March 31-April 4, 2025

Cheerful colors not helping; Regents impress; HB 2 withstands torrent of amendments; Infrastructure Week; Practical applications of math

On the Easter egg-colored official legislative calendar, days in avocado green are breaks, days in sherbet orange are request deadlines, days in pastel pink are introduction deadlines, and days in lilac lavender are transmittal deadlines. As Week 12 of the 69th Legislative Session teeters on the brink, lilac lavender dominates the calendar, beginning with today’s transmittal deadline for revenue bills, bills proposing referenda, and joint resolutions and Monday’s transmittal deadline for appropriation bills. Legislators and staff are racking up long hours under the dome and there’s a lot of talking, sighing, swearing, yelling, crying, and drinking. And that's just the staff.

Amidst the fray, Board of Regents confirmation resolutions and MUS fiscal and infrastructure priorities remain healthy, intact, and nearing or having crossed the finish line.

Regents Close in on Confirmation

SR 69, SR 70, SR 71
On Tuesday the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee unanimously adopted all three Senate resolutions proposing confirmation of Regents Dean Folkvord, Heather Hoyer, and Raina Mortenson. The Governor's office and OPI lent their support and Committee members asked the Regents questions that allowed them to expand on their backgrounds, qualifications, and interests. The hearing was overwhelmingly positive and the Committee took executive action immediately. In his closing, Senator John Fuller (R-Kalispell), Chair of the Committee and sponsor of the resolutions, said the hearing provided evidence that Regents Folkvord, Hoyer, and Mortenson are “community minded individuals dedicating their time and effort to help improve the public education system from K through 20.” The resolutions move next to the Senate floor where they have not yet been scheduled for 2nd Reading.

MUS Priorities

HB 13 - State employee pay plan
Last week Governor Gianforte signed HB 13, the state employee pay plan. The bill had a relatively easy journey through the many hoops a proposal must leap before landing in the east wing of the second floor. It has had bipartisan support and state employees received numerous shout-outs from both sides of the aisle (a welcome departure from some years previous when state employees were a popular target for vitriol and unfounded accusations of indolence). The pay plan becomes effective on July 1.

HB 13:

  • increases employees’ base salary by $1.00 an hour or 2.5%, whichever is greater, each year of the biennium;
  • increases meal reimbursement to 70% of the standard federal rate of reimbursement; and
  • increases the employer contribution for group benefits by $26 per month beginning July 2025 and by $27 per month beginning July 2027.

HB 2 - General Appropriations Act
The General Appropriations Act cleared 2nd Reading in the House on a 60-40 vote. Of the dozens of amendments offered, including a couple to remove restricted appropriations to OCHE for 1-2-Free programs, only six garnered enough votes to be tacked on the $16.6 billion funding bill. In the end the House made no changes on the floor to the OCHE/MUS portion of the state budget. HB 2 has not yet been scheduled for 3rd Reading but is likely to land in Senate Finance and Claims for hearings by mid-month.

HB 5 - Long-range building appropriations and HB 10 - Long-range information technology appropriations
The Senate Finance and Claims Committee hears HB 5 on Monday, April 7. The committee will review the MUS-requested capital development projects, major repair projects, and authority-only projects as they came over from the House, with all projects and authorizations having been approved and a couple authority-only projects added.

Finance and Claims heard HB 10 last week and has not yet acted on the bill. HB 10 appropriates funds for information technology infrastructure projects, including just over $5 million to OCHE for CyberMontana (Security Operations Center, Workforce Training Programs, Cyber Policy Clinic), Security Information and Event Management (SIEM), and Enterprise Resource Planning and System Replacement (a combined appropriation for Miles Community College, Dawson Community College, and Flathead Valley Community College).

Still in the Game

HB 284 - Establish an interim committee to investigate civil rights violations and censorship within the MUS
HB 284, creating a "Montana University System Investigation Committee” to “investigate civil rights violations and acts of censorship by the Montana University System”, continues to wend its way through the process. The Senate Judiciary Committee concurred in the bill on Thursday. As it will be debated on the Senate floor, the Investigation Committee would consist of eight members, split evenly by chamber and party, with a $23,000 appropriation to fund its operations and the three meetings it is allowed. If the appropriation is removed or vetoed, the act is void. The bill has not yet been scheduled for 2nd Reading.

HB 300 - Generally revise laws related to discrimination in education
The Governor signed HB 300, sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe (R-Billings) on March 27. With no other effective date specified, on October 1, 2025, the law will provide that it is an unlawful discriminatory practice "for an educational institution that operates, sponsors, or facilitates athletic programs or activities to permit a person whose sex is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for females.” It will also be considered an unlawful discriminatory practice for an educational institution to “fail to provide an individual access to a restroom, locker room, shower area, or sleeping quarter that is not accessible by a person of the opposite sex while in use by the individual.”

HB 400 - Enact the "Free to Speak" act
HB 400, sponsored by Rep. Braxton Mitchell (R-Columbia Falls), would apply to all public school students and staff, including those at postsecondary institutions. The bill provides that a student or employee may not be disciplined and the state may not take an adverse action against a student or employee for declining to:

  • identify a person's pronouns; or
  • address a person by using a name other than the person's legal name or a derivative of the person's legal name or by using a pronoun or a title that is inconsistent with the person's sex.  

In its hearings and in the House floor debate, what proponents of the bill call protection against compelled speech, opponents call sanctioned bullying. Senate Judiciary concurred in the bill on a party-line vote and it awaits 2nd Reading scheduling on the Senate floor.

HB 499 - Extend the grow your own grant program
Rep. Thedis Crowe (D-Browning) introduced HB 499 in February and on Thursday the bill passed 2nd Reading on the House Floor. The bill would extend the Grow Your Own grant program administered by OCHE another two years, moving the program’s termination date from 2027 to 2029, as well as provide that postsecondary institutions are eligible for grants. A $500,000 appropriation from the general fund to OCHE is attached to this proposal, with the intention that the amount be considered part of the ongoing OCHE base budget. The bill will likely be on Saturday's 3rd Reading agenda.

HB 553 - Generally revise military higher education act
The Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee will hear HB 553, sponsored by Rep. George Nikolakakos (R-Great Falls), on Tuesday, April 8. The bill seeks to require faculty of an institution of higher education under the jurisdiction of the BOR to give a student who is a member of a reserve component of the U.S. Armed Forces or the Montana National Guard at least 15 business days to make up a missed assignment, exam, midterm, or final if the student misses the work because of inactive duty training or annual training. The House amended the bill to require the student to provide notice to the faculty prior to the absence.

HB 663 - Revise education laws related to diversity, equity, and inclusion
HB 663 is also on the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee’s April 8 agenda. Sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe (R-Billings), the bill would prohibit consideration of race, color, ethnicity, or national origin by institutions of higher education in hiring, admissions, participation, benefits, scholarships, and financial aid. It creates a private cause of action and compensatory damages, punitive damages, statutory damages, and injunctive and declaratory relief. The House amended the bill to strike language prohibiting an institution from revealing to admissions or financial aid officers data concerning the race, color, national origin, or ethnicity of any applicant or student before admissions and financial aid, scholarship, and funding decisions are finally made.

Disclaimer

As was the case before the lilac lavender general bill transmittal deadline all the way back in mid-March, pieces are moving quickly, floor sessions stretch into the evenings, committees are scheduled at the last minute, and information contained herein is likely already inaccurate.

Time Served

Legislative Day: 67
Percent complete: 74.44%

  • If this was a marathon, you’d be at mile 19.49.
  • If you were going to the moon, Earth would be 177,837 miles in the rearview mirror.
  • If you were climbing Mount Everest, you’d be just above Camp 2 (not the death zone but air is thin).
  • If you were driving across Montana from west to east, you’d be rolling into Forsyth for a slice at Six Gun Pizza.