Legislature finishes Week 5

This week was a wild one with a couple of committee meeting running over 3 ½ hours, needing to be cut short, and then finished at the next meeting. In my Energy Committee, bills that were closely related, often called companion bills, came to the committee. The first bill was designed to develop a policy for Montana to control greenhouse gas emissions.

The idea is to set a standard that would ramp up until the year 2050 and eventually make Montana carbon-free. Or, as I understand what is being said, agriculture as we know it would cease to exist. If you are interested, read Senate Bill 190, sponsored by Sen. Mike Phillips, which can be found at leg.mt.gov. The related bill is SB 189, sponsored by Sen. Dick Barrett. It is a 32-page bill on how to sell carbon credits and use the money to fix the property tax inequities. We heard an introduction that lasted nearly an hour explaining how carbon credits would be sold at $10 per metric ton. The money would then be put in a fund to help pay low income, disabled veterans and elderly individual’s property taxes. This bill is being called the “Montana Climate Action Act” to help reduce or reverse climate change.

In the Education Committee, a bill was presented addressing dyslexia and awareness of dyslexia. The short title is, “Establish the Montana Dyslexia Screening and Intervention Act.”

We had up to 40 people with this disability testify on behalf of the bill. The idea of the bill is to get schools to screen and diagnose early. Those who testified, who ranged in age from 7 to perhaps 60s, told of the struggles they experienced in their life.

It seems some schools are successfully accommodating students with dyslexia while it is not being specifically addressed in other schools. I found the testimony enlightening. A few facts that I never knew about individuals with dyslexia: some struggle to tie shoes, it is often hereditary and word recognition is difficult.

Again, if you email me, please put the name of your town in the subject and the first word of the first sentence. I am getting so many emails each day, but I want to be able to prioritize my constituent’s emails. I am sorry if I’ve missed any emails up until now; I try to reply to everyone. Have a great week.

——

Montana Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, can be emailed at [email protected]/.