Final days of 68th Legislative Session

It is hard to describe our last two days of the 68th Legislative session before we closed session last Tuesday. It was a whirlwind with many bills going to conference committees with last-minute alterations. In the end, HB 2 and a couple other bills that set up a balanced budget were passed. A motion was made by the Senate to close the session, which passed with a vote of 26-24.

With that in mind, a number of bills ended up dying on the vine, so to speak. Some of the bills are what are called study resolutions, 34 of which will not get to the governor. You can look up some of these bills. HJ 15 through HJ 41 and SJ 25 through SJ 37 are the bulk of the resolutions that are now dead. However, the bills can be followed-up and studied by interim committees, if it is warranted. The remaining roughly 20 House bills and Senate bills in total will not have the option to be picked back up later. One such bill is HB 816, which was a tax credit to extend the movie studio tax credit up to $4.5 million. In my opinion, those movie companies only helped very few areas of the state. With prior movie studio credits, the benefits were a break-even for the state. I am not big on credits and the movie credits are my least favorite when it comes to winners and losers.

As for the session, we gave some of the state surplus back to Montana residents, some property tax relief, a big income tax relief, and cut red tape for businesses, all good things. The not so good in my opinion were bills impacting local control of schools, libraries, cities, and counties. A real disappointment for me was SB 442, a bill helping counties fund county road maintenance that had cross-industry and bipartisan support. At the very end of session, SB 442 was rushed to the governor for signature only to find that he vetoed it. I’m not sure where that money would do as much good as maintaining county roads.

As I drove up my gravel road Tuesday evening, I had a feeling of gratitude for continuing to make our home in a place where my grandfather tilled this land for the first time, and where my uncle’s initials live in the cement of our grain bin. I tell my children the story of my first full day of work at 9 years old driving an open-aired tractor. When I came in at sundown, I was so tired, instead of going into the dining room for dinner, I hung a right and went straight up the stairs to bed.

Over six decades later, I’m still here and thankful to serve as your senator, while still on this land I call home. My choices, votes, and work as a senator representing north-central Montana residents for the last seven-plus years is done with deep respect knowing that many of us go back generations and have generations of Montana kin to come.

As always, stay safe!

——

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