The Montana State Capitol in Helena, Mont.
Montana legislators last week rejected three separate calls for special legislative sessions proposed for various policy ideas.Â
The proposals came in rapid-fire sequence in early May from Republican lawmakers — including one from Republican Speaker of the House Matt Regier — and distinctly dealt in voter registration, immigration laws, as well as marijuana tax revenues and judicial elections.Â
A majority of the 150-member Legislature is required to trigger a special session in any case. The closest any of the three polls came to the 76-vote threshold was 59 votes to approve, and the proponents already had thin margins to work with; the highest response any poll saw was 113 votes.Â
Republicans initiated all three polls, with mixed results from their caucus; each poll got more “approve” than “reject” votes, but none reached the tally needed to reconvene the Legislature.
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Democrats uniformly voted against the special sessions or did not return their ballots, which were counted as “no” votes.
Reps. Jane Gillette, R-Bozeman, and Caleb Hinkle, R-Belgrade, proposed a special session to establish partisan judicial elections, a proposal that appeared in four bills during the 2023 Legislature and likewise failed to pass. The poll failed on a total 50-59 vote.Â
Regier, R-Kalispell, made a second pitch for a special session following the arrival of a migrant family in the Flathead Valley, urging lawmakers to consider legislation giving state law enforcement authority to make immigration arrests. His special session proposal also included a second chance at passing a widely approved marijuana tax revenue distribution plan. The poll for Regier’s special session went down 59-54, well short of the 76-vote threshold.Â
The Montana Freedom Caucus submitted the third call for a special session, this one to enact stricter voter identification requirements, which would have largely mirrored federal law. This request fell on a 52-60 vote.Â
Special session calls from lawmakers have historically been hard to pull off. Only once has the Legislature voted to bring itself back to Helena for a special session, while the vast majority have been done by order of the governor.Â
Prior to the latest round of special session suggestions, legislators made three calls to reconvene last year as the state property tax appraisals sparked outrage across the state. None of those proposals passed, either.Â
