In 2021, over 130,000 Montanans (11.9%) and over 35,000 Montana kids (16.0%) lived below the poverty line. Poverty creates many other problems. I introduced legislation for a child tax credit which is proven to reduce childhood poverty, legislation to assure that kids do not lose their health care coverage on technicalities, and legislation to greatly expand Montana’s mental health network.

The 2019 Montana legislature did wonderful work by expanding medicaid to cover 90,000 Montanans. This is under threat, as the Republican administration has taken health care from thousands of families on technical grounds. Democrats have managed to ward off attempts to end or reduce medicaid coverage and we must continue to fight for medical care for all.

Economic justice also demands better protection for renters and decent wages. Montana’s landlord-tenant act is skewed towards landlords and new state law prohibits local governments from remedying those inequities.