The 2015 Montana legislative session will be the most important session since I was elected to the Montana House in 1999. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes’ water compact, the impact of government controlled health care, pensions deficits, the lowest wages in the nation, high cost of energy and skyrocketing taxes are just a few of the issues that need immediate attention. Fortunately, Bob Keenan, former president of the Montana Senate is running for the District 5 senate seat that I must vacate due to term limits. Bob is one of the best financial minds to ever serve in the Montana Legislature.

This letter is focusing on the Republican and Democratic responses on just two major issues facing America: (1) The reform of America’s health insurance and health care system. (2) Actions necessary for clean and healthy air in response to climate change.

On health care: 40 years ago Nixon sent a special message to Congress proposing a Comprehensive Health Insurance Plan. Every president since Nixon has brought up this subject for debate and with suggestions for change. Revising America’s health insurance and health care system has been discussed in every administration ever since early in the 20th century, actually.

Technology plays a large role in many aspects of day-to-day life, and education is no different. Technology is rapidly changing the way students learn and how instructors teach. Computers have replaced chalkboards as the go-to tool in classrooms today. Technology is part of education for children of all ages and it’s also a part of their daily lives. Social media and Internet access have changed the way educators teach, how students learn and the way parents, teacher and students communicate.

Like spring planting, new elections are here. A lot of people are simply fed up with political nonsense. Politicians aren’t often focused on practical or simple policies to better the everyday lives of people.

Gridlock is the politician’s tool to effectively protect those fortunate enough to currently benefit from status quo laws and policies. Ugliness in political campaigns assures that fewer people pay attention and more or better candidates stay off the ballot. Less voter focus on policy benefits select interests.

Sometimes you choose your market, and sometimes it chooses you. Today, we get a little of both.

A discussion with some software business owners prompted this piece, but you should stick around even if you aren’t in the software business – because these problems are universal no matter what business you’re in.

Last week, Tom Lutey of the Billings Gazette reported on an upcoming whistle-stop tour featuring the governor where he would announce a $45 million aid package for eastern Montana towns affected by the Bakken oil boom. The story was straightforward, explaining how Gov. Steve Bullock had previously vetoed legislation that would have delivered similar funds following the last legislative session. Lutey also interviewed lawmakers in the region who suggested, “people were putting pressure on” the governor to help.

Apparently Cliven Bundy didn’t like the changes that time was bringing to his piece of Nevada, so he decided to resist some of those changes. Specifically, he objected to the federal government telling him what he could and couldn’t do as regards to running cattle on the public lands where his family was accustomed to grazing their herds and earning their living. He refused to pay for that privilege, or to observe the restrictions that those charged with the stewardship of “his” public lands, felt necessary and appropriate.

When taken to court over the issues involved, he lost, more than once. He did not, however, remove his cattle from the land, or pay the fees and fines as determined by the courts involved.

Every two years we hear the same hysterical protests from liberal Republican legislators, when their voting records are exposed by our “Taxpayer Advisory Bulletin” ratings. Florida resident Jesse O’Hara’s guest column in the Flathead Beacon was a perfect example.

O’Hara called the ratings “concocted.” I’d like to know how one “concocts” 75 officially recorded votes from the House and Senate floors. These votes show that in every session, there is a solid block of Republicans, including O’Hara, who consistently side with the Democrats – creating a working majority for the Dems that makes it almost impossible to pass any mainstream Republican legislation (school choice, tax cuts, etc.).

The recently passed Farm Bill provided an opportunity for states to assist the Forest Service in getting much needed work done on federal land. States had 60 days to designate appropriate lands to the agency. Our governor, Steve Bullock, did a wonderful job reallocating resources to meet this timeline. Bullock enlisted help from his staff, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, the Forest Service and an ad-hoc group of stakeholders. The lands designated were based on hard data collected annually by the Forest Service and match their analysis of current conditions.

On April 8, news hit that Gov. Steve Bullock nominated 5.1 million acres of Montana’s national forests for “expedited forest management,” including logging under a new program included in the long-bickered-over Farm Bill. The Montana Wood Products Association said happy things, in stereo with bipartisan praise from all three of Montana’s Congresscritters, while the usual Green litigants snarled and moaned.

Handsprings and cartwheels, right? Um, not yet.

Before you know it, the long winter will be a forgotten memory – except for the powder days. As it finally warms up for good (whatever that means this year), school will be out and tourists will be inbound for another summer.

It’s almost tourist season. Are you ready?

Is your facility ready? I’m sure you have a checklist for that, so I won’t go there.

Instead, let’s discuss some steps to help you make tourist season better than expected:

If we are serious about tackling climate change, then the solution may be found in building the city of tomorrow to look more like the city of yesterday. As glass and steel towers continue to rise, wood skyscrapers are likely to start sprouting alongside. Multi-story and high-rise wood buildings are already planned or rising in Europe and Canada. They are architecturally distinct, and they are made of the original green building material.

When the president signed the 2014 Farm Bill in February, he directed his administration, working through the White House Rural Council, to lead a new “Made in Rural America” export and investment initiative. This initiative is charged with uniting federal resources to aid rural businesses and leaders to take advantage of new investment opportunities and access new customers and markets.

It is sad to see that campaign signs have again started to litter our roadsides. The campaign rules state that campaign signs cannot be displayed in zoned areas more than 30 days before the mailing of absentee ballots for any election. Therefore, campaign signs should not appear in zoned areas before May 5 for the upcoming primary. There are no regulations or guidelines for un-zoned areas of the county. We who live in the county have to suffer the campaign litter endlessly in many cases. Ryan Zinke’s campaign signs appeared on our county roadsides about the middle of March, and who knows when they will be removed.

I am writing about the pro-life and pro Second Amendment stance of the current Republican candidates for the U.S. House seat. Matt Rosendale, Elsie Arntzen, Corey Stapleton and Ryan Zinke are pro-life and pro Second Amendment, all support defunding Planned Parenthood with federal dollars and believe that life should be protected. Ryan Zinke is the only one of the four who actually carried and presented a pro-life bill for Right to Life of Montana, the Unborn Victims of Homicide bill, which is now law in Montana.

The real problem with the failure to pass the North Fork Watershed Protection Act is how it happened. Others can argue over the merits of the legislation, but let’s take a look at how the sausage was made. Or, in this case, not made.

Both Montana Sen. John Walsh and Rep. Steve Daines, who is challenging Walsh in the forthcoming U.S. Senate election, appeared eager to pass this bill and lay claim to protecting an area that conservation groups and energy companies alike agree should be off limits to new mineral development. To be clear, this is a rather noncontroversial bill. In a letter, ConocoPhillips’ vice president expressed support for the added protections.