Over on the blog of UM’s Community News Service (of which I am an alumni), intrepid legislative reporters Alison Smith and Molly Priddy note which lawmakers carried the most bills this session and who carried the fewest. Both categories feature Flathead lawmakers. Polson Republican Sen. John Brueggeman takes the prize for carrying the most bills this session, tying Helena Democratic Rep. Jill Cohenour with 31. That’s a LOT of legislation.
And the fewest bills? That prize goes to Kalispell freshman Republican Rep. Keith Regier, who carried zero bills, along with Rep. Roy Hollandsworth, R-Brady.
“It’s a lot of plates to keep spinning at once, to say the least,” said Brueggeman, who has one Senate session to serve under the state’s term limits law. It takes so much work that Brueggeman employed an intern to help him keep everything in line.