Here’s Where Legislation Out of the Flathead Valley Stands at Transmittal 

The Montana Legislature has officially reached transmittal, the halfway point in the session by which all bills must make it through at least one chamber in order to stay alive in the legislative process. Ahead of the mid-session break, both Republicans and Democrats have touted their achievements on issues from property tax relief to public education. Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, said he is “proud to say that we have delivered for Montanans” thus far in the session. Senate Minority Leader Pat Flower, D-Belgrade, said in a statement, “Montana Democrats have advanced policies that protect freedom, fairness, and affordability.” 

Lawmakers have introduced 1,417 bills and transmitted 698 from one chamber to the next. 

The Senate will get back to work on Friday, and the House will resume its activities on Monday. Here’s how bills brought by Flathead Valley lawmakers are faring in the Legislature thus far. 

House Bill 267, known as Bobby’s Law, creates the crime of aggravated vehicular homicide while under the influence, a drunk driving homicide charge that does not currently exist in Montana. The bill was brought by Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, in memory of Bobby Dewbre, a 21-year-old Columbia Falls man who was killed by a drunk driver while crossing the street in 2023. The man who killed Dewbre received 18 months in county jail, the maximum sentence that could be awarded for one count of careless driving involving death or serious bodily injury and one count of aggravated driving under the influence. Bobby’s Law creates a mandatory minimum sentence of three years in state prison that cannot be deferred for those convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide. While the bill passed with broad bipartisan support, some warned that the mandatory minimum would curb the power of individual county attorneys to assess appropriate sentences on a case-by-case basis. House Bill 267 was co-sponsored by 12 Republicans and one Democrat from the Flathead Valley’s legislative contingent. After passing the House, it will now move to the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Senate Bill 376, a controversial right-to-work bill brought by Sen. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork, died in the Senate after multiple Republicans joined with Democrats to strike it down. Right-to-work laws guarantee that employees do not have to join unions or pay union dues as a condition of employment. More than 200 individuals signed up to testify against the bill in an initial committee hearing, including those from unions representing nurses, electrical workers, construction workers, ironworkers and industrial painters, who described the legislation as an attack on labor rights. Montana has a strong union history and has bucked efforts to adopt “right-to-work” laws in the past despite being an outlier among its peers in the Mountain West. After being tabled in committee, Noland attempted to “blast” the bill onto the Senate floor, an effort that failed. Noland said he brought the bill in part because of his father, who spent more than 40 years in a job that required him to be in a union, which he “hated every minute of.” 

Senate Bill 252, brought by Sen. Dave Fern, D-Whitefish, amends Montana’s zoning regulations to treat manufactured or factory-built homes the same as traditional homes, a move Fern said will help increase affordable housing supply and curb zoning discrimination. The bill was borne out of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s housing task force, which Fern served on. The task force in 2024 delivered 23 recommendations to Gianforte to increase Montana’s housing supply and tackle the state’s pervasive housing crisis, one of which included supporting manufactured home construction. Fern’s bill passed the Senate and is scheduled for a hearing in the House Local Government Committee on March 20. 

House Bill 388, sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier, R-Kalispell, would protect crisis pregnancy centers from potential government mandates to provide abortions or refer patients to abortion services. Crisis pregnancy centers are organizations, usually backed by religious groups, that provide pregnancy-related services and promote alternatives to abortion. Some are licensed clinics, while others operate without medical licenses. Regier, who has brought a number of abortion restrictions to the Legislature, said during a committee hearing on the bill, “Pregnancy centers should not be forced by government to promote a message with which they disagree.” A 2015 California law that required pregnancy crisis centers to provide information about abortion and disclose whether they had a medical license was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018. Regier’s bill passed the House on a party line vote and is headed to committee in the Senate. 

House Bill 509, brought by Rep. Debo Powers, D-Whitefish, seeks to expand eligibility for Montana’s Quality Educator Loan Assistance Program. Created in 2007, the Quality Educator Loan Assistance Program provides state-paid loan assistance for up to three years for newly hired teachers who teach or work at an “impacted” school. “Impacted” means a school in a rural area, on a Native American reservation, a special education cooperative, a state youth correctional facility, The Montana School for the Deaf and Blind or the Montana Youth Challenge program. Educators can receive up to $3,000 in loan repayment at the end of their first year of teaching, up to $4,000 at the end of the second year and up to $5,000 at the end of the third year. School districts have the option to offer up to $5,000 at the end of the fourth year, as well. The state sets aside $500,000 each year for the program, however there has been leftover money in the fund every year since 2019. With House Bill 509, the state would offer up leftover loan assistance funds to early-career teachers who do not work at an “impacted” school, which Powers said would help districts recruit and retain teachers, a documented struggle across Montana. 

Senate Bill 218, brought by Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, would allow individuals harmed by medical procedures used to treat gender dysphoria to sue their healthcare professional within 25 years of the injury. Medical procedures impacted by the bill include gender-transition surgeries, hormone treatment and puberty blockers. Fuller has been a staunch supporter of curbing access to medical procedures for transgender individuals, specifically minors. During the 2023 Legislature, he brought a bill to ban gender-transition medical care for minors, which drew national attention to Montana and was ultimately struck down by the Montana Supreme Court. In addition to Senate Bill 218, Fuller this session sponsored a bill creating a felony for parents, medical providers and other adults who provide or procure gender-transition treatments for minors under 16. Senate Bill 218 has seen support from conservative lobbying organizations and opposition from LGBTQ groups and medical providers who warned the legislation would discriminate against transgender people and push doctors out of the state. The bill passed the Senate with the support of all but two Republicans – Sen. Denley Loge of St. Regis and Sen. Russ Tempel of Chester. All Democrats voted in opposition. 

House Bill 288, dubbed “Fatherhood Begins at Conception” by its sponsor, Rep. Courtenay Sprunger, R-Kalispell, died in committee despite garnering nearly 30 GOP co-sponsors. The bill sought to amend Montana code to allow child support proceedings to commence before the birth of the child and permit the court to award child support from the month of the child’s conception, rather than from the time of birth. Sprunger said the bill would foster accountability and equity for families during the prenatal period while ensuring the rights of both parents. Rep. Tom Millett, R-Marion, an original co-sponsor, said in committee that while he agreed with the premise of the bill, it had “some mechanical issues that I have problem with” and wasn’t “ready for prime time.” 

[email protected]