Legislative town hall set for Saturday

Local legislators have confirmed that a town hall is set in Havre Saturday in the weekend of the transmittal break in the legislative session.

State Rep. Ed Hill, R-Havre, responding to a query from Havre Daily News if he knew anything about a town hall Saturday, said he is hosting the event, starting at 1 p.m. in the in the former Dodge dealership location at 1720 U.S. Highway 2 East.

Hill said he expects the meeting to last about two hours.

“However long people want to talk,” he said.

Wednesday was transmittal, the date when bills passed in one chamber of the Legislature are transmitted to the other. Bills not passed by the chamber in which they were introduced by transmittal date generally are considered dead.

The Legislature takes a short break while the bills are transmitted from one chamber to the other.

Hill said he invited state Sens. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, and Mike Lang, R-Malta, Reps. Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, and Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, and Public Service Commissioner Randy Pinocci, although he said he was not sure if they all would be attending.

Responding to an earlier Havre Daily News query, Lang, R-Malta, said he did not have any information about the town hall.

Tempel said in an email this morning that he had been asked to speak at the event and planned to attend.

In emails responding to Havre Daily News queries about the event, Kassmier and Knudsen each said they were not sure of the details of the town hall and would try to get someone with more information to contact Havre Daily News.

Rep. Jonathan Windy Boy, D-Box Elder, said he hadn’t heard anything about it.

State Sen. Mike Fox, D-Hays, had not responded to the Havre Daily News query by printing deadline this morning, as was true of the chairs of the Hill County Republican and Democratic central committees.