budget bill, left the House and was transmitted to the Senate without the benchmark provider rates recommended by the Guidehouse study as the absolute minimum needed to keep nursing homes and group homes (et al.) from closing their doors at the end of this fiscal year.

• Ongoing middle-class tax reforms are not doing well.

Money on the table for Affordable Housing?

While the Governor and the majority party would like to see housing issues fixed with regulatory tweaks and deregulation of land use planning and zoning laws, even drastic weakening of these laws would not address the massive shortfalls in worker housing across dozens of Montana communities.

This week, three bills joined HB 574, Rep. Kim Abbott’s Workforce Housing Trust Fund bill to invest $500 million of Montana’s surplus dollars to establish a trust fund dedicated to housing needs now and in the future. (See March 12 bulletin.)

HB 829 - (Nikolakakos, R-Great Falls) - Establish a Montana workforce housing tax credit

We support this bill.

• This bill would make $1.5 million in workforce tax credits available each year for 6 years to help incentivize and leverage tens of millions more in private sector investments.

• This is a well-established and well-honed tool, already being used in 24 states because it gives developers a key asset as they put together financing for housing that workers can afford to rent.

• In many parts of Montana, workers are priced out of local markets and must commute miles away from where they can afford to rent.

• Likewise, seniors are driven out of communities they have lived in and loved for decades as they downsize on fixed incomes and cannot afford the high local rents in a Bozeman or Missoula market.

The funds would be administered under the Montana Board of Housing, which has extensive experience in dispersing federal low-income housing tax credits, but each year must turn away 3 out of 4 good projects.

HB 825 - (Hopkins, R-Missoula) - The Montana Home Ownership Means Economic Security Act (HOMES) Act

We support this bill.

• This would transfer $200 million into the Montana housing infrastructure principal account.

• The earnings would be used for planning grants to local governments and to facilitate low interest bonds for public infrastructure (water, sewer, roads, etc.) that serves affordable housing construction.

• It is part of the Governor’s housing package.

HB 819 - (Green, R-Hardin) - Create Montana community reinvestment act to support workforce housing.

• This bill creates a reinvestment fund with a $50 million one-time only investment by the State which might be supplemented by private donors or employers.

• The fund would be used to buy down the cost of mortgages (deed-restricted) to allow affordable home ownership for middle income workers.

• It would be administered under the Board of Investments.

• The bill had broad support from business and banking sectors, as did the previous two bills. It was described as “novel” and “unique” in the hearing, even by proponents.

• It might prove challenging to set up but might open some pathways to home ownership for young families and professionals.

We have not taken a position on this bill. We will continue to follow HB 819 as it takes shape, and major amendments are discussed.

SB 382 (Mandeville) - Create the Montana Land Use Planning Act

We support this bill.

• This is the work of multiple stakeholders over two years to streamline and address some of the barriers and costs to developers of much needed housing, while recognizing the authority, vital public health and public participation concerns and responsibilities of elected local governments.

Renters Beware!

HB 282 (Galloway) was written about in this Bulletin as it passed through the House. It was heard this week along with two other bills, HB 488 and HB 731, from the same sponsor that curtail renters' rights.

• Many seniors have downsized from a larger home to a rental as they struggle to get by on a fixed and reduced income. As Montana rental markets skyrocket, and landlords wish to extract higher rents, it could be tempting to try to move current renters out quickly to bring in greater revenues. These bills would pave the way.

• For a deep dive into these bills, please see these fact sheets detailing the dramatic reductions in timelines and rights for renters facing eviction. These fact sheets were prepared with assistance of the Montana Legal Services who often represent low-income renters in small claims courts. HB 282 HB488 HB731

Action Item! The bills were heard in Senate Local Government on Wednesday. Please send a note to the Senate Local Government Committee and ask them to vote no on these bad bills.

Long-Term Care

State Health Department requests $150 million so it can close its books on 2023!

HB 835 (Keenan) Reciting a litany of reasons not at all unfamiliar to the desperate providers who have been testifying all session in front of the House Appropriations Committee -- such as vanishing work force, expensive and unanticipated traveling nursing costs, high inflation, too-low budgeted authorization set by the 2021 legislature, lingering pandemic after-effects -- the Department of Public Health and Human Services is asking for $150 million to cover its 2023 expenses and to cover the much higher Medicaid caseloads that were not adequately anticipated in either the 2021 or the 2023 session.

I needed to pick my jaw up from the floor after the hearing on HB 835, not because the bill isn’t quite possibly warranted, but because it is exactly the PICKLE that providers of senior long-term care and group homes, and other critical human services in desperate straits, have been describing to the committee for the past eight weeks. As yet, without success.

Waiting until HB 2 was transmitted to the Senate to ask for this $150 million was audacious on the part of the Administration. The bill's sponsor Rep. Bob Keenan has so far staunchly resisted funding the minimum benchmark needed to keep nursing homes and other providers functioning.

On Monday the Committee gave HB 835 a haircut by retaining the shortfalls it needed ($56 million) to close out its books for the 2023 biennium and removing the Department's request for another $100 million to deal with Medicaid caseloads in the upcoming biennium. That issue can be dealt with when the Senate deliberates on HB 2.

Update: HB 649 (Caferro) to fully fund provider rates, which amounts to approximately $25 million of General Fund matched by $50 million in Federal money, is still pending action in the House Appropriations Committee. We hope the committee will agree that what is good for the goose is good for the gander and back these vital services and providers.

Middle class ongoing tax reforms on life support or dead!

Ongoing tax reform to help seniors is faring poorly.

-- Property Tax relief

• SB 15 (O’Brien) is on the table in the Senate Taxation Committee, but it could be resurrected and blasted to the full Senate for a vote. SB 15 is a bipartisan interim committee plan that offered a tax credit for lower- and middle-income residential homeowners and offered a commensurate credit for renters. It is ongoing and targeted to those who need it most.

• On the House side, HB 280 (Karlen), providing means-tested relief for property taxes targeted to middle and lower income homeowners is dead.

-- Social Security Tax relief

• SB 258, (Dunwell) and HB 235 (Karlen), two affordable and carefully targeted social security tax relief bills were tabled this week in House and Senate Tax Committees.

• HB 526 (Fielder), a sweeping social security tax cut costing nearly $130 million a year, would most benefit taxpayers in the highest brackets. Revenue stream cuts of this magnitude threaten vital public services and harm most middle- and lower-income seniors. This fortunately died in committee.

As we look back over the first half of the 2023 session, four major themes have emerged that align closely with Big Sky 55+ priorities:

• The statewide meltdown in senior long-term care with 11 nursing homes closing.

• How to spend Montana’s once-in-a-generation budget surplus: invest it in seniors, children, schools, and affordable housing, or give it away to rich folks? The legislature has introduced dozens of bills to change Montana’s tax system and to rebate the surplus.

• Attacks on Montana’s Constitution from damaging, piecemeal amendments by referenda as well as attacks on the independence and important role of the Judicial Branch.

• How to address the crisis in housing affordability and access across the state.

On Thursday, Big Sky 55+ held a virtual town hall on the first half of the session exploring some of the dominant themes and trends, and the prospects moving forward. Watch the recording here.

Senior Long-Term Care

Montanans are watching closely to see whether senior long-term care will survive the 2023 Legislature. Dozens of nursing homes and assisted living facilities sit on the brink of closure. This is also the case in other provider areas, including home-based community services for adults with disabilities, behavioral health for children, and group homes for adults with developmental disabilities.

This is a very bipartisan issue. Both Republicans and Democrats agree overwhelmingly on the importance of allocating state surplus dollars to address this crisis, and many have faulted the Governor and his administration for failing to meet this challenge during the interim.

HB 649 (Caferro, D-Helena) would bring the reimbursement rates for providers of Medicaid services to seniors in skilled nursing care up to a minimum benchmark of costs. This benchmark was identified in a $2 million study (the Guidehouse study, available on our website HERE) commissioned by the Legislature in 2021 and completed in mid-2022.

• HB 649 was heard on Thursday in the House Appropriations Committee, where dozens of Montanans made the case to keep our nursing homes and group homes open in the face of enormous headwinds caused by Covid, workforce shortages, and inflation.

Please contact members of the House Appropriations Committee and ask them to support HB 649.

HB 2, the state’s biennium budget: As it stands now HB 2 still falls $25 million (general fund) short of the amount needed to fully fund these services. (Note: the $25 million from the state would generate a $50 million match from the federal government.)

• HB 2 passed out of the Appropriations Committee short of the mark and is headed for a vote on the floor of the House.

Even if you already sent a message to the House Appropriations Committee regarding this bill, please send a message to the full House asking them to fully fund the recommended benchmark provider rates.

Protecting our Constitution and an Independent Judiciary

“There is no liberty if the power of judging be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.” Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 78.

Dozens of bills have been introduced to undermine the judicial branch. While many of the bills were tabled, several still survive or have been passed into law. A Constitutional amendment to mess with the Court’s independence is also still pending introduction.

According to attorney Nikki Zupanic of Upper Seven Law who spoke during our virtual Town Hall on March 16, the attacks fall under four categories:

1. Injecting partisanship into the judiciary.

2. Reducing access to relief from harm caused by unconstitutional laws.

3. Putting up barriers to citizen access to the courts (requiring bonds, etc.) and

4. Undermining the public’s faith in the judiciary by altering the judicial standards.

SB 191 (S. Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls) was signed by the Governor on March 6. It limits the ability of courts to prohibit actions and prevent harm to plaintiffs. Laws enacted by the Legislature would have to inflict harm before the court considering a challenge to the law could suspend the law. Had SB 191 been in effect in 2022, it would have disenfranchised thousands of Montanans by preventing them from voting using student IDs while constitutional challenges were pending in the courts.

SJ 15 (McGillvray, R-Billings) passed out of the Senate and is scheduled in the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday morning. It baldly asserts “that the belief that the court has exclusive authority to interpret the constitution and that its decisions are binding on the other two branches is a myth based on a faulty understanding of Marbury v. Madison.” As a resolution, it has little or no effect on anything, except perhaps to call into question the good sense and basic education of the majority in the Senate.

Take Action! HB 517 Challenges Montana’s High Quality Higher Education

On Tuesday, Big Sky 55+ Vice Chair Jon Ellingson testified against HB 517 (Hopkins, R-Missoula). The bill would amend the constitution to allow the legislature to enact laws “requiring the regents to adopt and maintain certain policies and practices” that the legislature believes protect student rights. The bill alters the independent authority of the Board of Regents to govern the Montana University System.

• It erodes the independence of the University system, with unknowable outcomes.

• It is similar to the bill where Montana lawmakers assert that legislators, not courts, can interpret and determine what is constitutional.

• It's an illogical, loopy conundrum to try to unravel what, in fact, this amendment will achieve.

• One certainty is that it will open the door to plenty of litigation to try to figure that out. There should be a hefty fiscal note, should this be enacted!

The hearing surfaced Americans for Prosperity and a closely connected organization, Students for Liberty, claiming they felt their abilities to exercise their first amendment and second amendment rights on Montana campuses were under attack. However, when questioned, there was no evidence that either the Regents or campus administrators had overruled constitutional rights of students.

The hearing also brought forward elected student leaders who articulated the case against the amendment and maintained that it would undermine Montana’s higher education system. The Commissioner of Higher Education’s attorney, the Montana Federation of Public Employees, the League of Women Voters, and the Friends of the Montana Constitution also testified to their strong opposition to this proposal to amend the constitution.

The bill’s sponsor argued that the Montana University System operates outside the laws of Montana and the constitution. This is as absurd and refutable as it sounds.

Mary Sheehy Moe wrote an excellent op-ed about HB 517. You can read it here.

Two laws passed in 2021 impacting campuses sparked litigation in Montana courts which ultimately invalidated them.

• One law would have allowed students to carry concealed weapons on campus and in the dorms, without regulation or oversight of the campus administrators or the Regents to protect student safety.

• Another bill prohibited the ability of student groups to engage in voter turn-out activities on campuses.

• Ironically, it was the first amendment right of Forward Montana to help students vote that was upheld by the Court, although the case wasn’t argued on civil liberty grounds.

The Montana University System is a highly successful economic engine achieving accolades and recognition well above its counterparts of similar size.

• In partnership with the legislative and executive branches, Regents have managed to hold the line on the lowest tuition in the region.

• They have streamlined the system, created dual enrollment opportunities for Montana high school students, and made credits interchangeable across units in the system.

• Montana’s two flagship campuses are both now “R1” research institutions, a status conferred by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education organization. The status places UM and MSU among the top research institutions in the country.

• The flagships also have produced an exceptional number of Rhodes Scholars, Truman Scholars, and Goldwater Scholars, recognizing the highest standards of academic achievement by students and their faculty.

HB 517 plays Russian roulette with Montana’s highly respected and high-quality university system. Contact Montana House members and ask them to vote NO on HB 517.

Lawmakers introduced seven bills attacking the Montana Constitution so far, with an additional 55 bill draft requests in the wings.

There could be a blizzard of such bills introduced in the next few weeks aiming to meet the April 3rd transmittal deadline for ballot referenda.

Background:

Montana's 1972 constitution was put together in a careful and measured way, over several months of deliberation and debate, by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention.

• While the delegates may have had a party affiliation or history, they ran on nonpartisan ballots.

• No elected officials were permitted to run or serve as delegates.

• As a result, Montana’s 1972 constitution enshrines personal liberty and freedoms, civic responsibility, and virtues that include civility, honesty, transparency, human dignity, justice, and fairness.

Montanans consistently poll overwhelmingly in support of this document that binds us together and guides our public life. Despite this, anti-constitution rhetoric has been growing among Montana Republicans for a couple years.

Now we have a partisan super-majority trying to wield extreme ideology and graft it onto what is nationally recognized as an exemplary, ground-breaking constitution, crafted by ordinary citizens.

Where things stand:

• A constitutional referendum bill requires 100 total votes from either chamber. The legislature has 150 members total.

• There are 48 Democrats in both chambers combined, and it is fair to assume that they will vote no against weakening the constitution.

• So, three Republicans voting no could stop any amendment from moving to the ballot box.

It’s now time to buckle up and get ready for a serious effort during the next

three weeks to block every one of these bad bills.

Good news -- one bill has already failed:

SB 372 (Emrich, R-Great Falls), the first bill aiming to amend the constitution, was tabled in Senate Judiciary before the transmittal break.

• The bill would have had the Legislature appointing and confirming Supreme Court justices and district judges.

• It’s hard to believe a bill can be so bad that it does not emerge from that extraordinary committee, but this one fell flat.

Bad news -- three bills will be heard in the House Judiciary Committee on March 13 & 14:

HB 517 (Hopkins, R-Missoula) ostensibly directs the Board of Regents to obey Montana laws and constitution. However, the Regents already comply with these requirements. There is another more insidious purpose to the proposed amendment.

• The bill is a veiled effort to subvert the independent authority of the Regents to govern the Montana University System.

• It could subject the Regents to arbitrary, partisan, frequent, mercurial, inconsistent, and politicized legislative intervention in the system.

• It would be ironic indeed, because it was gross mismanagement of higher education by the legislature that motivated Montanans in 1972 to rewrite the constitution.

• Click here to read Mary Sheehy Moe’s presentation about the formation of the Board of Regents at the 50th anniversary of Montana's 1972 Constitutional Convention.

HB 405 (Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls) would amend the constitution to allow the creation of a “citizens grand jury.”

• Former Gov. Marc Racicot obliterates this idea in a scathing editorial found here.

• Racicot writes: “It doesn't take long to visualize the inevitable chaos and spectacle that will attend the creation of a Byzantine citizens grand jury procedure; nor, but for a moment, to foresee the unlimited expense to the county within which the grand jury is impaneled.”

HB 372 (Fielder, R-Thompson Falls) purports to establish a “right to hunt” in the Montana constitution.

• In fact, the bill rewrites the existing right to harvest fish and wild game animals already encoded in the current document with unknowable consequences.

• It could undermine existing legal doctrines that have allowed Montana to steward, manage and harvest fish and game and restore a decimated population of big game animals.

• It is sure to open the state to years of litigation.

• This bill is set for hearing on Tuesday, Mar. 14.

You can send a note to members of the House Judiciary committee about all three of these bills by clicking HERE.

Affordable Housing: HB 574 Workforce Housing Trust Fund hearing today!

• Montanans are reeling from out-of-control housing costs.

• Workers must travel from nearby or not-so-nearby communities to fill the jobs in some bursting-at-the-seams communities (Missoula, Bozeman, Helena, Whitefish, Big Sky).

• In addition, many older Montanans on fixed incomes and downsizing into the rental or smaller housing markets find themselves completely priced out of communities they have lived in for decades.

Rep. Kim Abbott’s (D-Helena) HB 574 (Establish workforce housing trust fund) would make a significant dent in the workforce housing problem.

• The Montana Workforce Housing trust fund will responsibly incentivize the construction of housing that Montana families can afford, a solution desperately needed in Montana right now.

• The bill provides immediate grants and low-interest loans to communities to build middle class housing as well as funding future investments in affordable housing.

Please send a comment in support of HB 574 to the House Business and Labor Committee.

HB 649 and HB 2 - Fully fund senior long-term care!

The House Appropriations Committee is the center of decision-making this week to advance critical provider rates needed to keep the doors open on Montana’s senior care.

HB 649 (Caferro D-Helena): a bill that directs the legislature to fully fund the provider rates recommended in the Guidehouse cost study.

• This bill decisively passed second reading 65-35 last week and was referred to the House Appropriations Committee.

• The bill will be heard this Thursday, March 16, at 3:00 pm.

Section B of HB 2 (the state’s budget bill): Section B covers long-term care expenditures.

• During Thursday's hearing, the House Appropriations committee heard eloquent testimony from providers from across the state making the case for keeping our safety net for seniors in nursing homes, persons with disabilities in group homes, and youngsters receiving critical behavioral healthcare.

• “Only this legislature can keep long term care from even more tragic nursing home closures across the state,” Big Sky 55+ lobbyist Margie MacDonald testified before the committee.

Please ask members of the House Appropriations Committee to fully fund long-term care. Encourage them to keep our senior long term care facilities doors open. Montana cannot afford to lose another 12 nursing homes in 2023. Send them a message here.

REMEMBER to attend our next virtual Legislative Town Hall, "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" this Thursday, March 16. More details here.

Senior long term care is in crisis. We are in danger of losing the care we need to live out our lives in dignity! YOU can make the difference. Here’s how.

Background:

• Senior long term care is in crisis due to inadequate funding.

• Twelve Montana long-term care facilities closed in the last year and others are on the verge of closing.

• Big Sky 55+ lobbyist and board member, Margie MacDonald, is warning legislators we can’t wait to address this crisis.

• Margie's excellent editorial ran statewide and can be read here.

Big Sky 55+ hosted a virtual town hall meeting with three experts who outlined the problems and solutions in February.

• The Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee recently heard from national experts about how to begin to fix the problem by increasing the long-term care provider rate to at least $278 as recommended by the state’s own study.

• Two-thirds of the funding would come from the federal government.

• More information including a recording of the town hall can be found here.

Montana has a $2.5 billion budget surplus so the funds are available. But legislators are distracted by partisanship and culture wars. They are poised to give huge tax breaks to millionaires while ignoring the real needs of Montanans, including seniors.

How YOU can help:

Request a meeting with your legislators when they are home over the transmittal break, March 4-8. Find contact information for your legislators here.

Ask for a meeting using this message: “Dear (Senator or Representative). I live in your district. Please meet with me over transmittal to talk about the senior long-term care funding crisis. I can be reached

at (your email or phone number). Thank you.”

Don’t have time for a meeting? Schedule a call with your legislator. Personal contact is the only way we can break through this logjam. For more information, contact Jeannie Reeves-Hansen, Big Sky 55+ Political & Advocacy Coordinator, at Jeannie@bigsky55.org or 406-590-4388.

YOU, our member, are the best person to deliver this urgent message to your legislator: “Senior long-term care is in crisis. Quality senior services are needed for us to live out our remaining years in dignity. We are relying on you to increase the long-term care provider rate to at least $278.”

Thank you for your assistance.

My best—Terry

Terry Minow, Chair

Big Sky 55+

LONG-TERM CARE

Budget Committee falls short in funding Senior Long-Term Care in HB 2!

Pop Quiz:

A swimmer is drowning 20 feet off the side of your yacht. Do you:

1. Throw him a 10-foot lifeline.

2. Throw him a 15-foot lifeline.

3. Throw him a 20-foot lifeline.

Answers:

1. The Governor’s budget is the 10-foot lifeline.

2. The majority members* of the Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services opted for the 15-foot lifeline.

3. The Democrats on the committee, Vice Chair Rep. Mary Caferro (D-Helena) and Sen. Chris Pope (D-Bozeman), argued (unsuccessfully) that without the 20-foot lifeline, the victim will drown.

*Majority members of the subcommittee:

Chair Rep. Bob Keenan (R-Big Fork), Sen. Carl Glimm (R-Kila) (Vice Chair), Sen. Dennis Lenz (R-Billings) and Rep. Jane Gillette (R-Gallatin Gateway)

Background:

Eleven Montana nursing homes closed in the last year, representing 857 beds and 16% of the state’s nursing homes. Many were in isolated rural communities far from any other qualified facilities.

Dozens of nursing home providers testified in early January that they are hanging by a thread, waiting to see if the state will pass a provider rate that will allow them to keep their doors open.

Policy makers paid consulting firm Guidehouse $2.7 million to rigorously study the costs of providing senior long-term care (SLTC) in Montana. The results:

• The study recommended a benchmark of $278/day.

• The actual costs are closer to $330/day.

• The current reimbursement is a mere $209/day.

The Committee vote:

• On Thursday, the Committee voted 2-4 (party-line) against Sen. Pope’s motion to fully fund the benchmark provider rate of $278/day (the 20-foot line).

• The committee then passed a provider rate estimated at $261/day (the 15-foot line).

• Rep. Caferro has introduced HB 649, to fully fund the benchmark (the 20-foot line). More info to come on action items for this bill.

Action needed!

• Please send an email to the House Appropriations Committee members regarding long-term care funding in HB 2.

• House Appropriations Committee email addresses: Llew.Jones@legmt.gov, Bob.Keenan@legmt.gov, Mary.Caferro@legmt.gov, David.Bedey@legmt.gov, Michele.Binkley@legmt.gov, Terry.Falk@legmt.gov, John.Fitzpatrick@legmt.gov, Jane.Gillette@legmt.gov, Jim.Hamilton@legmt.gov, Naarah.Hastings@legmt.gov, Lyn.Hellegaard@legmt.gov, Mike.Hopkins@legmt.gov, Connie.Keogh@legmt.gov, Emma.KC@legmt.gov, Bill.Mercer@legmt.gov, Terry.Moore@legmt.gov, Fiona.Nave@legmt.gov, Joe.Read@legmt.gov, Matt.Regier@legmt.gov, Jerry.Schillinger@legmt.gov, SharonStewartPeregoy@legmt.gov, Paul.Tuss@legmt.gov, Jonathan.WindyBoy@legmt.gov

• Ask them to fully fund the $278 benchmark rate recommended by Guidehouse.

SB 296 (Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston) adopts a schedule and a formula to regularly review senior Long-Term Care costs. Big Sky 55+ supports this bill.

Big Sky 55+ joined rural and urban nursing home administrators from across the state and county commissioners who testified in support of this common sense “eyes wide open” tool for preventing the catastrophic closures of 2022 in the future.

• SB 296 puts in place a regular review (every 4 years) of long-term care cost variables such as inflation, changing demand and quality and safety measures.

• The bill addresses some of the systemic problems in long-term care finances and aims to stabilize the industry in Montana. Read more about the bill here.

Action needed!:

Join us by contacting members on the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Public Safety. Ask them to support SB 296. You can send a message to the whole committee here.

TAXES

The Legislature passes $1 billion in tax cuts and rebates… Who gets it?

A “6-pack” of bills to distribute $1 billion of the state’s surplus, much of it in tax rebates or lowered taxes for certain payers, is working its way through the legislature. These bills have already passed in one Chamber and most have already been transmitted in the 2nd Chamber.

The billion dollar question:

“Who benefits?”

In this chart, the Montana Budget and Policy Center shows where the money would land. The highest income Montanans will gain the most from this $1 billion-package of legislation.

A different approach?

A year ago, Colorado was in a similar financial position and made a very different choice.

• The Democratic-controlled legislature split the surplus funds evenly among all eligible Coloradans.

• funds went to Coloradans who either filed an income tax return in 2021 or applied for a property tax, rent, or heat credit in 2021.

• The “Colorado Cash Back” checks were $750 to each taxpayer, $1,500 to a couple.

• If Montana followed Colorado’s lead, it would amount to $1,667 per person and $3,333 per couple filing jointly!

Action Needed!

Contact your Senator and Representative. You can find your legislators here. Let them know you are concerned about the tax-cut bills moving through the legislature (HB 189, HB 192, HB 212, HB 221, HB 222, SB 121). Call on them to value the hard work of all Montanans when they dole out their billion dollars in surplus, rather than special favors for the richest, many of whom are relatively recent arrivals.

Big Sky 55+ supports targeted Social Security tax break

Last Thursday, Big Sky55+ stood in support of SB 258 (Maryann Dunwell, D-East Helena), "Establish Social Security Income Tax Credit."

SB 258 allows up to a $1,200 credit on social security taxes for taxpayers whose total income is less than $65,000 for joint returns, $55,000 for head of household, and $45,000 for all others.

“[This tax credit] is sustainable, because it is targeted to where it is most needed and can do the most good,” Big Sky 55+ lobbyist Margie MacDonald testified. "It is impactful, because the households that get this credit pretty much are living hand to mouth. It will go straight out the door to the pharmacist, the hardware store, the grocery store, the dentist and the eye doctor.”

Action needed!

Send a message to the Senate Taxation Committee here. Ask them to support SB 258.

And finally, FAKE LAWYERS

Lawmaker and pro se* legal beagle, ignoring 220 years of case law and jurisprudence, tell our Courts to mind their own business!

Senate Judiciary Chair Keith Regier (R-Kalispell) wants to clarify who makes laws and who interprets them. “Nowhere does the Montana Constitution say that the Supreme Court defines the law,” said Sen. Regier, a retired teacher and school administrator, as he introduced SJ 11, “Joint Resolution Defining Law” on Feb. 17.

Apparently, Sen. Regier is not familiar with the 220 years of jurisprudence and case law to the contrary (Marbury vs. Madison” 1803).

Sen. Regier’s flash of original new legal thought was backed up by his main proponent, a litigious pro se “lawyer” from the Flathead. (*Definition of "pro se": a person represents himself/herself in court without the assistance of an attorney. Pro se litigants are held to the same standard as attorneys but are not attorneys.)

Voting on Montana’s Long Term Care Crisis begins Tuesday, February 14.

The Joint Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human Services will begin executive action to adopt and amend the Governor’s budget.

Montana's long term care facilities are in a deep crisis. Only the Legislature can fix it.

• The actual daily cost of providing care in a skilled nursing facility in Montana is approximately $379.

• The $2.7 million provider rate study, commissioned by the Dept. of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) and authorized by the legislature, used “multipliers” to reduce that number to a benchmark $278/day. Read the rate study here.

• Skilled nursing facilities currently only receive $212/day (or less).

• Due to the gaping shortfall, many facilities are closing their doors, sending their residents hundreds of miles down the road, distancing them from loved ones, caregivers, and their community.

• Nearly a dozen Montana nursing homes closed in the past year.

The Governor's proposed budget falls far short of both the actual costs of caring for our elders and the benchmark.

The Legislature can fix this by boosting the long-term care provider rate to at least $278, if not $378, to keep the doors open and our communities and loved ones close.

Montana seniors deserve to live in dignity.

Tell your lawmakers to keep Montana's long-term care skilled nursing facilities open. Ask them to vote to fully fund, at a minimum, the benchmark set by the study, or to fully fund the actual costs of providing this vital community service. If the legislature does not step up, we will see many more closures, and our seniors and their families will suffer.

Click here to send your message to Montana lawmakers.

Landlords 2 - Tenants 0

Two bills that tip the balance against renters in favor of landlords passed the House this week.

Rep. Steve Galloway (R-Great Falls), a longtime landlord, sponsored both HB 282 and HB 283.

• HB 282 drastically shortens the timelines that protect renters from being evicted on short notice, and timelines to seek redress in justice court.

• HB 283 exempts landlords from local ordinances. This is a legislative overreach that undercuts local governments’ capacity to provide for public health and safety.

Current Montana landlord-tenant laws were negotiated several decades back, with Legal Services (which often represents low-income renters), consumer advocates and landlord organizations ALL at the table.

• The current laws were carefully negotiated to balance the needs and rights of both landlords and tenants.

• Unilateral, one-sided changes brought by the Montana Landlords Association will upset this balance at the expense of renters.

• Rep. Dave Fern (D-Whitefish) noted that while landlords have associations and lobbyists, many of his constituents are service workers and renters who don’t have their own lobbyists and must rely on their elected representatives to look out for them. Read more in this article.

The stakes:

A Columbia Falls veteran with disabilities lost his rental when his landlord bumped the cost from $1,000/ month, utilities included, to $1,800/month without utilities. He is now homeless. Read the story here.

• As housing markets are heating up across Montana, the story is not unusual.

• Many older Montanans downsize out of a larger home and into apartments or duplexes to simplify their lives and accommodate their changing needs and abilities, making them more vulnerable to unfair landlord tenant legislation.

HB 282 passed 62-37 on 3rd reading. See how your Representative voted here.

HB 283 passed 63-34 on 3rd reading. See how your Representative voted here.

• Hundreds gathered in Capital to honor and celebrate our Montana Constitution.

• House and Senate passed massive tax cuts and rebates, tilted heavily toward the wealthiest Montanans.

• Big Sky 55+ hosted a virtual Town Hall discussion on Long Term Care. More details below.

Action Items!

• Urge your Senator to blast SB 15 (meaning move it out of committee and onto the floor for a full vote). We support SB 15, a targeted, on-going income credit providing relief for moderate- and low-income property owners and renters.

• Urge your Senator to vote NO on SB 210, a bill to criminalize health care providers who prescribe aid in dying to terminally ill patients.

• Scroll down for more information on these two bills.

Former Gov. Racicot keynotes “We the People” Pro-Constitution rally in Rotunda

Hundreds showed up despite treacherous winter roads, and hundreds more sent their warm wishes to celebrate Montana’s 50-year-old internationally recognized constitution.

Former Gov. Marc Racicot prepared a thoughtful defense for both the U.S. Constitution and the Montana Constitution, emphasizing the importance of the separation of powers between the judicial, executive, and legislative branches.

Racicot described both documents as steeped in the ideals of civic “virtue and optimism focused on the public good” rather than partisan preference. His words provide a timely antidote to Montana lawmakers pushing bills to make judges and local school officials campaign on partisan tickets or telling the judiciary how to order and direct the branch.

Former lawmaker and beloved Bozeman native Dorothy Bradley also spoke about the importance of fighting for what we value. The Montana Constitution has seen minimal tinkering during its first 50 years. In contrast, this year's legislature has 56 bill drafts in the works to amend the document piecemeal, undercutting many rights and privileges Montanans cherish and value.

To finish out the rally, the Montana Logging and Ballet Company performed an original piece, (sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle):

(Verse I) In Montana we think we are thriving and successful,

but some folks think that’s a problem and they find it stressful.

So to make Montana great, they have a solution:

To solve the problems we don’t have - They’d trash the Constitution!

Click here to watch footage of the Rally.

Long-debunked “trickle down” tax bills move quickly,

without regard to the budget process

“While rural nursing homes are closing across the state, while the state hospital is crumbling before our eyes, while cities and counties are struggling to make ends meet, while schools are hard pressed to find qualified staff, why would we make it a priority to give tax breaks to the wealthiest among us before those problems are addressed?”

- from Big Sky 55+ Board Member Ken Toole's Op-Ed “Gianforte’s tax cuts - been there, done that” Read Ken's Op-Ed here.

(Image: Courtesy of the Montana Budget & Policy Center)

Big Sky 55+ past chair Ken Toole’s recent editorial details the failure of Montana’s 2003 experiment in trickle-down economics. The beneficiaries were largely rich people, the costs were three times what had been estimated, and schools, local governments and basic services were eroded.

Nevertheless, the current legislative supermajority and Gov. Gianforte are determined to restructure the state’s ongoing tax laws, based on their continued faith in trickle-down economics. The question now is how much will be left to repair the rippling after-effects of the pandemic, including loss of workforce, lack of childcare providers, a housing crisis, and nursing home closures across the state?

We oppose all of these tax bills being moved on a fast track:

HB 192, Income tax rebate, Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings.

Passed House, on way to Senate Tax Committee

• Provides an income tax rebate up to $1,250 per individual, $2,500 per couple filing jointly.

• Democrats resisted the bill in both the committee and on the floor out of concern that many low wage workers do not pay enough tax to benefit from the rebate (e.g. many Social Security recipients and home health caregivers!), and that the $480 million price tag was too costly too early in the session before many pressing budgetary needs have been fully understood.

HB 212, Increase business equipment tax exemption, Rep. Josh Kassmier, R-Ft. Benton.

Passed House, on way to Senate Tax Committee

• Raises the business equipment tax exemption from the current $300,000 to $1 million.

• Over the past 30 years the Legislature has repeatedly cut this tax on businesses. Business equipment tax is a type of property tax. The number of businesses paying the tax went from 200,000 in the early 1990’s to 20,000 in 2008.

• As a result, in the early 1990s, homeowner property taxes accounted for 38% of total property taxes. In 2008, they accounted for 50% of total property taxes paid.

• HB 212 lowers the number of businesses paying equipment tax even further -- to 3,000 businesses.

• This is an example of why residential property taxes keep going up while lawmakers boast that they voted to lower property taxes.

HB 221, Revise income tax rates for net long-term capital gains, Rep. Tom Welch, R-Dillon.

Passed House, on way to Senate Tax Committee

• This bill would give Montana the 3rd lowest capital gains tax rate in the nation, among states that tax capital gains

• In Montana, income earned through investments already is taxed less than income earned as wages.

• This bill worsens existing income inequality and makes our state tax code less fair.

HB 222, Property tax rebate on principal residence, Rep. Tom Welch, R-Dillon.

Passed House, on way to Senate Tax Committee

• Provides a two-time $500 dollar rebate on property taxes paid for a Montanan-owned primary residence.

• It does not address renters and it is not ongoing.

• The bill would cost the state nearly $500 million over the two tax years.

SB 121, Reduce top marginal income tax rate and increase EITC (earned income tax credit), Sen. Becky Beard, R-Elliston.

Heard in Senate Finance and Claims after passing 2nd reading on a party line vote

• This bill would provide on average $6,000 annually to Montana’s top 10% of taxpayers (who make over $500,000/year).

• Montanans in the $43,000-$67,000/year income range, will see around $50 annually.

• While it does include an Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for Montana’s lowest income families, there are better EITC bills aimed at lower income working families.

• It would cost the state $180 million a year by 2027 and onward.

Big Sky 55+'s Virtual Town Hall event: Can MT Senior Care Survive the 2023 Legislature?

Did you miss it? Click here to access the recording!

Action Items!

We support SB 15 (Shannon O’Brien, D-Missoula) a bill providing tax credit for all ages homeowners and renters

In contrast to the above tax bills, SB 15 (Shannon O'Brien, D-Missoula) is a targeted tax credit aimed at benefitting middle- and lower-income Montana property owners and renters.

• It provides, on an ongoing basis, an income tax credit of up to $1,300 for lower-income property taxpayers and expand the credit to all ages and to renters.

• The bill came out of the Revenue and Transportation Interim Committee with bipartisan support but locked up and was tabled in the Senate Taxation Committee on a 6-6 vote.

• The bill can still be "blasted", meaning that the full Senate could vote to take it from the Committee and bring it to the floor for debate on 2nd reading.

Contact your Senators urging them to vote to blast SB 15 -- a balanced, fair, and ongoing tax reform that addresses high residential property taxes, benefiting those who need it most.

We oppose SB 210 (Carl Glimm, R-Kila) a bill to criminalize medical aid in dying

Big Sky 55+ stood with family members, doctors, health care organizations and palliative care advanced practice nurses this week to oppose SB 210.

• SB 210 criminalizes the act of prescribing a lethal dose of patient-administered medications allowed under current “physician aid-in-dying” laws.

• Aid-in-dying prescriptions can currently be used only when the terminal diagnosis is certain, and death is immanent.

• This bill will force physicians to withhold compassionate care for patients suffering from painful terminal illnesses such as Multiple-myeloma, or ALS.

• This bill is yet another attack on the Montana Constitution. Montana’s Supreme Court ruled in the Baxter case that patients have a constitutional right to receive this aid-in-dying option.

Contact your Senators and urge them to vote NO on SB 210.

Click here to read additional comments on SB 210 by Jeannie Reeves-Hansen, Big Sky 55+ Policy & Advocacy Coordinator

Click here to read Op-Ed by Dick Barrett and Mark Connell entitled "Aid in Dying is the right each of us has to control"

Legislative Bulletin Jan 30

Top priorities:

• Two troubling landlord-tenant bills passed narrowly out of the House Judiciary Committee, HB 282 and HB 283, brought by Rep. Steve Galloway (R-Great Falls)

• SB 121 (Becky Beard, R-Helena), the Governor’s income tax bill with its massive price tag, costing up to $179 million by year 3 and up from there, passed 2nd reading on a party line vote and was referred to the Finance and Claims Committee for a hearing.

Calls and letters needed!

Older Renters Are at Risk with

HB 282 and HB 283

Many older Montanans live in rentals, for a variety of reasons. HB 282 and HB 283 jeopardize the rights and housing of thousands of Montana elders who rent, especially where markets are hot.

In testimony opposing HB 282, Big Sky 55+ lobbyist Margie MacDonald shared the story of a Columbia Falls disabled 68-year-old veteran who lost his rental when his monthly rent went from $1,000 including utilities to $1,800 NOT including utilities. Read the story here.

• Current Landlord-tenant laws are a delicate balance between the rights of renters and landlords. They were crafted several decades ago after a years-long negotiation between landlord groups and renters' groups.

• HB 282 and HB 283 were written by and for landlords without consultation or agreement from tenant groups.

• HB 282 significantly rewrites the due process by which a landlord might remove a tenant from their home. It also accelerates the time frames for removing renters from their homes.

• HB 283 undercuts local ability to regulate rentals and promote affordable housing.

Here's another take on these bills by the What The Funk 406 blog:

Specifics noted in the bill include:

1. Protections for landlords to issue 24 hour notices for property access or to correct rental agreement violations with tenants facing eviction proceedings within 3 days for refusing property access.

2. Putting extra stress on our already overloaded courts by significantly shortening the filing due dates and hearing scheduling windows. Meaning, where courts and tenants typically had a cushion of anywhere from 10-20 days before, multiple lines of Sections 70-24 and 70-33, MCA have been amended to an allowance of only 5 days instead.

Interestingly, or maybe better put – strategically, in reference to the 24 hour notices, there are no exceptions for tenants who may be working out of town, be hospitalized, on vacation, or otherwise. In sum, tenants who are working hard, severely ill, or enjoying time off away from home can find themselves in the crosshairs of their landlord’s impatience.

Both HB 282 and HB 283 passed out of House Judiciary this week by a single vote; calls and letters are critical to stop the bills on second reading.

Contact members of the House to vote NO on HB 282 and HB 283. Express your support of keeping housing for older Montanans.

For more information, check out the Billings Gazette article about these two bills.

SB 121, a Tax Break for Montana’s Richest Passes 2nd Reading; Sent to Finance & Claims in the Senate

Gov. Greg Gianforte’s bill to lower the top tax rate, SB 121, passed 2nd reading in the Senate on a party-line vote.

• SB 121 carries a mind-boggling price tag, costing the state over $179 million annually by year 3 and more annually moving forward.

• Montana’s wealthiest 10% (earning more than $500k/year) would be awarded $6000/year on average.

• Montanans earning $43,000-$67,000, would see $50 on average.

The bill is predicated on the thoroughly debunked “supply-side” theories claiming that tax breaks for the wealthy generate jobs and economic growth. When asked for recognized, peer-reviewed research to validate that premise, during the bill’s hearing, proponents stumbled, falling back on the “Laffer Curve” and Reaganomics.

Big Sky 55+ Board member Jon Ellingson, former majority leader of the Montana Senate, analyzes the ineffectiveness of these kinds of tax incentives here.

On our Radar

"Right to Work" (i.e. anti-union)

SB 140 (Keith Regier, R-Kalispell), targeting Montana’s nurses for “right to work” treatment was stopped in the Senate Business and Labor Committee.

HB 216 (Bill Mercer, R-Billings), a broader Right to Work bill directed at public employees was heard in the House State Administration Committee and is pending action.

We oppose both bills.

Long-Term Care

• Despite being in crisis, Montana’s long-term care facilities received ZERO mention in Gov. Greg Gianforte’s hour-long State of the State address on Wednesday Jan. 25.

• This map illustrates Montana communities that lost long-term care facilities over the past year. (Compiled by the Montana Healthcare Association) Click here for a larger image.

Join Us!!

“We the People” will rally at the Capital in Helena at Noon, Wednesday, Feb. 1 to honor and stand up for Montana’s internationally acclaimed and recognized Constitution.

Our next Legislative Town Hall -- Feb 6 at 6pm:

In this bulletin:

• Rally to support MT's Constitution at noon on Feb 1;

• Lend your support of SB-15;

• HB 197 -- An Attack on Higher Education and our Constitution;

• House Judiciary Committee's disrespectful treatment of grieving citizens following hearing on HB 202, a bill to prevent gun violence;

• Big Sky 55+'s Long-Term Care op-ed

We Need YOU! to Stand Up for Montana’s Constitution

“We the People” Rally in Capital Rotunda Feb. 1, NOON

• Join citizens from across the state in supporting Montana's Constitution.

• A stellar lineup of speakers will include former Governor Marc Racicot and Dorothy Bradley, former lawmaker and candidate for Governor from Bozeman.

• Host: Northern Plains Resource Council. Co-sponsors: Friends of the Montana Constitution, The League of Women Voters Montana, Big Sky 55+, Montana Human Rights Network, Western Native Voice, Forward Montana, Great Falls Rising, and ACLU Montana

SB 15 Update -- Make Your Voice Heard!

Big Sky 55+ testified in support of SB 15, (Shannon O’Brien D-Missoula)

Means-based property tax relief for seniors and younger Montanans

• SB 15 increases an existing tax credit, expands it to renters and to all Montanans earning less than $45,000 on a sliding scale.

• SB 15 is an ongoing credit, not just a one-time payment, like some of the proposals to rebate some of Montana’s $2.4 billion budget surplus by way of homeowners’ property taxes.

In testimony supporting the bill, Belgrade resident Elizabeth Marum illustrated how impactful SB 15 will be for older Montanans, whether they own their homes or rent.

“The average social security beneficiary in MT earns about $1,481/mo, or $17,800/yr. My monthly social security income is several hundred dollars/mo higher than the average, but my annual income is still less than $30,000/yr. and my property taxes are 10% of my income. This bill would save me $1500/yr this year and help me and others like me every year after that.

“Property taxes are regressive, and they hurt those of us with lower incomes more-- those of us with fewer means to recover from the random, accidental financial blows that all of us experience at one time or another. If we are to keep cohesive communities, representative of the Montana we know and love, this bill will help"

To read Marum’s full statement click Here

ACTION ITEM:

Contact Senate Tax Committee members ASAP to urge a YES vote on SB 15

Montana Higher Ed (and Montana's Constitution) Under Attack

Calling all UM Griz, MSU Cats, MSU-B Yellowjackets, Tech Orediggers, Western Bulldogs, and Northern Lights!!!

HB 197 (Jennifer Carlson R-Belgrade) is a constitutional referendum to strip the independence of the Montana Board of Regents and place it, once again, under the thumb of a highly partisan, political, and mercurial legislature.

We've been here before, and it wasn't pretty!

• The legislature’s dismal and capricious management of higher education in Montana was one of the driving forces that brought the 1972 Constitution into being.

• The independent governance of higher education was a significant driver in the need for a new constitution

For an illuminating review of this history, see Mary Sheehy Moe’s presentation at the 50th Anniversary of the Montana Constitution in June 2022:

“If you had set out with the intention of creating a completely dysfunctional governance system for higher education, you could not have done a better job than the framers of the 1889 Montana Constitution.” Read her full presentation here.

The details moving forward:

• A referendum to refer a Constitutional amendment to the electorate needs 100 votes total from both houses to get on the statewide ballot.

• 16 Democrats in the Senate and 32 in the House are united in support of the Montana 1972 Constitution.

• Just 3 votes from Republicans would stop the amendment.

• We will keep you posted when the Hearing is scheduled, and if HB 197 proceeds to the full House, but it is not too soon to reach out to anyone with ties to or who cares about higher ed in Montana.

ACTION: Reach out to your favorite Republican Lawmakers and urge them to vote NO on HB 197.

Talking Points:

• HB 197 would take us back to a time when higher education in Montana was horribly dysfunctional

• Montana's higher education system has been a jewel in the crown in our state. It shouldn't be under a political thumb

• The focused educational mission of Montana’s higher education would be undercut by putting it under control of the legislature.

Grieving Family Members Ill-Treated in House Judiciary

The House Judiciary Committee showed callous disregard for three women who tearfully shared personal experiences of gun violence within their families. The women testified in support of HB 202 (Ed Stafman D-Bozeman) which would allow temporary removal of firearms when a member of the family is in danger of suicide or harming others.

Immediately upon close of the bill’s hearing on Jan. 17, before the women had even left the room, Rep. Brandon Ler (R-Savage) made the non-debatable motion to table the bill, which passed on a party-line vote.

• Such hasty action is not how bills are normally dealt with in Committees, except under extraordinary deadlines.

• Committees usually take at least a day or two, if not a week or two, to consider and weigh the bill’s merits, and craft possible amendments before taking executive action.

• Judiciary Committee Chair, Rep. Amy Regier (R-Kalispell) acquiesced in what was a cruel, offensive slap in the face to the grieving families who made the effort to travel to the Capital and share their painful stories.

Besides acting cruelly, the committee ignored these grim facts about suicide in our state:

• Suicide is the number ONE cause of preventable death for children ages 10-14 in MT.

• Over the past ten years, suicide has been the number TWO cause of preventable death for adolescents ages 15-24 and adults ages 25-44.

• Montana has the 3rd highest suicide rate in the nation. [Source]

Long Term Care Op Ed

Big Sky 55+ lobbyist Margie MacDonald shared our concerns on Long Term Care in an opinion article published in newspapers across the state. Here it is in case you missed it!

Montana lost nearly a dozen nursing homes in 2022. The reality is that dozens more assisted living and long-term care facilities are hanging by a thread. They are waiting to see if our Governor and state legislature will take the critical steps necessary to keep essential elder services available across this vast state. Now is the time to make your voice heard on this essential concern. Read More

Learn more about Long-term care issues at our next Virtual Town Hall:

Two weeks into the session and bills are flying fast and furious.

FAIR TAXATION

An important bill was considered this week: Homeowners and Renters Tax Credit, SB 15 (Shannon O'Brien, D Missoula) SB 15 is one of this session's most fair and far-reaching tax bills for seniors and low to middle income households, in part because it expands this credit to include renters, who make up a sizable community of hard working and retired Montanans.

• The bill expands the existing elderly homeowner and renter income tax credit to homeowners and renters of all ages with incomes of up to $45,000/year.

• This is an ongoing credit, not just a one-time distribution of state surplus funds.

• The bill increases the credit cap from $1,150 to $1,300.

SB 15 (click here for full bill text) is working its way through the Senate Taxation Committee. Please lend your support of this bill! Take Action! Send a message supporting SB 15 to the Senate Taxation Committee through the web: https://leg.mt.gov/web-messaging/ or by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 406-444-4800. LONG-TERM CARE At hearing's last week, dozens of Long-Term Care (LTC) providers testified that the “perfect storm” of pandemic, workforce shortages, and inflation in other areas like food and energy, have pushed them to the brink of survival. With nearly a dozen of these facilities closing in the past year, and dozens more hanging by a thread, the 2023 Legislature is facing a critical moment in time.

• Big Sky 55+ supports a full spectrum of senior living, care, and support services.

• Suggesting that one of these service areas can be enhanced only at the expense of the other (LTC vs. community support services) is a false dichotomy, and unrealistic.

SAVE THE DATE

OUR NEXT LEGISLATIVE TOWN HALL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2023 at 6PM

"Can Montana Senior Care Survive the 2023 Legislature?" This discussion will be a short backgrounder on how to understand the choices and decision points around Long-Term Care. Join us and learn how to effectively advocate for the ability of senior Montanans to age with dignity in the best setting that meets their needs. REGISTER HERE!

The first week of the 68th Legislature is off and running. Here a few of the highlights and lowlights as the week unfolded:

Kicking off the session, in a lovely rendition of Danny Boy, Sen. Shannon O’Brien led a tribute, in which all of the Senators joined, in honoring the late former Senator Mark Sweeney, who passed away last spring. You can watch this beautiful tribute and read more in a piece by Sam Wilson for the Helena Independent-Record. Shannon4Montana

GOOD NEWS On Tuesday, Senate Rules Committee Chair Steve Fitzpatrick (R-Great Falls) stripped his proposal to muzzle the Consumer Counsel from the joint rules of the session (SJ1. The committee adopted the amendment unanimously with no opposition. Alert readers will recall that this rule would have prevented the Consumer Counsel, a position enshrined in our state Constitution, from being able to speak on legislation without permission of a legislative committee. Kudos to Montanans who rose up and objected to this egregious idea. SJ1 will also go to the House, assuming it passes the Senate, and we will keep an eye on it. SPEAKING OF THE HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE….. Solutions minded Republicans in the House brought an amendment this week to the proposed House Rules (HR1) to lower the threshold for blasting a bill out of a Committee. The motion is seen as an attempt to moderate the House, especially in light of a Republican supermajority dominated by far right wing members. The amendment lowered the blast motion requirement from 60 to 55. It means that a combination of Democrats and moderate Republicans could bring a bill that has been locked up in a Committee to the floor for debate. With 28 Democrats, a blast motion would require at least 27 Republicans to succeed. In the Senate, a blast motion only requires a majority, 26 votes out of 50. Here’s how your Representative voted on the amended House Rules (57-44). It gives you a bellwether of where he or she lands on the moderate vs. far right wing spectrum in the Montana House. EMERGING ASSAULT ON MONTANA NATIVE AMERICAN RIGHTS Between an assault on voting rights, otherwise known as the Election Integrity Commission, and a Draft Resolution from Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Keith Regier (R-Kalispell) urging Congress to investigate the American Reservation system, Montana’s Native communities are clearly in the cross hairs of the majority party. Sen. Regier’s resolution (LC1964) has not yet been introduced, and we hope it will not come forward. Among other things, it asserts that the reservation system is based on race and therefore unconstitutional. It also asserts that tribal sovereignty is “diametrically opposed to the Constitution of the United States." See Montana’s Native American Caucus response in this article. TAKE AWAY QUOTES FROM MONTANA EDITORIAL WRITERS ON THE (SO-CALLED) ELECTION INTEGRITY COMMISSION Bozeman Chronicle Editorial Board “Let’s call this what it is: an orchestrated effort to make it harder to vote. Republicans have become convinced that the more people vote, the lower their chances of winning.” Darrell Ehrlick in the Montana Daily: “If we’re just trying to soothe our overheated minds, why not form an alien detection task force to make sure that invaders from a distant planet haven’t somehow seeped into our big old state? I mean, it wouldn’t hurt just to give folks peace of mind, right? Or what about a Yeti task force to ensure that outdoor enthusiasts aren’t bothered by more than grizzlies? More than anything, this is lazy lawmaking, bordering on absurd and dangerous.” JUDICIAL INTEGRITY Billings District Judge Ashley Harada was selected by legislative leadership to administer the oath of office in the House of Representatives. Ironically, Judge Harada is the only sitting district judge in the State of Montana to be suspended for violating judicial rules by not being truthful under oath. There are many bills in the pipeline to politicize and undermine the independence of the Judicial Branch. We will continue to follow it and keep you informed. PROTECTING THE MONTANA CONSTITUTION Rep. Jennifer Carlson (R-Manhattan) has introduced HB 197 Constitutional amendment on article X, section 9. The bill amends the constitution to “clarify the authority of the Board of Regents” (meaning: undermine the authority of the BOR). No hearing has been scheduled yet – we will keep you updated when it is! Message to all lawmakers on Constitutional amendments is: “Just Say No” Read this Guest Column by Former Justice Jim Nelson here for more on how the new legislative supermajority may take aim at the Montana Constitution. TAKE ACTION! Big Sky 55+ will send out an alert and talking points when the hearing is scheduled, which could come up quickly, so be on the lookout!

SAVE THE DATE OUR NEXT LEGISLATIVE TOWN HALL IS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2023 at 6PM REGISTRATION AND LINK TO FOLLOW! Reach out to lawmakers Look up a bill by number or sponsor JOIN Big Sky 55+

• The right to a clean and healthful environment.

• Extraordinary governmental transparency and open meetings.

• The right to a quality, free public education.

• Indian education for all.

• A strong right to privacy that limits governmental interference in private lives of individuals, including their reproductive and health care choices.

• An independent Consumer Counsel that has the means to stand up to monopoly utilities on behalf of ordinary citizens without interference.

• The dignity of all, and much more!

Independent Judicial Branch - Our 1972 Constitution, especially the freedoms and the fierce independence of Montanans that it upholds, is under vigorous assault. In the 2021 legislature numerous bills were passed that clearly contravened our state’s Constitution. Those bills are not doing well in the Courts. And so our independent judiciary is also in the cross hairs of the super majority now in charge in Helena. In the upcoming months, Big Sky 55+ will keep you posted on this, so you can weigh in! For a good start on what we are faced with, check out the “Minority Report of the Special Joint Select Committee on Judicial Transparency and Accountability” prepared by retiring Sen. Diane Sands and House Minority Leader Kim Abbott on Dec. 22. Excerpt: “At bottom, it’s clear that the Majority hasn’t seriously considered—or doesn’t care—about the implications of insinuating that the leader of a co-equal branch of government is a liar, then failing utterly to prove it. But this is the summation of a year and a half of work, of spectacle, and of public expense. The case is pitifully weak, and it exposes the pretextual nature of this Committee and its work for what they really are: another front in the Legislature’s attempt to undermine the independence of Montana’s courts.” This very recent article is a shocking recap of the events that occurred in the last session and serves as a reminder the reckless Republican agenda to erode our Independent Judicial branch: “There is no liberty if the power of judges be not separated from the legislative and executive powers.” —Andrew Hamilton https://billingsgazette.com/opinion/columnists/jim-goetz-disturbing-threats-to-the-independence-of-the-courts/article_9f36ad06-87a0-11ed-896d-5ffedb79052c.html Don’t miss Russell Rowland’s beautifully crafted radio show episode where he tells the history of the Montana Constitution and the fumbles encountered along the way to the country’s acclaimed “most progressive constitution in the United States.” https://www.ypradio.org/show/56-counties Early Win on Constitution! Even before the session, the Senate Rules Committee Chairman and Majority Leader, Sen. Steve Fitzpatrick, pushed through on a party-line vote, a scheme to try to repeal the Consumer Counsel’s independence by legislative rule. (Read about it HERE) In the face of strong outcry, Sen. Fitzpatrick announced he would offer an amendment to remove this provision from the proposed Joint Rules once the Session convenes. We shall see. Find your lawmaker: LINK to LEGISLATIVE WEB SITE with LAWMAKERS’ CONTACT INFO Become a member and JOIN Big Sky 55+ See our PLATFORM

Big Sky 55+ hopes to keep you at the forefront of developments from the 2023 Legislature, so that you may be informed and can effectively weigh in and make an impact.

Where we cannot turn back initiatives that undercut our communities; our fellow older Montanans, and their families; and our Constitution, we will establish a record upon which the lawmakers must stand -- good, bad, or lack-luster.

It is my hope to send you regular updates from the legislature. If it helps you to have an impact in Helena, please feel free to share and forward with friends and family! We hope to amplify and grow our chorus of Montanans standing up for the very heart of our beloved Montana.

Warmly,

Margie MacDonald

Big Sky 55+ Legislative Lobbyist