Montana legislators last week rejected three separate calls for special legislative sessions proposed for various policy ideas.
The Montana State Capitol in Helena, Mont.
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.
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.
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.
People are also reading…
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 Legislative session and likewise failed to pass. The poll failed on a total 50-59 vote.
Speaker of the House Rep. Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, chairs the Montana House of Representatives on April 20, 2023, in the Montana state Capitol.
