Swallowing A Bitter Pill
by: Rep. JP Pomnichowski
On Tuesday, voters in Bozeman and Gallatin County received a mailing from the Republican Party. The oversized postcard showed a woman’s corpse, hands bound, in a plastic bag. The caption read, “Is this your neighbor?” On the reverse of the piece, my picture, name, and cell phone number were given, along with an opinion of the vote I cast against House Bill 340.
You can see the front an back of the card here and here.
I need to be absolutely clear. Every statement on that postcard is a despicable lie. This is the worst of vicious character assassination style campaigning.
In a novel approach, instead of launching this smear during the campaign, the Montana Republican Party decided to do it in the middle of the legislative session, just as the citizens are asking that we cut out the bickering and work together.
We have since learned that the same mailer went to the districts of four other Democrats. All freshmen, all having defeated Republican incumbents.
Here is the back story. (more…)
More posts by JPPomnichowski
Protecting Montana’s Heritage Requires Getting Beyond Bitter, Divisive Politics
by: Rep. Kendall Van Dyk
They say perspective is everything.
When I was elected to the state legislature last fall, I became one of its youngest members. I’ll admit it: I’m not an experienced, seasoned politician like some of the folks you find in Helena. I ran for the legislature for two reasons:
First, like my neighbors, I was sick and tired of the bitter and divisive politics of the past.
Second, I love Montana. I want Montana to continue to be the best place on earth to live, work, recreate, and raise a family.
As a novice lawmaker, I held out high hopes that if enough new folks got elected, the legislature could do both these things. But at the mid-point of my first legislative session, I do know this much: bitter and divisive politics are preventing Montanans from protecting our outdoor heritage and our unique quality of life.
There have been bright spots: I’m extremely proud to have worked with the House Republican Leader to expand the Governor’s “square deal” tax rebate to include the hundreds of thousands of Montanans who rent, rather than own, their own home. Without a meeting of the minds across the aisle in the closely divided House, the tax relief coming from the 60th Legislature would be much less.
But, make no mistake, on many of the most important issues facing Montana, partisan gridlock has brought efforts to move our state forward to a grinding halt. (more…)
More posts by KendallVanDyk
Getting Social Security Numbers Off of Conservation Licenses, Mostly
by: Rep. JP Pomnichowski
Many Montanans have been unhappy about having to give their Social Security number to get a fishing or hunting license. We’re about to change that, I’m happy to say.
Back in 1997 and ‘98 the Legislature enacted this requirement in order to stay on the right side of the requirements set forth by Congress having to do with what were called deadbeat dads. We had to start asking for SSNs to comply with the Feds on child support collections, so we did.
This has made many of us unhappy with our government, for a variety of reasons.
Since then, a few states have finagled a compromise: collect only the last 4 digits of the SSN, not the full number. Combined with a name, the last 4 digits serve the purpose of finding folks who have skipped on their child support. Not giving the entire number maintains some privacy for our citizens, and prevents ID theft.
I’m happy to announce that we’re about to get this deal in Montana.
I introduced House Bill 450, which would change state law to allow for the exemption, if we got it. HB450 passed through the House and awaits attention in the Senate. Meanwhile, the Montana Department of Health and Human Services just got the exemption from the Feds last week, so we’re very close to success.
The exemption is good only with HB450 to enact it in Montana law. Your help with convincing your Senator to support HB450 would go a long way. You can find your Senator here.
More posts by JPPomnichowski
Box Store Mayhem
by: Rep. Dave McAlpin
The advance of big-box stores in Montana has been an ongoing process watched with great interest by elected officials, community groups and citizens across the state. Numerous studies have outlined the overwhelming costs of this development to our communities in tax subsidies, infrastructure improvements, protective services, diminishing property values and the loss of a stable tax base.
Most disturbingly, we are witnessing the closing of scores of locally
owned small businesses as a result of the monopolistic tendencies of corporations like Wal-Mart. These stores come in to our communities, sell us imported products–70% of which are made in China–and then export their profits out of Montana. This process serves to choke the life out of family-owned Main Street businesses which do not operate on a level playing field with large corporations that receive millions of dollars in subsidies, avoid paying the state taxes you and I are subject to and then fail to pay for health care and decent wages.
I strongly believe that it is time for a serious discussion about how big-box development can best benefit Montana. I had hoped to have this exact discussion recently in the House Business and Labor Committee. For these reasons, I introduced HB 652, legislation encouraging Community Benefits Agreements between “Big Box” retail employers and the communities in which they propose to develop. Unfortunately, due largely to the opposition of special interests committed to developing big-box stores all over Montana without respect to the concerns of our communities, the bill was tabled in the Business and Labor Committee. (more…)
More posts by DaveMcAlpin
The New House Budget Process Is Illegitimate
by: Rep. Art Noonan
Beginning on Monday morning, the House Republican majority will begin deliberation in the Appropriations Committee on its six budget bills that fund the needs of Montana for the next two years. These six bills, which have come to be known as the “six-pack budget,” are substitutes for the traditional state funding bill, House Bill 2. It is a reckless and unnecessary approach that could easily result in bad consequences for Montana families.
Long before the 2007 Legislature opened, I had a plan for the state’s historic budget surplus. I planned to do everything possible to ensure that all children in Montana go to bed safe, well, well-fed, warm, well-educated and unafraid. This goal is both attainable and worthy. But you can imagine my sadness in finding the “six-pack” budget bills take us away from even what we’ve done in the past to reach these goals.
Why have Republicans sunk the traditional unified state funding bill which has served Montana well for 30 years? I believe the move intends to isolate unfavored parts of the budget like public education and health and human services to make it easier to send more tax give-aways to the wealthy corporations and landowners who subsidize their political agenda. It also serves to hide shifts in the tax burden from these same entities onto the backs of ordinary working families. (more…)
More posts by ArtNoonan
Older Montanans Trust Fund: Senate Debate Today
by: Sen. Carol Williams
We’re going to debate The Older Montanans Trust Fund, SB155, today on the Senate floor.
I am carrying this legislation at the request of Governor Schweitzer. He has recognized that we need long-range planning for an aging population. The Trust will help Montana prepare for the growing demand of senior services.
What does this bill do?
SB155 creates the Older Montanans Trust Fund, a savings account that will help our state prepare for the growing demand of senior services. Interest from the trust fund will be appropriated by the legislature when there is $20 million or by the year 2015.
What will it fund?
By 2015, the trust fund will expand senior services like in-home meals, home health and personal care, support for family caregivers, and transportation services for seniors. With interest from the trust, Montana can look to new innovative programs that will allow all of us to age in our homes and make our communities more livable for seniors. (more…)
More posts by CarolWilliams
Where the Money Meets the Power
by: Rep. Brady Wiseman
House Approves Monopoly Status for Northwestern Energy
Consensus seems to have been reached among legislators that it’s time to do something about the utility deregulation mess that has seen our power rates soar over the past decade.
That ’something’ is giving Northwestern Energy status as a monopoly utility, thus reversing most of the deregulation laws from 1997 and 1999. The major structural flaw in the system is that the supplier of power for Northwestern’s service area has an unfair advantage in market power, and that advantage can’t be adjusted.
That supplier of course is Pennsylvania Power and Light, which wound up owning the dams and the lion’s share of Colstrip. As of next summer, the price they charge us for electricity, through our Northwestern bills, will have more than doubled since 1999. PPL is the major opponent of the re-regulation effort.
The House handily passed HB25, which would allow Northwestern Energy to once again own electric generators and operate them as a monopoly. This activity would all be regulated by the Public Service Commission, which would set rates for the entire system from the generating plant to your house.
The supreme irony of the decade-long story of deregulation in Montana is that in order to get more competition into our electricity markets, we have to have more regulation. (more…)
More posts by Brady Wiseman
It’s Time To Deal With Global Warming
by: Rep. Betsy Hands
Anymore it is virtually impossible to pick up a newspaper and not read about global warming. The February 2 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has been the focus of much recent media attention. This report, which incorporates the efforts of 2,500 scientists from around the world and was approved by the United States and 112 other nations, confirmed beyond any reasonable doubt the existence of human-caused global warming.
We now know that sea levels will rise, precipitation patterns will change, storms and heat waves will be more intense, and global water supplies and agricultural production will be disrupted. Scientists tell us that throughout history there have been other shifts in the earth’s climate. What is different now is that human activities are causing an increasingly rapid and unprecedented buildup of heat-trapping gases, most notably carbon dioxide, prompting the planet to warm more quickly than ever before.
This is a problem of epic proportions because there are now nearly 6.6 billion people living in cities, towns, and villages across the globe who are increasingly connected and dependant on one another. (more…)
More posts by BetsyHands
Holding Back the Budget Busters
by: Rep. Dan Villa
The “New Deal” was President Roosevelt’s way of kick starting the US economy in the depths of the Great Depression. By investing in Montana communities, Montana Democrats will continue our current economic successes.
We will not, however, bust the budget to make these much needed investments. That’s why House Bill 11 (the Treasure State Endowment Program) was killed on the floor this week.
Democrats proposed an amendment which would actually save the State money and facilitate the needed projects. Unfortunately, it was killed on a partisan vote. With the sort of fiscal irresponsibility in the unamended bill, we had no choice but to say “thanks, but no thanks” to a bill which broke not only the intention of a citizen passed initiative but also the entire budget process.
Water projects in rural Montana is important and we will fund them. We will do so with smart budgeting, not by breaking the rules. When you break the rules, you break the budget. Democrats have no interest in propogating bad tax policy and even worse happenstance spending practices which only force legislators to come back in 2009 in order to cut funding for cops and clerks, pupils and patients because we were unwilling to think, and act, outside the box.
More posts by DanVilla
Restore the Funds for Indian Education for All
by: Rep. Joey Jayne
The ten American Indian Caucus members in the Montana House and Senate oppose the cuts to the Indian Education for All budget in House Bill 2. The cuts to this program have been made by the House Republicans serving on the House Appropriations subcommittee on Education.
The American Indian Caucus of the 60th Montana State Legislature represents the seven American Indian reservations and the Little Shell Nation of Montana.
We encourage the reinstatement of nearly $15 million dollars that has been cut from HB2 so that all of Montana’s children can have a quality education. As Montana’s Indian reservations work toward economic and social development it is clearly understood that education is the centerpiece for those initiatives. We stand in solidarity with our schools and the educational groups that promote the advancement of education in our state.
More posts by JoeyJayne