February 10-14, 2025

*Special Valentine's Day Edition*

Where is the love?; money measures poised to leave nest; no ship like censorship; I'm speaking; NIL bill summits hill; keeping grow your own going.

The word “love” appears but once in the Montana Code Annotated, of all places in insurance code. Section 33-15-201, MCA, defines “insurable interest” as a “substantial interest engendered by love and affection.” A bill drafter one day must have been feeling fanciful. One might say there is no love in the Montana Code Annotated. And one might wonder, other than freshman Representative Kathy Love (R-Hamilton), if any exists in the 69th Legislative Session. Despite everything from abject rancor to thinly veneered tolerance persisting on numerous policy and procedural fronts, newly introduced bills continue to pop up like the giant red floral bouquets on members’ desks and the Branch appears to be keeping the lights on at the end of Week 6.

Decision Day

Over 4300 bills and requests might suggest differently, but passing a balanced budget is the only act the Legislature is constitutionally required to complete. The various Joint Appropriations Subcommittees poring over their respective areas of HB 2 are making decisions on agency budgets this week and next, including the Joint Subcommittee on Section E, which is responsible for making recommendations on the OCHE/MUS appropriations, along with the budgets of other entities like the Office of Public Instruction, the Montana State Library, the Board of Public Education, and the Montana Historical Society.

Wednesday, February 19, is the Section E Subcommittee’s decision day for OCHE’s budget and the Section F Subcommittee’s scheduled action on HB 5 and HB 10. The MUS’s HB 5 project descriptions are posted on OCHE's rarely visited but extremely engaging  Government Relations and Communications webpage.

Once pushed from the nest by their Subcommittees, these bills will all draw several more sets of eyes, additional  scrutiny, and continuing discussion at their next round of hearings, likely to begin at the end of February.

Since We Last Met

HB 13 – State employee pay plan
The Senate Finance and Claims Committee will be next to hear HB 13, sponsored by Rep. John Fitzpatrick (R-Anaconda), the current version of which is substantially the same as the introduced version despite repeated efforts to remove the legislator pay portion of the bill. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.

HB 121 – Require privacy in certain restrooms, changing rooms, and sleeping quarters
HB 121 has returned from Enrolling, one of the last steps before landing on the Governor’s desk. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crow (R-Billings) will become effective immediately upon the signature of the Governor.

HB 153 – Revise laws related to school funding interim commission
HB 153 continues its unopposed run since being dusted off and amended in the House Education Committee. The bill has been transmitted to the Senate after its 3rd Reading House vote of 94-0. If HB 153 is enacted in its current version, the commission conducting the decennial study will include representation from the Board of Regents and create as part of the study an "innovation and excellence in education working group to develop recommendations, objectives, and an implementation plan ... to improve the basic system of free, quality, public elementary and secondary schools.”

HB 282 – Revise laws related to tuition waiver for American Indian students
Rep. Tyson Running Wolf (D-Browning) seeks to revise the American Indian student tuition and fee waiver statute (Section 20-25-421, MCA) to include persons who are “descendants of a federally recognized Indian tribe” located in Montana. It would require that in order for a descendant to be eligible, a certification process must be adopted by the tribe and a copy of the certificate provided to the MUS.

The House Education Committee will hear the proposal on Wednesday, February 19.

HB 284 - Establish an interim committee to investigate civil rights violations and censorship within the MUS
On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee heard HB 284, sponsored by Rep. Caleb Hinkle (R-Belgrade). The 12 proponents, most of them current and former students and some of whom identified with an organization called Young Americans for Liberty, discussed experiences on campus that they believed had violated their civil rights or that they considered to be unlawful censorship and unfair treatment. The bill proposes to create an interim committee to investigate those types of claims from MUS students. The committee would “gather testimony on the record from Montana students on any civil rights violations or acts of censorship that the students have experienced or witnessed at Montana public universities and colleges and make findings and recommendations for state and federal officials.” No opponents and no informational witnesses testified.

As it is written, committee membership would consist of six legislators, one from each house being from the minority party. During questioning, the sponsor indicated he may consider an amendment to give each political party equal representation.

HB 284 seeks an appropriation of $13,500 from the state general fund for expenses and includes a Contingent Voidness clause which provides that if the funding is not appropriated, the bill is void.

The Committee will vote on HB 284 next week.

HB 300 - Generally revise laws related to discrimination in education
HB 300, sponsored by Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crow (R-Billings), would make it an unlawful discriminatory practice "for an educational institution to allow a male person to participate in athletic programs designated for female persons.” It would also be considered an unlawful discriminatory practice for an educational institution to “fail to provide a person with access to a restroom, locker room, shower area, or sleeping quarter that is inaccessible by a person of the opposite sex while in use.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hear HB 300 on Thursday, February 20.

HB 400 – Enact the "Free to Speak" act
Rep. Braxton Mitchell’s (R-Columbia Falls) HB 400 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.  

The House Judiciary Committee heard the bill Friday. The sponsor called the bill a “common sense, pro-First Amendment bill which supports free speech protections for students and public school employees.” He added it will prevent students and staff from being coerced into using language that “contradicts their beliefs or biological reality.”

Opponents argued the bill would erode safe learning environments which are key to student success and limit schools’ ability to prevent bullying and harassment.

The Committee will act on HB 400 next week.

SB 271 - Remove prohibition on certain compensation for collegiate student-athlete's name/image/likeness
Sen. Ellie Boldman (D-Missoula) introduced SB 271 to remove the prohibition on a postsecondary institution or athletic association, conference, or organization with authority over intercollegiate sports from providing a prospective or current student athlete compensation for use of the athlete's name, image, or likeness. Sen. Boldman brought the bill in the wake of the 2024 House v. NCAA Settlement. At Tuesday’s hearing before the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee, representatives from MSU and UM testified that the bill would allow university staff to provide better guidance to student athletes on the sometimes-complicated contractual NIL arrangements they enter into with third parties.

On Thursday, the Committee voted 10-4 to send the bill to the full Senate for consideration.

New on the Scene

HB 499 – Extend the grow your own grant program
Rep. Thedis Crowe (D-Browning) introduced HB 499 on Thursday. 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.

HB 499 was referred to the House Education Committee, which has not yet set a hearing date.

Time Served

Legislative Day: 30
Percent Complete: 33.33%