Campaign bill goes to panel viewed as more favorable
HELENA — After a flurry of motions, some House Republicans and most Democrats voted Monday to send the session’s major campaign finance bill to a committee considered more likely to support it than the panel where election measures usually go.
The House took six votes on various parliamentary motions in seven minutes before finally voting 50-49 on a motion by Rep. Steve Fitzpatrick, R-Great Falls, to send Senate Bill 289 to the House Business and Labor Committee.
Sen. Duane Ankney, R-Colstrip, is sponsoring the bill for Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock. It would require all money — both contributions and expenses — raised and spent by groups for campaign electioneering to be disclosed. Ankney said it would shine the spotlight on groups that have made anonymous “dark money” attacks on candidates in recent years.
The House majority maneuvered to send SB 289 to its Business and Labor Committee instead of the House State Administration Committee, where they believed House Speaker Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, would assign it.
Forty Democrats and 10 Republicans combined to vote to send the bill instead to House Business and Labor. Forty-eight Republicans and one Democrat, Virginia Court, voted against it. Rep. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, was absent.
In an interview afterward, Fitzpatrick said if SB 289 were assigned to either House Judiciary or House State Administration Committee, “it will get killed with an adverse committee report.”
The House State Administration already had killed three campaign finance bills with broad titles to generally revise campaign finance laws, he said.
After the floor vote, House State Administration Chair Jeff Essmann, R-Billings, said in an interview, “I’m kind of offended that Rep. Fitzpatrick thinks it wouldn’t get a fair hearing and good work [in his committee].”
Fitzpatrick’s motion came after the House had completed its other work. Knudsen was presiding over the House as speaker so he could not participate in the debate.
The speaker assigns bills to committee. Knudsen received SB 289 from the Senate on Feb. 26, but had not yet assigned it to a committee. The Legislature left on its midsession break after concluding business on Feb. 27 and returned March 5.
Those supporting the motion believed Knudsen eventually would assign SB289 to the House State Administration Committee where election and campaign finance bills usually go.
In making the motion, Fitzpatrick told Knudsen that it appears SB289 is “in your desk drawer” and moved to send it House Business and Labor.
Rep. Rob Cook, R-Conrad, said he supported Fitzpatrick’s motion, saying: “This motion provides a clear and fair path to the House floor.”
Cook said he is no stranger to “attack ads” and said: “This bill is about cleaning up the election process.”
Essmann asked the House to oppose Fitzpatrick’s motion so Knudsen could refer it to his committee, which has worked on a number of similar campaign finance bills.
“There is no reason to believe that House State Administration won’t provide a clear and fair path,” Essmann said.
The panel has both Republican and Democratic members who “know the nuances” of election laws, he said.
House Minority Leader Chuck Hunter, D-Helena, backed sending the bill to House Business and Labor, saying: “Clearly central to the bill is how we’re going to treat businesses as well as unions.”
Fitzpatrick’s motion was temporarily blocked from a vote by a host of parliamentary moves aimed at derailing it. They included motions to table the bill, postpone the vote, refer the bill to State Administration, adjourn for the day and finally to cut off debate before the final vote was held.
Nineteen representatives — 11 Republicans and eight Democrats — serve on the House Business and Labor Committee.
Among its members are all eight committee Democrats and four of the Republicans who voted to send SB 289 to that committee.