HELENA — Montana lawmakers and legislative employees would be prohibited from subjecting someone to discrimination, harassment and retaliation for any reason under a policy that passed the Senate on Thursday.
The policy, developed over 18 months amid sexual misconduct complaints made against lawmakers across the country as well as other powerful men as part of the #MeToo movement, creates a confidential process to report and investigate complaints.
The Senate voted 27-19 Thursday in favor of a package of rules that included the policy. The state House still must approve the joint rules.
Sen. Fred Thomas, R-Hamilton, successfully proposed removing specific references to 18 different categories under which people could face discrimination, harassment or retaliation, including sexual orientation and gender identity.
Democrats on the Senate Rules Committee said Monday they were concerned those categories in particular could be excluded from the policy as a result of the change, but Thomas insisted they would still be covered.
“The reason that we’re proposing to strike this specific language is an attempt to broaden the policy, making it against our policy here to discriminate, harass or retaliate in any sense,” Thomas said.
The committee also approved an amendment that removes suspected offenders from being subject to the policy if they are lobbyists, journalists or members of the public. He argued complaints against those who aren’t employed by the legislature should be filed with the Montana Human Rights Commission.
Democrats objected to that change as well, including one of the original authors of the policy, Sen. J.P. Pomnichowski, D-Bozeman.
“This policy was very carefully crafted … and our goal was to set out the expectations of the legislature as a fair workplace where everyone be heard, where we would have no harassment, no discrimination and where we would set the expectations,” she said.
The changes passed the committee on a party-line vote.
Indiana’s Legislature on Thursday gave final approval to a policy prohibiting sexual harassment.