Hansen: Legislature quieter this year

The Montana Legislative session has been less contentious than the last two sessions, State Sen. Kris Hansen said Sunday night.

But Gov. Steve Bullock's Medicaid expansion program will be coming before committee this week, and that could bring out some sharp differences with Democrats, she said.

Hansen, R-Havre, spoke to the audience at the Hill and Blaine County Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner.

She and Rep. G. Bruce Meyers addressed the party faithful after they heard from Sen. Steve Daines and Attorney General Tim Fox.

She said that in her first two session in Helena the newspaper headlines were saying "Republicans are doing all kinds of crazy things."

This session, she added, her party has submitted packages of bills that will affect people's lives, but don't go as far as many members would like.

"We're improving things by chipping around the edges," she said.

The newcomers who came in office with her in 2011 came in optimistic, hoping to pass major changes only to be thwarted by gubernatorial vetoes from Gov. Steve Bullock and his predecessor, Brian Schweitzer, both Democrats, she said.

This year, their optimism is tempered.

"So, what I'm saying is elect a Republican governor," she said to her fellow Republicans. "Please elect a Republican governor."

Bullock is up for re-election in 2016.

"We can put in some very good policies for the state of Montana," Hansen said.

She said the GOP is introducing several bills that will solve many health care issues such as insurance reform tort reform and numerous others.

"But people don't think we are doing anything because we don't have a cute title," she said.

G. Bruce Meyers

Box Elder freshman Rep. G. Bruce Meyers said he is becoming more aware as he goes through the session how much laws the Legislature passes can affect people's lives.

For instance, he said the House has passed legislation removing the name half-breeds from the state maps at the request of the Little Shell Tribe of the Chippewa Indians.

He drew laughter from the the crowd when he said he had mixed opinions on the bill.

As one-quarter German and three-quarters Chippewa Cree, "when I was young, I could play cowboys and Indians all by myself."

He is proposing legislation that would place records of all state assistance to tribes on a website so tribal members can see where the money is going to. He said he had talked to Daines, who was interested in looking at a similar effort in Washington.

Meyers said Republicans stood "shoulder to shoulder" in opposition to same-sex marriage, and will soon be facing "very heavy issues," such as assisted suicide.

He spoke against Bullock's proposed Early Edge program that would provide pre-kindergarten to every student in the state. That was an attempt to "create robots out of our children."

He said this week, he opposed a Democratic plan to study the possibility of passenger rail service in southern Montana, saying he favored improving rail service on the Hi-Line first.