UM Community News Service

House hears two abortion bills
By Cole Grant
Montana lawmakers heard two bills Wednesday that would change when and how women can have abortions. The House of Representatives advanced Senate Bill 282, which would require, among other things, that if a fetus has more than a 50 percent chance of living outside the womb, a doctor would need to give it life-sustaining support. The bill needs one more vote to pass the House. Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls, voted for the bill. “The pregnancy is terminated, which is the desire of the mom, but the life of the child is saved,” she said. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Raise for care workers rejected
By Cole Grant
All day Monday, Montana senators debated the state’s $10 billion-plus budget. Sen. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, carried one of the more expensive amendments in the Senate that would have added a dollar an hour per year to the wages of workers who care for seniors and disabled Montanans. The amendment failed, as did similar ones throughout the day. “We have to recognize that there are a lot of people left on the table that are not going to get their needs met,” Caferro said. “And I think if this doesn’t get fixed down the road, we’re going to find in the next two years that we’ll be hearing from people in our districts.”

Sen. Eric Moore, R-Miles City, said giving money to programs like these would be a worthy act. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Caregiver Act among bills signed into law
By Freddy Monares
Gov. Steve Bullock signed 12 legislative bills into law this week, including one that would establish something called the Caregiver Act. Created by House Bill 163, it will require hospitals to record the name and phone number of a patient’s caregiver when the person is admitted to the hospital. The bill also makes it so that hospitals have to coordinate with caregivers for after care before the patient is discharged. Bullock and Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Forsyth, both praised the bill at  Friday’s signing. “Good for the patient, good for the caregiver, good for the hospital and it’s good for the state,” Bullock said. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Senator pushes for warnings on raw milk
By Freddy Monares
In response to a House-approved bill that would legalize raw milk, lawmakers are considering a bill that would label raw milk. Senate Bill 300 would require raw milk and products made with raw milk to have a warning label for consumers who are vulnerable to bacterial infections. That bill passed the Senate 29-to-21. Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, is the sponsor of the bill. “As a historian I will tell one of the reasons pasteurization became common was because of the number of deaths of pregnant women and stillbirths related to the consumption of raw milk,” Sands said. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Proposal would head off future sales tax
By Cole Grant
A bill heard in the Montana Senate Thursday would let voters decide if the Constitution should prohibit a future general statewide sales tax option. Senate Bill 351’s sponsor, Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, says a statewide sales tax would unfairly tax people with lower income. “The higher your income, the lower the percentage of your income that you pay in tax,” he said. “Or turn it the other way around, the lower your income, the higher the percentage of your income that you pay in tax.”

He also says the proposed constitutional amendment would not include a ban on local option taxes. Bridger Mahlum with the Montana Chamber of Commerce says the chances of passing a statewide sales tax are slim. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Infrastructure projects proposed
By Cole Grant
Lawmakers heard proposals Monday for infrastructure projects across the state, from upgrades to university system buildings to wildlife habitat programs.

House Bill 5 allocates more than $50 million in federal and state money to infrastructure. The largest portion of that money would go to securing land for the Habitat Montana program, which, among other things, encourages wildlife conservation among landowners. Rep. Jim Keane, D-Butte, is carrying the bill. “These are the vehicles that actually build things around the state of Montana,” he said. Gov. Steve Bullock’s office proposed the list of projects last November. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature

Funding increase for elderly, disabled shot down
By Cole Grant
One of the amendments to the state budget Montana lawmakers shot down Thursday would have given more funding to a program that helps pay for long-term care for low-income seniors and disabled Montanans. Rep. Rob Cook, R-Conrad, chairman of the Health and Human Services Subcommittee, said there’s money left over from what was set aside for that program from the last biennium. Cook said the Legislature’s budget proposes about $3 million less to the program than what was spent last biennium. “You look at this $42 million that wasn’t spent, why wasn’t that spent on provider rate increases?” he asked. Continue Reading →

Filed under: Last Best Blog, Montana Legislature