In and out of transmittal

Week eight was a short, but long week. As transmittal was looming, over 200 bills were dropped in the last two weeks. This led to a crunch last Saturday and again Monday.

Saturday was a disappointing day for me. There were around 50 bills that came to the Senate floor and I can’t say any of them put folks to work or brought the state of Montana any money. I went home feeling a bit dismayed. I had waited for something of substance, but it never came.

Then Monday was week nine with 93 bills on the agenda. We started at 8:30 a.m. and ran two agendas until around 10 p.m. With a third agenda of 19 bills left, the Senate president asked if we wanted to do it or go home and come back in the morning. It was explained that by finishing then, we would have all the bills ready to go to the House. We went for it and finished just before 1 a.m.

At least Monday there were bills being passed I felt better about, though a few were stopped as the majority of legislators didn’t feel some bills should be passed to the House.

Tuesday, the best part of my week, I had a bill signing with the governor, Russ Ehnes, who is the chair of the American Motorcycle Association, and fellow Sen. Terry Gauthier. SB 9 is a bill allowing motorcycles to filter forward while staying out of harm’s way and not having to deal with stop-and-go traffic.

Then, before heading home, I was lined up and received my second COVID vaccine. Now the family can rest knowing I am vaccinated. We are hoping Judy will be on next week’s vaccination list.

We traveled home for the short break. Once home, we found a few things that needed attention. On Saturday, Rep. Ed Hill put together a town hall meeting. There was a great turnout with Andrew Brekke helping with the moderation. We had some very good discussions on issues from USDA’s meat cutting laws to Council of States.

Stay safe.

Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, can be emailed at [email protected].