Toplines: Hate of Our State (pt. 3), Attacks on Reproductive Health Care, and A Senate in Disarray (pt. 2) + What We Are Watching
At the time of publishing this newsletter the links to the ‘bill text’ were not working on the legislative website.
As we ask you to continue giving public comment, virtually testifying, calling your legislators, and showing up, remember to take care of yourself. We can’t do this work at 100% all the time so check on your friends, read a book, disconnect for a little bit, take a deep breath. The gross things some legislators say do not reflect what a vast majority of people believe- you belong here, you deserve to be here. See you next week <3
Events, Rallies and Gatherings
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 Bozeman February 10th from 3-4pm at the FMT Office as we chat with two commissioners who want to hear more from our young community members who are renters! 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!
Forward Montana legislative team will be hosting a series of zoom events. We’ll walk you through what’s happening at the Legislature around LGBTQ+ Rights, Reproductive Rights and Housing!
- LGBTQ+ Rights Session: 2/18/2025 with Morgan, our LGBTQ+ and Voter Engagement Organizer
- Reproductive Rights Session: 2/20/2025 with Taryn, our Reproductive Rights and Voter Engagement Organizer
- Housing issues session: 2/27/2025 with Sage, our Housing and Voter Engagement Organizer
Part 3: Hate of Our State
Montana Republicans cannot let up on their obsession with targeting transgender, nonbinary, and Two Spirit individuals in our communities. After three separate hearings last week on anti-trans bills, we have some updates. And one of them really sucks.
Let’s start with HB 121(bathroom bill), which had its hearing in the Senate Judiciary last Thursday. We will skip the disparaging remarks Republicans insisted on making (nothing new or creative), and let you know that the bill passed out of committee on a party-line vote. It will be heard next week on the Senate floor. Call 406-444-4800 and message Senators. Tell them to VOTE NO on HB 121.
Next, there is SB 164 (ban care for trans youth). This bill was heard on the Senate Floor on Monday. And while two Republicans voted against it, this wasn’t enough to prevent it moving on to the House Chamber. It will likely have a hearing next week in the House Judiciary. Continue to message and call your House Representative and tell them you expect a NO vote on SB 164.
And then, there is HB 300 (youth sports ban) which had its House floor debate on Wednesday. Rep. Seekins-Crowe continued in her disingenuous stance that this bill is about protecting girls in sports. Despite the bill passing on a party-line vote, we were teary-eyed after watching the power of trans voices and allies during the debate.
Starting with Rep. Howell who pulled at our hearts when talking about the rich diversity of humanity that Republicans are insisting on erasing. Then, Rep. Zephyr spoke of the challenges trans athletes already face – and how bills like this make it harder for all women to participate in sports without discrimination. And finally, Rep. Strand put into words what we are all thinking: why tf are we here debating this, when we need elected officials coming up with solutions to housing, health care, and other actual issues Montanans are facing.
Now the shittiest news: There is another anti-trans bill. Senate Bill 218 from Sen. Fuller (R-Kalispell) is a cruel attempt to force doctors to stop providing gender affirming care by threatening them with an absurd statute of limitations for medical malpractice. The current statute of limitations is 2 years. But SB 218 would allow for a statute of limitation of 25 YEARS for someone to sue if they regretted a gender-affirming procedure. Apparently, Sen. Fuller hasn’t heard – but the regret rate for receiving gender-affirming surgical procedures is around 1%, lower than most operations.
This bill might be about targeting trans people, but it will lead to irreparable harm to our health care system, as doctor’s may choose to leave Montana rather than practice under this threat. This bill will be heard on the Senate floor next week. Call and message your Senator and tell them to vote NO on SB 218.
A Debate on Personhood
Remember when we enshrined the right to abortion in November 2024? Well some Republicans legislators are set on undoing this monumental vote.
First up was Rep. Lee Deming (R-Laurel) with HB 316. This bill would amend the Montana constitution to include a definition of personhood that life begins at conception. This would not only ban abortion –interpretations of personhood would jeopardize common forms of birth control, like IUDs and emergency contraception.
What a disgusting attempt at government overreach. While HB 316 would require a ⅔ vote to pass through each chamber, this is highly unlikely and demonstrates how this is clearly a waste of our time.
Enter a more insidious attempt to enshrine personhood into Montana policy, HB 288 from Rep. Courtney Sprunger (R-Kalispell). Rep. Sprunger claims that this is about ensuring both parents are supporting a pregnancy from the beginning by making it law that fatherhood starts at conception. But it only took a few minutes into proponents before we heard that this is about: pressuring people to stop choosing abortions.
For many people, they cannot afford a pregnancy. But instead of economic investments to lift everyone up in our communities, legislators like Rep. Sprunger think that forcing child support payments at conception will allow certain providers to shame patients who choose to have an abortion.
Please call the Representatives and remind them: Montana communities have spoken on this issue. We will have comprehensive reproductive health care.
Part 2: A Senate in Disarray
Instead of discussing bills in afternoon committee, the Senate decided on Thursday after regular business to spend over an hour in a heated debate on how best to proceed with the potential ethics violations of one senator – Sen. James Ellsworth (R-Hamilton). He is under immense scrutiny for a decision he made about state funds. The accusation: Sen. Ellsworth used his position of privilege to circumvent proper protocols and give state contracts to a former business associate.
Hearings in the Senate Ethics Committee were set to begin as early as next week, but then Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray (R-Billings) called for his removal from the floor while we await the ethics committee’s decision. This would remove Sen. Ellsworth from any floor discussion, effectively silencing his senate district consisting of thousands of constituents.
Majority Leader McGillvray’s motion was immediately blocked by Minority Leader Pat Flowers, who moved to end the Ethics Committee investigation, instead placing it under the authority of the Department of Justice – and out of the Senate’s hands. His motion also blocked the expulsion of Sen. Ellsworth.
Ensue meltdown. At one point, Senators got so tangled up in their motions that they had to take a break to read the rules to figure out what they could do next. Tensions continued to build in the debate, with Sen. Fuller personally threatening the entire Senate floor – which he then had to apologize for at the beginning of Friday’s floor session.
In the end, Sen. Flower’s motion won out. But we are still waiting to see what this ‘win’ will mean for relationships in the Senate. Despite threats from at least one Senator, there were no further motions on this matter during Friday’s session.
Republicans have a majority in the Senate, House, and control of the governor’s office. Yet, they have advanced no policy to address the housing crisis, workforce shortages, or health care access.
Instead, the bill moving quickest through these chambers is a bill that targets trans people and their ability to safely use public bathrooms, HB 121.
What we are watching
SB 146 would undermine the ability for cities and counties to pass land-use decisions, like zoning, by setting an impossibly high legal bar. It would also allow for the gutting of thoughtful citizen-led decisions that shaped community land use to address housing issues. SB 146 passed through it’s first committee. It is headed to the Senate Floor next. Call and send messages to every Senator.
SB 101 caught our attention this week when we heard from our partners at Catalyst MT and MT Budget & Policy Center that if passed, it could put the shelter and safety of many Montanans at risk – and potentially violate constitutional rights.
SB 101 could undermine the judicial eviction process, allowing landlords to call law enforcement on landlord-tenant disputes. With the cost of housing at all time highs – over 31,000 people paying more than 30% of their income on housing – we need legislators to help us find or keep housing, not allow our landlords to call the cops on us.
Hero of the Week- Rep. Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls)
What can we say, we love health care! And think everyone in our communities deserves to have access to affordable and comprehensive care.
Which is why, while we may not agree with this legislator on all his policies, we undoubtedly consider Rep. Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls) our hero this week for his relentless advocacy to keep Medicaid programs in our state.
As a reminder, HB 245 would lift the sunset date of June 2025 – ensuring continued care for over 80k Montanans and allow Medicaid programs to continue indefinitely.
The bill had its first floor debate on Friday afternoon and it was a nail-biter. Opponents of Medicaid showed up with misinformation and callousness in their attempt to sway any last minute undecided votes. With disdainful tones, conservatives presented doom and gloom for our state if Medicaid was allowed to continue.
But this week’s Hero, Rep. Ed Buttrey was having none of it. Rep. Buttrey dominated this debate, from a powerful opening speech to the ease with which he swatted down false assertions about Medicaid. His closing remarks had us cheering as he decried: Stop making the healthcare of our constituents a political battle.
Support our Hero by sending a thank you note to all House reps who listened and voted yes for HB 245. The bill needs to make it through one more vote in the House before it can move to the Senate. Get your message in by 1pm on Monday, February 10th.
Learn more about how to support Medicaid programs or share your Medicaid story.
Villain of the Week- Sen. Barry Usher (R-Billings)
After weeks of watching Senator Barry Usher’s actions as the Chair of the Senate Judiciary, we reached a breaking point this week.
Within the first hearings of the Senate Judiciary this session, Chair Usher had exerted his power to suppress the Democrat sitting as Vice Chair.
With recurring interactions like ‘you speak when you get called on’ and then ignoring a raised hand, Sen. Usher is working to undermine Vice Chair Olsen’s power on the committee by forcing her silence. Sen. Andrea Olsen (D-Missoula), has been physically moved making her sit in a different chair in the committee as far away from him as possible and is routinely ignored by Chair Usher, and often treated unprofessionally when he interacts with her.
But his disrespect expands past his legislative colleagues. In the past two weeks, Sen. Usher has decided to use his platform as Chair to target a single trans individual during the debates and votes on anti-trans legislation.
Despite others in his party insisting that bills like HB 121 aren’t about targeting trans people, Sen. Usher has made it clear that not only is this about trans people, he’s intent on targeting one particular trans individual because of a tweet last session about bathrooms. Trans people deserve safety – not individual call-outs from elected officials.
Finally, this week, he pushed the committee to vote on several bills that had just received a hearing only a couple hours before – giving the committee no time to review submitted public comments or complete additional research and undermining the public engagement process. And for these reasons, Sen. Usher is our villain of the week.
