“Smile everybody, we’re running the place.”
That was Rep. Bob Keenan, R-Bigfork, greeting his GOP caucus in November as lawmakers convened in Helena to determine legislative leadership roles and committee assignments. With 102 Republicans holding seats in the state house, Keenan’s opening remarks were a nod to the historic GOP dominance that emerged after the general election, and which will tip the scales on nearly every ounce of policymaking after the 68th Montana Legislature kicks off Jan. 2.
Still, even as they enter the session with $2 billion in state surplus funds, not every lawmaker will be smiling throughout its entire 90 days, regardless of political affiliation. That’s because much of the session will be dominated by a raft of pressing policy negotiations, including making investments in state mental health and correctional facilities, providing property tax relief on primary residences, leveraging the state’s water and sewer infrastructure fund to promote new housing development, and providing child tax credits to families with children under the age of 6.
For Democrats, their minority status means spreading their ranks thin to cover more than a dozen standing committee assignments in each chamber while having their legislative wish lists upstaged by Republican powerbrokers.
“There’s only 32 Democrats in the House, so they’re going to be really busy serving on a lot of committees,” Rep. Dave Fern, R-Whitefish, said. “But you’re still going to see Democrats fighting for their slice of the pie on shared priorities, including the labor shortage and a lack of workforce housing and looking into the future of Medicaid reimbursements.”
For Courtenay Sprunger, a freshman Republican representative from Kalispell’s House District 7, her focus will be on scaling a steep learning curve while prioritizing the expectations of her constituents.
“It’s drinking from a firehose in its purest form,” Sprunger said as she prepared to head to Helena. “There’s a huge amount of training, from trying to find the bathrooms to building relationships. Folks from HD7 and across Montana are experiencing the effects of inflation, so tax relief is going to influence a lot of the policymaking.”
Bolstering the state prison system while also prioritizing a more efficient detention center in Flathead County is also front of mind for Sprunger, who framed it as an example of how efficiencies at the state level can help provide relief to the local community.
“The beauty of our system is that everyone has a voice in the legislature, and so my first goal is to make sure my constituents’ needs and concerns are being represented. Through building relationships and finding points of commonality, I will work with anybody and everybody to make sure that our communities are safer and healthier places.”
Rep. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, will serve as house speaker this session, stepping into the key leadership position with hopes of coalescing a splintered Republican party.
Meanwhile, Democrats are already taking aim at anti-LGBTQ bills introduced by members of the GOP’s conservative wing, including a measure to prohibit transgender surgery on minors proposed by Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, and another that would prohibit minors from attending drag shows, which was introduced by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls.
“The Republicans have made it crystal clear that their central priority is not drafting substantive policy solutions for Montana, but instead, drafting an extremist slate of hateful bills,” Sheila Hogan, executive director of the Montana Democratic Party, said in a prepared statement. “These are not Montana values, and make no mistake, Montanans from every corner of the state are gearing up to fight back.”