Montana lawmakers mull COVID rules for 2021 session

With the coronavirus pandemic still raging, Montana lawmakers are negotiating whether to meet virtually or in person when the next legislative session begins Jan. 4.

Republicans, who are taking control of the House, Senate and governor's office for the first time in 15 years, hope to finally push through policies that never stood a chance on the Democratic governor's desk, including restricting abortion access, easing restrictions on guns, reining in environmental regulations and tightening work requirements for Medicaid recipients.

Lawmakers also will face pressure to assist hospitals and public health departments overwhelmed by COVID-19. And they will oversee implementation of a voter-approved measure legalizing recreational marijuana use.

"Our number-one goal is to come in, balance the budget and keep it as flat as we possibly can, without raising taxes," incoming Senate President Mark Blasdel, R-Kalispell, said in an interview.

The House and Senate rules committees are scheduled to meet Monday and Tuesday to determine how the Legislature will operate this year. Democratic lawmakers, as well as city and county leaders and public health officials in Helena, have pushed for the session to be held remotely to prevent virus transmission.

Republican lawmakers – who recently met in person with few face coverings to elect caucus leaders – have laid out competing visions, opening up the possibility of a hybrid session with some lawmakers assembling in the Capitol and others tuning in by video stream.

"Obviously we're working with the minority caucus, to work with them on their concerns and their interests," Blasdel said. "I believe we will have some legislators, based on their own personal choice, that may want to participate remotely. So that will be allowed, I believe."

Blasdel said he will push to allow in-person public testimony, but there also have been discussions about placing a "remote testimony site" somewhere on the Capitol campus that would allow for more social distancing than committee rooms. Additionally, he said, lawmakers are considering an online portal that would make it easier for people to submit written testimony.

Montana's regular legislative sessions take place in odd-numbered years. Sen. JP Pomnichowski, a Democratic minority whip from Bozeman, said lawmakers have conducted plenty of business remotely in 2020 and should continue to do so.

"My hope is that we honor the directive by public health officials, who have asked us to conduct the session remotely or virtually – which we have successfully done all year, since the pandemic hit in March," Pomnichowski said. "We conducted just about every interim committee meeting virtually, and it worked very well."

Pomnichowski, who like Blasdel sits on the Legislative Council, said the council already has made preparations for a remote session, including remote voting software and increased video streaming capabilities allowing for simultaneous coverage of up to 16 committee meetings.

"We are in contact with every legislator, returning and newly elected, to make sure they have the hardware and software they need," she said. "There is a way to conduct the session responsibly and not risk anyone's life to do it."

BLASDEL WAS first elected to the House in 2006 and served as House speaker in 2013 before winning his seat in the Senate. For the first time in his legislative career, the GOP will have majorities in both legislative chambers and a Republican governor, Greg Gianforte.

"It's always exciting to get to work with a new administration, especially a Republican governor's administration," Blasdel said. "It's something that a large majority of us that have served have never had the opportunity to do."

Blasdel said his party plans to budget conservatively, citing economic uncertainty spurred by the pandemic, including projections that the state government could face a shortfall in income tax revenue.

Some of Montana's economic forecasts have improved since the start of the pandemic. A Nov. 19 report from the Legislative Fiscal Division projects the state's income tax revenue will be about $1.43 million in fiscal 2021, about the same amount as in fiscal 2020, before growing 2.7% in fiscal 2022 and 5.4% in fiscal 2023.

"The challenge I see right now in Montana is, you've kind of got two parallel economies going," he said. "There's industries that are booming – construction, real estate, a number of those. And then there's businesses in hospitality and a number of those areas that are having the hardest and probably worst year they've had in years."

As outgoing Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock's administration finishes spending the $1.25 billion the state received from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act that Congress passed in March, Bullock and other officials have called on Congress to pass a new relief package.

But Blasdel, who said his catering business was hit hard by pandemic-related event cancelations, indicated he's more focused on removing business restrictions aimed at limiting virus spread.

"I would prefer more for us just to be able to open back up the state for business," he said.

Like Gianforte, Blasdel said he doesn't support mask mandates, which he called "challenging" and "unenforceable." He said he would support legislation that would shield businesses from lawsuits or enforcement actions related to COVID-19.

Blasdel said Republicans will revisit the Medicaid expansion that the Legislature passed in 2019, saying he doesn't believe Bullock's administration has "seriously enforced" certain provisions that garnered support for the expansion from some moderate Republicans. Those include income verification and work and community-service requirements for Medicaid recipients, Blasdel said, adding that lawmakers "need to look at fraud, waste and abuse in the system."

POMNICHOWSKI EXPRESSED incredulity at proposals to tighten work and volunteering requirements.

"If someone is broken or sick, and we know how to fix them and there's a way to ensure that we can … manageably pay for those services, then we should do that," she said. "Medicaid expansion is health-care coverage for those who cannot otherwise afford it. And that helps our providers; that actually provides some compensation for the doctors and nurses and X-ray techs who are treating these people. Otherwise, without that reimbursement, it's unpaid care."

Blasdel said Republicans also see an opportunity to pass abortion bills that have been introduced in past sessions, including one that would require doctors to give a fetus painkillers before an abortion and another that would require them to perform life-saving measures on a fetus in the case of a "botched" procedure. Conservatives have criticized Bullock for vetoing abortion restrictions in past sessions.

Pomnichowski said Democrats will continue fighting the most conservative policies, including those she considers "extreme" or vulnerable to legal challenges, but she acknowledged it will be especially challenging this session. She expressed hope that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will continue collaborating as part of a "working majority" that has crafted legislation in the 11 years since Democrats last controlled the House.

"Largely it is moderate Democrats and Republicans who come together and advance good policy," she said. "My hope is that that continues."

Reporter Chad Sokol can be reached at 758-4434 or csokol@dailyinterlake.com

This story has been updated to reflect the most recent income tax revenue projections from Montana's Legislative Fiscal Division.