Temple, Bachmeier, talk about stalled Medicaid expansion

Friday's Havre legislative teleconference from Helena to Havre was canceled because no legislators were able to attend, but Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, and Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, both gave comment Sunday on the past week of the Legislature including on the proposal to continue the state's Medicaid expansion.

House Bill 658 introduced by Rep. Edward Buttrey, R-Great Falls, stalled last week in the Senate, with Tempel voting on several amendments to the bill Thursday, voting for some and against others, with the legislative website reporting six amendments passed and four failed.

Tempel voted against putting the bill on the agenda for a vote Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Some senators, including Tom Richmond, R-Billings, and Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, said they voted against the Medicaid expansion bill - Richmond and Ankney are listed as Senate co-sponsors of the bill - because they want support for a bill allowing NorthWestern Energy to purchase increased energy of the coal-fired generators at Colstrip.

Tempel did not say anything about the Colstrip bill Sunday, but said the Medicaid bill has major issues.

"I can't vote for it the way it was going because we didn't fully understand the thing," Tempel said. "So unless you understand it you probably shouldn't be voting for it."

Tempel added that, last week, 18 amendments were sitting on his desk, with some introduced into the bill and others not.

Tempel is also listed as one of the co-sponsors for the medicaid bill.

Thursday the state Senate voted 25-25 on HB 658, stalling it for its second reading. Friday and Saturday motions to place HB 658 on the agenda for second reading were voted down 24-26 each day.

Bachmeier said Sunday in a statement to The Havre Daily News that the bill was voted down in the Senate due to senators playing politics with the bill.

"Beyond how reprehensible it is to play politics with health care, the Senate must understand that Medicaid Expansion has kept our rural hospitals open, added over 5,000 jobs to our economy and has circulated hundreds of millions of new money into our state economy," Bachmeier said.

He added that he encourages people to reach out to their local senators and urge them to vote for the continuation of Medicaid.

"A lot of hard work, negotiations and compromises on both sides of the aisle have gone into the efforts to reauthorize Medicaid Expansion," he said. "... I am very disappointed and disheartened to see the Senate playing politics with the health care of nearly 100,000 of Montana's most vulnerable low-income and disabled citizens."

Tempel said that the bill will appear again in the senate today and at that point and time he will see what amendments are written in the bill. He added that the amendments will determine his support for the bill.

"Right now I can't vote for it until I find out what is going on with the amendments," he said.

He said that one of his big concerns is the lack sunset policy in the bill. Tempel said that in the beginning of the year he told both Rep. Mary Caferro, D-Helena, and Buttrey if the bill has no sunset included he could not support the bill.

Tempel said he has been receiving a number of phone calls from constituents supporting both sides of the bill. One of the biggest questions he has heard is a confusion on how the bill is supposed to work.

Many of these question are if the bill will include a copay, work requirement, income verification and asset evaluations, he said. These have been the majority of the calls, he said, and for some of their questions he doesn't have an answer. Tempel added that even if the bill was passed, no one has a way of foreseeing how it would come together, with the department in charge of implementing the bill and lawyers sorting through the bill and determining what can be implemented.

"After we are done here, that's when the work starts, trying to figure out just what the bills say," he said.

He said some people may be concerned about a work requirement, but a work requirement would exclude caregivers. People who are taking care of family members who are incapable to work will be covered, Tempel said.

"I'm thinking that stuff is covered," he said.

Tempel said that after Thursday the Legislature has been in an uproar and he is trying to figure out exactly what is going to end up happening with the bill.

"It's getting close to where I can vote for it," he said, "but if the sunset goes away I'm not going to vote for it."

Other bills in the Legislature

Bachmeier said that the House Bill 21, Hanna's Act, introduced by Rep. Rae Peppers, D-Lame Deer, is moving onto its third reading in the Senate. He added that the Senate Finance and Claims Committee has also added $205,000 back into the bill for the Department of Justice to hire a coordinator for missing persons cases and to operate an office for the department to coordinate on missing persons cases.

"This is a critical step toward increasing collaboration between the Department of Justice and our reservations to find missing American Indians," Bachmeier said.

He said that Senate Bill 160, introduced by Sen. Nate McConnell, D-Missoula, has also passed out of the Senate and is moving forward for enrolling and the final preparation process. The bill will provide workers' compensation for presumptive diseases of firefighters, he added that Montana is one of five states does not have a presumptive care bill and SB 160 is critical to helping firefighters receive compensation for work-related illnesses.

"SB 160 is a major step forward for firefighters in Montana," Bachmeier said. "Firefighters are exposed to many dangerous hazards and chemicals on the job. ... I want to extend a big thank you to our service people who put their lives on the line everyday.  It's time to invest in their health and safety."

Tempel said that in the past week one of the interesting bills that came through the Legislature was House Bill 773, introduced by Rep. Matt Regier, R-Columbia Falls. The bill would have had the state take local government funding to use for funding the office of the state public defenders.

The bill was voted down, Tempel said.

Temple voted against it.

"It was going to cost county tax payers both ways passed," he said.

In 2001, a previous bill was passed which helped the state fund the public defenders' offices through state taxes, Tempel said. Having the counties pay a share of the cost it would mean that people would be taxed twice.

Bachmeier said that Havreite and business owner Keeley Wilson "wowed" the Senate Agriculture Committee last week after telling her story and expressing the need for House Bill 607, a bill to reduce licensing expenses for small pet snack businesses, which he introduced.

He said that the committee passed the bill with the bill going to second reading in the Senate Monday, third reading Tuesday and then the governor's office. He added that he is also working with the governor's office to the bill signing in Havre, potentially at the Infinity Bake Shoppe operated by Wilson's mother, Dottie, and where she operates Lady Bug Bites.

Although the bill may have started with Wilson's story, Bachmeier expects that it will impact approximately 300 small businesses in the state, he said.

"Keeley's story goes to show that our laws are not always drafted with small businesses in mind," he said. "Montana must do better to look after local businesses."

Another bill which was started by a Havreite was House Bill 726, introduced by Caferro, which would extend child support for children with disabilities into adulthood.

Bachmeier, a co-sponsor of the bill, said the initiative for the bill was started by Andrea Melle, who is the mother of adult two children with autism. HB 726 is a common-sense approach, Bachmeier said, adding that the bill would allow single parents who take care of their children with severe disabilities to petition the court for child support payments for their children into adulthood.

The bill has recently been passed through the Senate Health, Welfare and Safety Committee with a 10-0 vote, he said. He added that if the bill is passed he hopes to set up another bill signing ceremony in Havre with the governor and Andrea Melle and her family.

"Many single parents with children who have severe disabilities are forgotten about and struggle to make ends meet," he said. "... I want to thank Rep. Caferro for all of her work on this bill. I am proud to be a co-sponsor."