Moving into the new year

2022 ends and on to 2023 and wishing everyone the best in the New Year. On December 31st, my current Senate term comes to an end, and on January 1st, my new term begins. With that, onto the work. This past week, the new legislative district lines are being redrawn by a select committee. In the past, Senate District 14 included parts of Hill County, all of Liberty County, a small part of the northeast corner of Cascade County, and all of Chouteau County except the reservation. In my opinion, it is the best district in the state. I have stated this more than once. The area is what folks here call “the Golden Triangle,” and is a community I have been proud to represent.

The new District 14 will include all of Liberty County, all of Hill County except the reservation, Blaine County, Phillips County, and Valley County to Glasgow north of the Milk River. This is a rough description; you can view the map of all the House and Senate districts on the Montana Legislative webpage (leg.mt.gov). These new districts will need to be approved by the Legislature and there is still some chance of change. I did give my input and suggestion, but it seemed they were more interested in raw numbers of voters from one party or the other. At this time, I believe the new districts will go into effect January 2025.

There has been a fair amount of turnover in the House and Senate due to the November elections. Once in Helena, I imagine it will take a few days to figure out the lay of the land. New personalities have a way of changing how smoothly and productively the Legislature will move forward. The start of session is aways an interesting process.

Judy and I have been busy gathering things we feel may be needed the next four months in Helena. Never fails that we forget something we can’t live without. Again, we will be living in the same home of a past county commissioner friend. They are in Arizona and happy to have us shoveling their snow.

I can be reached at [email protected] or 406-265-0990. As we set out into the New year, as always, be safe!

——

Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, represents Senate District 14 in the Montana Legislature.