HELENA – Montana senators are advancing proposals to require special elections to fill vacant U.S. senatorial seats.
State senators easily passed Senate Bill 169 last month and on Saturday passed a “backup” referendum, Senate Bill 279, 38-8 on second reading.
The move comes one year after Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock appointed former Lt. Gov. John Walsh to fill a U.S. Senate seat vacated by retired Democrat Max Baucus.
Democratic Sen. Bradley Hamlett of Cascade brought the nearly identical proposals to require a special election 85-100 days after a U.S. Senate seat is vacated, which is already required if Montana’s U.S. House of Representatives seat is vacated.
Hamlett’s latest proposal would put the change on November 2016 ballots. He calls the referendum a “backup” to his first proposal, which he worries may be lost in the House.