A bill to spend $2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief money inched forward in the Senate on Thursday passing a preliminary vote in the same form as it emerged from a budget panel last week. House Bill 632 appropriating money coming to the state from the federal American Rescue Plan Act passed second reading 32 to 18. If what’s been nickn...
Legislative Bill Could Potentially Change Daylight Saving Time
Under a bill advancing through the Legislature, if enough other states around Montana moved to year-round daylight-saving time, the Treasure State would follow suit. Lawmakers have weighed doing away with the twice-yearly springing forward and the falling back either through adopting daylight saving time permanently or only keeping Mountain St...
Annual Maintenance To Voter List Now Law In Montana
Thursday evening COVID-19 Panel Chair and Deputized public health official Senator Jason Ellsworth was notified that a member of the government affairs committee has tested positive for COVID-19 and because the Legislature’s contact tracer requires time to do her work the decision was made to postpone today’s legislative floor sessions out of ...
State Water Bill Becomes Law
House Bill 286 the state land water bill has become law. It clarifies the state may only obtain an ownership interest in a water right or ground water development work diverted from private land if a court determines the state is an owner or is in possession of a deed transferring ownership of the water right to the state. Montana Stock Growe...
Montana Ranked In Bottom Half Of Safest States During Pandemic
With around 23% of the population fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday and vaccination being an essential being an essential component for full reopening of the economy. Wallet Hub today released its report on the safest states during the pandemic. Montana ranks 37th across five key metrics. The business processing outsourcing com...
FCC Announces New Relief Program For Tribal Lands
The Federal Communications Commission recently announced a new program that will provide a discount for broadband service for households struggling to pay for internet service due to the pandemic. The program gives discounts of up to $50 per month towards broadband service and up to $75 per month for those living on tribal lands. This week Voi...
New Test To Detect Chronic Wasting Disease Developed
Scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in Hamilton have developed a new way to test live animals for chronic wasting disease that holds promise for one day detecting the illness in the wild. Chronic wasting disease is an always fatal infection that afflicts deer elk and moose and, since 2017, Montana Fish Wildl...
House Bill Concerning Ballot Collections Draws Criticism From Disability Rights Montana
Wednesday, the Senate Select Committee on Marijuana Law heard the third proposal in as many days on implementing a recreational marijuana program in Montana. The panel has been tasked with blending all three proposals forwarded from the House into a single program to approve in the coming weeks. The Montana Legislature has passed and is consid...
PSC Commissioner O’Donnell Exploring Options For Repurposing Colstrip Coal
Senate Bill 224 passed a preliminary vote in the House Wednesday which would substantially hike maximum contributions from individuals and political committees to candidates for legislative and statewide offices. It would eliminate limits on some campaign contributions and raise the threshold for which a contribution must be reported to state ...
MSU Scientist Featured On BBC Program
Tracy Stone-Manning served as a senior aide to Senator Jon Tester before becoming former Governor Steve Bullock’s chief of staff. According to several Washington D.C. sources the senior advisor to the National Wildlife Federation may be President Joe Biden’s pick to lead the Bureau of Land Management. Montana State University plant patho...