Montana Legislature votes to adjourn, 68th Session comes to a close

The 68th Legislative session is over after the Senate adjourned Tuesday afternoon and the House of Representatives worked into the evening, taking final votes on the more than 50 bills before adjourning at 9:15 p.m. on a 89-7 vote.

In the Senate, Democratic Sen. Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, made the motion to sine die – a latin term that means to adjourn indefinitely. The motion passed on a 26-24 vote and set the fate for the rest of the 87th day of the 90-day session. When the Senate adjourned, the House had yet to vote on the final version of House Bill 2, which holds the state budget for the next two years. In the end, the House passed the more than $14 billion budget with Senate amendments on a vote of 88-8.

Lawmakers this session debated and passed policy that addresses issues like housing, taxation, mental health, child care and red tape relief for businesses in the state. They also debated hot-button issues and passed legislation on abortion, transgender rights and health care.

Democrats like Flowers expressed frustration with the Republican supermajority and a lack of collaboration.

“At this time you might expect me to spend a lot of time criticizing what we haven’t done. I would just say there are a few stunning examples from me: we provided no immediate solutions to the housing crisis. No relief for renters, as a result our small businesses will continue to suffer and shutter their doors. I believe we blew a golden opportunity to save some of the billion dollars of surplus for the lean times that no doubt lie ahead, instead frittered away on tax cuts for the wealthy. I’m tired of talking about what could have been,” Flowers said.

Republicans said they were generally happy with how the session ended. They touted tax cuts and funding for critical infrastructure like water projects and investment in roads across the state. Rep. Sue Vinton, R-Billings, served as the majority leader in the House and also mentioned election legislation as something her caucus is proud of.

“We work to reduce regulations that inhibited the growth and success of businesses while streamlining processes to ensure growth. We strengthened our elections with a careful review of all processes and enacted some common sense solutions to protect our elections from the influence of outside money, prohibit double voting, prohibit illegal aliens from voting in our elections and to secure our voting machines and processes. Together we put in place policy to secure our individual freedoms,” Vinton said.

Lawmakers drafted, debated and passed more than 750 bills since the start of the session in January. The Legislature is set to reconvene again in 2025.

Elinor Smith is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation.