THE 2023 LEGISLATIVE SESSION: MY RECORD
My Committee Work
I served on 4 committees this session: the Special Select Committee on Election Integrity (as the lone Democrat from the House); State Administration & Veteran Affairs; Health & Human Services; and Legislative Administration (as vice-chair). I was previously chair of the Children, Families, Health & Human Services Interim committee. In the prior session, I served on the Judiciary committee. I currently serve on the State Administration & Veteran Affairs Interim committee.
As a member of the Democratic super-minority, much of my work was focused on stopping harmful legislation. I had some success doing so, especially around elections, where I helped defeat several efforts by those who seek to spread election misinformation and who would change election laws to make it harder to vote.
Bills I Sponsored
I sponsored 33 bills this past session, the most of any Democrat legislator, and co-sponsored many others. Though most were killed on party line votes, several (e.g., HB17), were nevertheless placed directly into the budget, so the bills effectively succeeded. Many of my bills which did not pass raised important issues that need to be raised again, and will have a better chance this coming session in an expected friendlier environment.
| HB# | Bill Description |
|---|---|
| 17 | Expanding Mental health access by creating Certified Community Mental Health Centers. The bill passed in committee and on the House floor, but the Appropriations committee chose to roll it into the larger budget. Most important, the bill's policy will be implemented. |
| 230 & 850 | Protecting children under 6 on medicaid and CHIP from losing coverage on technical grounds. These bills failed by one vote. They would have prevented the current administration's disaster where about half of Montana's eligible children have lost their health care coverage. |
| 249 | Child tax credit to reduce child poverty. |
| 253 | Reducing property taxes for those living in their home, shifting the burden back to large corporations and mines, and to owners of second homes and short term rentals. Had this bill passed, much of the recent large increases in property taxes would have been avoided. |
| 354 | Allowing cancer centers to require vaccines for those participating when deemed appropriate by the medical standard of care. |
| 877 | Requiring Montana to collect data on childhood vaccinations, as all other 49 states do, to be used by public health officials in the case of an outbreak of a childhood disease. |
| 413 | Returning authority to local governments to control local pollution, especially plastics, directly or by referendum. Bozeman and Missoula sought such authority, which had been stripped from them in the previous legislative session. |
| 431 | Addressing the climate crisis by requiring power plants which produce extremely high carbon intensity to reduce their carbon output in order to be licensed. |
| 441 & 442 | Providing for accountability of private schools receiving public tax money equal to the accountability required of public schools. |
| 471 | Provide same religious rights to those who support abortion rights as are granted to those who oppose abortion rights. |
| 202 | Sensible gun safety by allowing law enforcement to ask a judge to temporary remove a firearm from someone who is planning to use it to hurt themselves or others, while protecting the rights of gun owners. Republicans did not allow debate on the bill. |
| 507 & 910 | Providing medicaid coverage for medical respite care for homeless people, saving money by providing respite care rather than hospital care where appropriate. Although these bills failed by one vote, the directive to implement them were nevertheless included in the budget. |
| 532 | Requiring the Attorney General to be accountable to the public before bringing law suits on behalf of Montana in other states in order to advance culture war issues. The bill would also have helped stem the wasteful spennding at exhorbitant rates on politically frinedly law firms to defend against the many unconstitutional bills passed by the Republican legislature. |
| 893 | Improving the public's access to public records by creating an ombudsman to intervene when the government denies or stalls in producing public records. |
| 563 | Prohibiting militias from acting as law enforcement without authority to do so. |
| 564 | Prohibiting interference with government functions such as occurred on January 6. |
| 644 | Providing for immunity for health care workers from criminal prosecution when acting within the standard of care of their profession. The bill would have addressed the shortage of health care workers by making Montana a better place for them to work. |
| 646 & 909 | Providing for the continuation of the Housing Stability Program for housing challenged individuals, to be covered for by Medicaid. This program helped thousands of housing challenged individuals find housing during the pandemic and cost almost nothing, but was disbanded by the administration when the pandemic was officially over. |
| 701 | Requiring recusal of any legislator who has a substantial direct financial interest in the matter being considered. |
| 756 | Expanding and automating voter registration. |
| 851 | Establishing a driving privilege card for legal immigrants who do not yet qualify for a driver license. These folks are working in our communities and their kids are in school, but they are currently not permitted to drive legally, creating issues for them and law enforcement. |
Other bills and on the House Floor
Apart from the bills I introduced, I co-sponsored many bills brought by other legislators. I also worked to support or defeat bills on the House floor. My work was frequently reported upon in the press and I wrote several op-eds, a few of which can be accessed here. A few examples of my advocacy on the Floor during the 2021 session can be found here.