Montana House District 55 Legislative Update
By Brad Barker
As of Monday evening, January 27th, we have just finished Legislative Day 21.
396 bills and resolutions have been introduced in the House and 272 in the Senate. 199 bills have passed to the second chamber. Significant legislation over the past week included judicial reform, election integrity, and taking care of our emergency services volunteers.
Judicial reform has been a hot topic over the past several years with at least 30 bills introduced this session to address this topic. While I support some, others potentially create more ambiguity or harm. There are also some that sound good but do relatively little. For example, I voted against HB 30, “requiring the Supreme Court to apply a burden of proof for challenge to constitutionality of legislative act”, since it is simply a restatement of law and has no practical effect. That bill passed the House by a narrow margin. I will highlight the significant bills as they come up during the session.
HB 52, “generally revising administrative procedure laws relating to agency deference”, would have essentially eliminated the “Chevron doctrine” in Montana. The Chevron doctrine required courts to defer to the governing government agency's interpretation of ambiguous laws, if reasonable. At the federal level, that doctrine was overturned by the Supreme Court this past summer. While well intentioned to require courts to more literally interpret statutes passed by the Legislature, HB 52 would have given courts broader authority to overturn executive agencies’ implementation of the law. This could allow courts to use the Montana Environmental Protection Act to shut down virtually any energy project. I voted against the bill, and it failed to pass the House.
Two election integrity bills that passed included one to establish that only active voters can participate in initiatives that require signature gathering, HB 179. Another requires a signature for voter registration cancellation, HB 193.
The House passed three bills to support our volunteer emergency service providers. One to protect them from employer’s terminating them while serving, HB 128. Another, HB 140, to provide property tax relief for those injured in the line of duty. A third bill, HB 129 provides a tax credit for volunteer firefighters and emergency care providers.
HB 231, the property tax bill that I previously highlighted is still in the House Taxation committee. I expect an amended version of that bill to come to the floor. I will provide updates on those changes.
Please email, text or call with any questions or feedback. I am honored to serve you and remain committed to continuing to earn your trust.
