Hold your lawmakers accountable

Your recently elected state representatives and senators are busy writing a new set of laws for you, our voters. December is a critical time to draft new bills and workshop policy, as we have less than two months between Election Day and Jan. 2, the start of the 2023 Legislative Session. This is the time to turn the concerns and ideas we heard on voters’ porches into bills that meet the needs of our communities.

What bills has your legislator requested and what work are they preparing to do on your behalf? Are they following up on their campaign promises to create more housing, safer neighborhoods, better schools, and stable jobs? Or, instead, are they amplifying inflammatory social issues, taking aim at Montanans’ right to privacy, reducing crucial services, or weakening Montana’s Constitution?

All of your representative’s draft bills are visible on the Montana Legislative Website at http://www.laws.leg.mt.gov. Some legislators are writing laws that will take care of Montana families — bills that cap health insurance costs, remove barriers for child care providers, incentivize workforce housing, or expand rural mental health care. However, in the wake of the pandemic and on the cusp of a possible recession, other legislators are prioritizing distracting policies that do nothing to make our state stronger.

Take a look at your representative’s bills and ask what they mean for your family, your community, and our state. Will their proposed laws build common ground or perpetuate the political divisiveness chipping away at our shared sense of community?

Every legislator’s contact information is available online, so reach out to us and share your thoughts. We work for you and can only do our job well when we’re hearing from our voters.

My hope for the upcoming legislative session is that we will focus on issues that move our economy forward and uplift Montana families instead of wasting time and taxpayer dollars on political point scoring. I equally hope we move forward as a governing body with respect, integrity, and compassion for ourselves and each other.

It is time for us to get to work, just as it is time for you to hold us accountable. Keep demanding that this government of, by, and for the people does its job for you and for all of us.

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Rep. Alice Buckley, D-Bozeman, represents House District 63 in the Montana Legislature