The Montana House passed House Bill 207 on second reading Thursday. It would increase the number of signatures for independent legislative candidates from 5% of the winner’s vote in the last election to 10%. If the bill becomes law it is likely to be challenged in court. Montana only had two independent candidates for the legislature on the ba...
Montana House Bill 291 looks to alter the standards when determining air quality in the Treasure State. The legislation aims to limit the authority of the Department of Environmental Quality and local air pollution control programs in Montana from adopting air quality standards more stringent than federal requirements. In other words the bill ...
Montana is set to receive $16.57 million from a $7.4 billion national settlement with Purdue Pharma and its Sackler family owners over their role in fueling the opioid crisis. The settlement resolves allegations that Purdue aggressively marketed opioid products for decades contributing to addiction and overdose deaths nationwide including in M...
Montana ranks 42nd in the nation for average teacher salary but House Bill 252 aims to revise school funding laws and formulas to improve teacher pay and housing affordability. The STARS Act’s primary goal is to increase teacher wages to be competitive with surrounding states and to accommodate rising inflation costs. The Student and Teacher A...
President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency at the U.S.-Canada border citing an influx of human and drug smuggling coming from Canada presenting a national security threat to Americans. Montana shares 545 miles of the border with Canada running through the Canadian provinces of Alberta British Columbia and Saskatchewan. He also im...
Montana’s housing market in 2024 represents cooler economic conditions. According to the Montana Bureau of Business and Economic Research high interest rates chilled the pace of transactions by reducing both supply and demand for homes. This trend suggests a reshuffling of desirability as affordability constraints and the higher relative price...
Head Start locations in five Montana counties will remain open after fears they would have to close following the Trump administration’s effort to freeze federal grants and loans. The federal Office of Management and Budget says Head Start which provides childcare and kindergarten readiness for low-income families would not be affected by the ...
According to a White House memo the Trump administration is offering eight-month buyouts to federal workers who do not wish to return to the office provided they resign within the next week. As of November 2024 there were about 15,000 federal employees in Montana. Federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service the Bureau of Land Managemen...
The House Fish Wildlife and Parks Committee recently advanced two bills aimed at reducing Montana’s wolf population. House Bill 222 initially proposed an open season for wolf hunting until numbers reached 600 but this was later amended. Another proposal House Bill 176 seeks to eliminate bag limits until population numbers drop by half. The sta...
A new study has ranked Montana as the twenty-sixth best state for entrepreneurs in 2025. Simplify LLC released its annual study on the Best and Worst States for Entrepreneurs determined by analyzing six key categories in all 50 states and the District of Columbia corporate tax rates inflation consumer spending growth job creation rates and net...
