Montana Legislature midpoint: What's alive, what's dead

HELENA (AP) — A bill signed by Gov. Steve Bullock that increases basic entitlement funding for schools by $54 million highlights progress made by the Montana Legislature at the halfway mark of its 90-day session.

Other major bills that are advancing include a proposed water compact on the Flathead Reservation and legislation that would require more transparency in reporting campaign donations.

Medicaid expansion remains up in the air, Republicans have made numerous cuts to Bullock's budget proposal, and the governor's infrastructure bill has been chopped into many smaller pieces.

Republican Senate President Debby Barrett said she is pleased with Senate accomplishments so far, with more than 70 bills being passed unanimously. "Bipartisanship is alive and well in the Senate," Barrett said. "We've got more work to do but we have a good start."

Bullock, who has signed about 70 bills, said most of them just clean up existing law.

Two Republican proposals to cut income taxes have passed from the Senate and the House. A spokesman for Bullock has said he would likely veto a third bill that calls for a 0.2 percent cut in all income tax brackets. Senate Minority Leader Jon Sesso said sending that bill to the governor's desk before a revenue estimate is agreed upon would bring a "real hard dose of reality" to the budget conversation.

Lawmakers from both parties unanimously supported three Republican measures to strengthen mental health care facilities. Many bills tackling issues from drug testing for welfare to suicide prevention training have passed through one chamber. It remains to be seen if they will make it to the governor's desk.

Here's a look at other bills that remain in play or may not pass.

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STILL ALIVE

FIREARMS: The House passed a proposal to prohibit enforcement of any new federal gun laws in Montana. The Senate endorsed a bill that would allow people to carry concealed weapons on college campuses and another allowing silencers to be used for hunting. (SB 143, SB 295)

BULLYING: A proposal that would require school districts to adopt anti-bullying rules passed the House. Montana is the only state without such a law. (HB 284)

SUICIDE PREVENTION: A bill aiming to lower Montana's high suicide rate by requiring prevention training for public school employees passed the House (HB 374). One requiring similar training for health care providers failed.

HIGH SCHOOL AGE: The Senate passed a bill to increase from 18 to 19 the cutoff age at which public high school students can be counted for state funding. (SB 12)

DISABLED CHILDREN: The House passed two bills aimed at improving the education and health of Montana children with disabilities. A Republican-sponsored bill would create a savings account program to help children with disabilities get specialized education from kindergarten through college. A Democrat-sponsored bill would ensure insurance coverage for kids with Down syndrome. (HB 322, HB 318)

DRUG TESTING FOR WELFARE: The House passed a Republican-sponsored bill that would require welfare applicants to be screened for drug use and possibly take a drug test based on answers to a questionnaire. (HB200)

WELFARE FRAUD: Senators approved a bill that would establish an electronic system to verify eligibility, eliminate waste and identify fraud in public assistance programs (SB 148). A plan to limit food stamps in counties with unemployment rates lower than 10 percent passed out of committee and awaits fiscal consideration. (SB 206)

HIRE VETS: A proposal authorizing private employers to give hiring preference to veterans easily passed the House. (SB 196)

OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE: Offensive words "half-breed" and "breed" would be removed from names of creeks and other places in Montana under a bill that sailed through the House. (HB 331)

PAROLE BOARD: The House passed a bill that would allow the governor to grant clemency to prisoners even if the state parole board recommends against it. (HB 43)

SCHOOL EXPANSION: The Senate passed a bill that would allow local residents to vote on expanding elementary school districts into K-12 districts. (SB 107)

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LIKELY DEAD

DEATH PENALTY: A bill that would abolish the death penalty failed in the House on a 50-50 vote.

SOLITARY CONFINEMENT: A bill that would ban long-term solitary confinement for some prisoners and restrict it for others was tabled in committee.

FIREARMS: A proposal to give local school boards discretion regarding punishments for students found with guns on school grounds twice failed a final vote. The bill specifically addressed students with hunting rifles locked in their cars.

RIGHT-TO-DIE: A House measure that would allow doctors to be criminally prosecuted for prescribing life-ending medication to terminally ill patients who request it failed on a 51-49 vote. An opposing bill tabled in committee would have created a law giving terminally-ill patients the right to request medication to end their life and prohibit the prosecution of doctors who prescribe the medication.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Representatives rejected a bill that would have repealed Montana's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, three months after a district judge ruled the ban violates the 14th Amendment.

LGBT PROTECTIONS: A bill that would ban discrimination against gay people by adding the words "gender identity and expression and sexual orientation" to the state's Human Rights Act was tabled in committee. Two motions to bring it before the full Senate for a vote failed.

MINIMUM WAGE: Two proposals to raise Montana's minimum wage from $6.15 to $10.10 an hour failed in committees and on "blast motions" to bring them to votes on the Senate and House floors.

CYBERBULLYING: A proposal to criminalize cyberbullying was tabled in committee.

ONLINE VOTER REGISTRATION: A House committee tabled a bill that would allow voters to register or update information online.

DROPOUT AGE: Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau wanted to raise Montana's public school dropout age from 16 to 18. The proposal was tabled in committee.

SEAT BELTS: The Senate Judiciary Committee tabled bills that would increase the penalty for not wearing a seat belt, allow evidence of seat belt use in lawsuits for wrongful injury or damage, and apply seat belt laws only to minors.

EQUAL PAY: A measure that would have prohibited employers from punishing employees for talking or asking about wages died in a Senate committee.