Legislative update

This is a bit of a catch- up issue since I was loafing during the transmittal break. We were in session March 1 & 2, before a 5-day break. I enjoyed getting home and was also able to meet with a good group in Jordan, as well as Circle, while there. The over- riding concern among citizens, whether in these meetings or other modes of communications, is Federal overreach and what can we do to protect ourselves from an aggressive Fed. An example, North of Sand Springs, the BLM, (not black lives matter) is aggressively pursuing the purchase of a ranch that will take several more thousand acres of deeded land off the property tax rolls as well as further Fed influence and control. Whether it be the Fed or Fish Wildlife and Parks, they seemingly have unlimited access to $ that makes purchasing for agricultural purposes impossible.

March 1, we did 70 2nd reading of bills and 19 3rd reading of bills. We did morning and afternoon sessions as well as Appropriations in between. We dealt with, as you might imagine, a wide array of issues in that many bills. Representative Phalen from Dawson County presented, and the House passed on a 67 – 33 party line vote, a bill to require the pledge to be said in all grades every morning and the constitution taught in grade and high schools. Disappointingly, the only 2 representatives to speak against the bill, were schoolteachers. My bill HB576 also passed by 69 – 31 margin, picking up 2 Democrats. This bill repeals the renewable energy mandate passed in 2005 that required energy companies to have at least 15% renewables in their portfolios, excluding hydro. This legislation was also chocked full of other onerous government mandates that needed elimination. If we want to eliminate rolling blackouts and have affordable energy, we need to let markets work. We also passed a bill that will now recognize hydro as a renewable energy, commonsense.

If I haven’t mentioned it in the past, a good way to keep an eye on your government is by going to the Montana legislature 2021 website. Here you can look up bills of interest, watch hearings and floor sessions. All of this is archived, so all past sessions are available as well. Citizens can also use this tool to offer committee testimony from the comfort of home, not as effective as in person, but much less travel! Legislator votes are also available at this site. Another good tool to utilize to evaluate your legislator is Montana legislator loyalty 2021. This site tracks Republican legislator votes, only on partisan votes. For instance, if a vote was 100 – 0, that vote won’t be scored. For those that wonder how good bills get killed and bad bills get passed (from a conservative perspective), this is an interesting site, not the whole story necessarily, but a good resource. This is also a good source to track down bills or laws of interest and past sessions action as well.

Tuesday, going into transmittal we passed a bill that will greatly improve cities and counties ability to more easily open and utilize gravel pits. This and another bill coming from the Senate will also dramatically lower the fees related to these operations. When you think about it, it’s ridiculous that the counties should have to use tax $ to pay a state agency for permits so we can improve our roads. This should be a dramatic improvement. Many thanks to several county road department officials in Eastern Montana that contributed ideas to make this a better bill. This was an example of a totally partisan 67 – 32 vote.

HB 251, the right to work bill, went down 38 – 62. I voted for it, not considering it anti – union, but pro – jobs and pro – freedom. The unions did a great job of filling The Capitol with signs and people. I couldn’t help but wonder why they weren’t picketing Senator Tester’s office for voting to kill thousands of union jobs and tens of millions of dollars in property tax $ that would have helped support our schools for decades to come, when he voted to support President Biden’s decision to kill the Keystone Pipeline.

HB 573 would have let our Public Service Commission have the authority to hold Big Tech platforms such as Facebook and Google accountable when they censor our citizens. Unfortunately, it died 49 – 50, when all 33 Democrats were aided by a predictable group of Republicans. Another example of why elections matter. We passed an important bill by Gunderson from Libby, that creates stiff penalties for those that intentionally damage infrastructure. Examples would be pipelines and electrical transmission or production facilities. This bill also makes it easier to hold people or groups accountable that fund these types of criminal activities.

Leaping forward into this past week, Monday we passed an important bill that will help encourage hydrogen production in Montana. This is an important developing technology that will produce hydrogen, a storable energy, as a by-product of a gas fired electrical plant. The hydrogen is then available for use at times of peak load to fire additional generation. A new complex is scheduled to go in near Dillon that will provide hundreds of long term direct and indirect jobs, a big win. This passed by a comfortable 100-0.

Individual healthcare was a big winner this week with the passage of SB101. This permanently authorizes Direct Patient Care Clinics, which allows physicians to set up clinics that bypass insurance companies, while providing potentially unlimited visits for a monthly fee of about $70. This type of care currently operates in over 1000 locations throughout the country. The only insurance most people would then need is catastrophic medical.

We also passed HB329 which would allow a portion of state funding for a special needs student, to follow the student to a facility that better fits the need of the student. This promises to better serve the student, while not putting as great of a burden on the parent.

It was a busy week in Appropriations. We passed out of committee HB2 which is the main spending bill funding State Agencies. The legislative staff will take about a week to prepare the physical bill that will then be presented on the House floor. This bill takes funds from many sources and allocates to the various agencies. This is a culmination of the weeks of subcommittee work that we did.

8 A.M. Monday the 15th, we start to examine the $2.7 billion porkulous package being sent our way from Washington D.C. We will hold joint meetings, House Appropriations and Senate Finance to try and put this massive misappropriation to beneficial use. Ideally, we will identify and fund infrastructure projects that will provide long-term benefits to the people of Montana.

Thanks again for giving me the privilege of representing the good people of HD 37. Please contact me with your ideas, questions, or suggestions.

For Freedom,

Representative Jerry Schillinger HD 37