Toplines: The Hate of our State (pt 2);Indigenous Justice for Kids, Culture, and Resiliency; Updates + A Couple Wins
Events, Rallies and Gatherings
In Billings at the MetraPark February 1st & 2nd, starting 10am there will be a peaceful protest against the Yellowstone County commissioners’ willingness to use the MetraPark for immigrant detainment
Join us in Missoula February 9th starting 7PM at 422 W Alder St to decompress, be in community, and talk shit about your legislators all while eating some mouth watering soup. BYOB (bring your own bowl)
Join us in Billings February 12th for a Stitch and Bitch: Public Comment Training Edition! Come with a craft project you’re working on (or start one with supplies we provide!) while we teach you all about how to tell your story and give public comment during the Montana State Legislature. We’ll have free snacks and drinks. RSVP here.
Join us at the “I❤️the Constitution” Rally on February 13th in Helena at the Capitol Rotunda, where we’ll be coming together to celebrate and protect the core values that uphold our democracy. Go here to learn more and RSVP.
On February 14 &15, join our partner Catalyst MT at their annual Policy Leadership Institute. The 2-day conference will cover a wide-range of policy issues, and include skill building sessions. Learn more and sign up here!
Part 2: Hate of Our State
If having an anti-trans bill the first week of session wasn’t enough, we’ve spent the fourth week listening to legislators debate three anti-trans policies. Nothing original here. Just the same discriminatory trash we’ve seen in the past – from bathroom bills, to trans youth sports bans.
These bills have been adamantly opposed by our communities and deemed unconstitutional by our courts. But instead of listening, our legislature continues to debate and consider these bills – citing the ‘changing tide’ of our political landscape. Let’s review these trans hate bills:
SB 164 from Sen. Fuller had its first hearing in the Senate Judiciary committee on Monday. This vile bill, which had similar iterations in 2021 and 2023, is revived to now include the criminalization of doctors who provide gender affirming care to trans youth – as well parents and guardians who support the youth in getting access to this care.
HB 121 from Rep. Seekins-Crowe had its second hearing and despite wide opposition in committee and through public comment, Rep. Seekins-Crowe irrationally claims that this bill is about protecting women. And she continues this bad faith argument in her other anti-trans bill: HB 300.
HB 300 had its first hearing in the House Judiciary committee on Friday. This bill, which we heard in 2021, would ban trans youth from participating in sports and prevent them from using the correct school bathroom. The hearing went off the rails when three conservative legislators became obsessed with discussing the genitalia of children. 🙄
Start to finish, we cannot believe that legislators believe that these bills are about anything other than targeting trans people.
And another thing, if legislators really cared about the health of women and other people who menstruate, they wouldn’t have voted down Rep. Ed Stafman’s HB 290, which would have prohibited the sale of menstrual products with PFAs (forever chemicals).
Indigenous Justice for Kids, Culture, & Resiliency
On Monday, the Montana American Indian Caucus (MAIC) held a press conference, where they outlined the policy goals for the session. Sen. Shane Morigeau shared that, ‘as Native People, we understand the value of resilient communities sharing our traditions with future generations..’
Sen. Windy Boy acted on achieving these goals by running a series of essential Indigenous justice bills. Starting with SB 147, which would renew the Montana Indian Child Welfare Act (MICWA).
Background: Last session, Montana passed MICWA to protect Native American children from being removed from tribal families and communities. This was huge, because as Indigenous communities in Montana were fighting for MICWA, the national Indian Child Welfare Act was being debated by SCOTUS. What a victory it was to have MICWA enshrined in law by the end of the 2023 session – and be free of the implications of any potential SCOTUS decision.
As one proponent shared, the law recognizes the historical trauma caused by past policies and aims to protect Native American children’s cultural connections and tribal relationships. Senate Bill 147 would not only remove the sunset clause placed on the 2023 policy, it would expand and strengthen key components of MICWA.
Sen Windy Boy then presented SB 182 to strengthen the state’s commitment to preserving American Indian cultural integrity by expanding the Montana Indian language preservation program. After years of violent forced assimilation, tribal communities are looking to expand partnerships between tribes and schools to ensure language programs have the support and financial resources they need to teach their languages.
We are still hitting refresh on SB 147’s bill status page, but we’re excited to share that SB 182 has received overwhelming support and is headed to the House floor for debate!
Celebrate with Us!
The session has been a shot to the heart – but we are excited to share some exciting progress. 🥳
First, Rep. Karlen’s bill to establish a housing fairness tax credit (HB 154) has made it out of committee with overwhelming support. Thank you to everyone who submitted comment or called their legislator to make this happen! The bill heads to House Appropriations for a hearing next week.
Also this week, one of the nefarious bills that came out of the Senate Select committee died on the Senate floor. Take a moment to nerd out with us. SB 44, which would have eroded the separation of powers doctrine, had a full floor debate and passed its first floor vote (e.g. Second Reading). But then failed the following day on its final vote. What a wild ride (especially for our hardworking lobbyists and advocates in the building).
Let’s celebrate the wins, and the progress it demonstrates – especially in a space that otherwise seems barren of values.
What We Are Watching 👀
Here is a quick update on the bills that are attempting to undermine our impartial judiciary. These proposed bills could allow for partisan elections of judges and justices, partisan contributions to judicial candidates, allow legislators to circumvent a judicial mandate to fulfill their official duties- and much more. For more info on these bill check out ‘Judicial Attacks’ in WTH #3!
Bills heading to the Senate Judiciary: House Bill 39, Senate Bill 21, Senate Bill 52, Senate Bill 42
Bills heading to the House Judiciary: Senate Bill 13 and SB 97
An update on the climate policy: House Bill 229, which would update Montana’s Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) following the Held v. Montana court ruling is still awaiting a committee vote. There is still time to call or message the House Natural Resource committee and tell them to vote YES on HB 229.
And our first attack on reproductive rights: Despite our clear victory at the ballot to ensure the right to abortion, next week Rep. Lee Deming (HD-54) will present on HB 316, which would amend the Montana Constitution to include the definition of ‘person’. Rep. Deming’s bill would define ‘person’ to include all human beings from the moment of fertilization or conception.
This would not only make access to abortion illegal, but would interfere with private medical decisions about birth control, access to fertility treatments, management of a miscarriage, and restrict access to emergency contraception.
HB 316 will be heard in the House Judiciary Hearing committee on Wednesday, February 5th. Committee starts at 8am. Sign up to give testimony or submit public comment to let legislators know that we do not appreciate their continued insistence on restricting our access to reproductive care.
Hero of the Week- Sen. Derek Harvey (D-Butte)
Last week, we made Sen Webber our hero for her bill to expand K-12 educational programs to support students in identifying and keeping themselves safe from human trafficking (SB 107). Then, we were appalled to see that Senate Republicans chose to ridicule this bill in the floor debate, as they attempted to pass an amendment that would have removed its power.
Enter Senator Derek Harvey from Butte, America.
Sen. Harvey demanded that his colleagues be bold. Then turned the conservative talking point of the ‘woke’ agenda on its head by reminding his colleagues what this is really about: keeping our communities safe. He quipped that the only woke he understood with regards to this bill is the knowledge some parents in our state woke up and didn’t know where their child is. That some kids in our state woke up, and realized they didn’t know where they were.
Our endless gratitude for Sen. Harvey, who woke up on Tuesday with the courage to speak in defense of good policy.
Villain of the Week- Sen. John Fuller (R-Kalispell)
Legislators don’t make it easy to pick one villain. We hear of hateful comments and discriminatory policy proposals throughout our week at the Capitol. But let us tell you why Sen. John Fuller made the cut for our villain of the week.
Sen. Fuller started the week with his zombie bill, SB 164. Why zombie? Because SB 164 attempts to pass discriminatory legislation has already been ruled unconstitutional.
Since 2021, then Rep. John Fuller previously proposed three anti-trans health care bills. And now here we are. Again. Not only is Sen Fuller pushing this discriminatory ban on gender affirming care for youth, he has the audacity to ask the legislature to threaten parents and doctors with imprisonment if they support youth in accessing this care.
If you thought his hatred for youth stopped with trans kids, think again. He presented SB 210 in Senate Education on Thursday. This bill would remove the statutory requirement for the position of a student regent on the board of regents, the governing body of the Montana University System.
His reasoning? The board of regents makes decisions regarding the allocation of funds, and since many youth don’t ‘even pay taxes’, they shouldn’t get a say in how taxpayer dollars are spent. He also insinuated that people under 23 aren’t capable of handling nor should be trusted with this level of responsibility.
Sen. Fuller seems to base his policy proposals on the idea that youth are not deserving of access to opportunities that could make their lives better. And for this, he has earned this week’s title of Villain.
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