Montana Legislature

After Roe v. Wade was struck down, abortion remains legal in Montana. But providers are defending against threats from lawmakers and possibly violent extremists.

Montana lawmakers spent about seven hours on the House Floor Wednesday debating the state’s two-year spending plan before passing a proposed budget along party lines. Here's a breakdown of where money is and isn’t going.

Montana lawmakers are showing their appetite for a bill aimed at helping food pantries buy goods from local farmers and ranchers. The program could provide a windfall for small producers in search of new markets.

Friday was the official halfway point of Montana’s 68th legislative session. Lawmakers pulled several marathon floor sessions last week to pass bills through the House or the Senate before a procedural deadline.

Twenty high-growth companies, representing hundreds of jobs and average wages close to $100,000, have signed a statement urging lawmakers not to pass legislation that would interfere with access to reproductive healthcare.

A study commissioned by the last legislative session found that Medicaid providers in Montana were being reimbursed at rates much lower than the cost of care. In his two-year state budget proposal before lawmakers, Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte has proposed increases to the provider rates that fall short of the study’s recommendations.

A proposal before the Montana state Legislature would call for lawmakers to study electricity reserves and past service interruptions in order to find ways to avoid controlled outages in the case of an emergency.

One of the largest mental health providers in Montana is suspending operation of 31 of its crisis beds — two-thirds of its total number of beds.

Republican lawmakers in Montana wield a supermajority that gives them the power to ask voters to approve a constitutional amendment that would break the link between abortion rights and the right to privacy in the state’s constitution. But so far, they haven’t sought to ask voters to make the change.

Montana’s commission in charge of drawing new political districts has adopted final maps that will be in place for the next decade. Democrats’ map won on a tie-breaking vote.