Republicans and Democrats reflect on the 2021 Legislative Session

Gov. Greg Gianforte held a press conference Friday to give a recap of the Montana Legislature’s accomplishments in advancing the agenda its Republican leadership shares with his administration, in the wake of Democratic leaders also discussing the session the previous day.

Gianforte said with Republicans in control of the Legislature and executive branch they’ve seized the opportunity to make the state more competitive compared to its neighbors by lowering taxes and increasing exemptions for businesses, especially on equipment taxes, as well as simplifying the state tax code.

House Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, in a press conference held last Thursday after the Legislature adjourned, painted a significantly less rosy picture of these tax cuts, which she said disproportionately benefit the wealth and working-class Montanans in the end will get very little comparatively.

She said Democrats also had job creation as a priority, but she was disappointed that Republicans in the Legislature decided to spend so much time undermining the rights of Montana’s young people and families instead of trying to create jobs like they promised to their constituents.

Gianforte said his budget also reduces government spending and puts limits on spending growth.

He also touted his Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras for her work on the Red Tape Relief Task Force, which he said aims to find and eliminate unnecessary regulations that hold back businesses.

Gianforte said COVID-19 restrictions put in place by his predecessor to reduce the spread of the virus were harmful and arbitrary and praised his administration for their work to get rid of them.

He also praised legislation he supported that shields businesses from lawsuits for COVID-19 transmission that happens in their establishments as long as they are making good-faith efforts to protect customers and staff, lawsuits he called frivolous.

Once again, he also touted changes his administration made to the vaccine distribution plan that prioritized the elderly and immunocompromised, a change he said contributed to the decrease in cases the state saw this year.

He said his administration and the Legislature worked to end government overreach by ending the statewide mask mandate, restricting the authority of local health boards and outlawing vaccine passports, which he called a threat to liberty.

“The light at the end of the tunnel looks brighter and brighter,” he said.

Gianforte praised legislative leadership for their work and for their decision not to delay the session despite objections from many concerned about COVID-19 potentially spreading.

“They are public servants who worked tirelessly to leave our state better than they found it,” he said.

Gianforte also praised recent efforts by the Legislature to hold the Montana judiciary accountable, which includes a recent bill eliminating the Judicial Nominating Commission

Democrats have criticized as a ploy meant to give Republicans more power to influence the judiciary.

Abbott called the bill an unprecedented attack on the judicial branch and an effort to make it more partisan, something she said couldn’t come at a worse time.

“It’s the last hope that many Montanans have,” she said.

One of the Legislative leaders praised by Gianforte was Senate President Mark Blasdel R-Kalispell, who praised Gianforte in turn at the press conference for his leadership and said his legislative colleagues should be proud of themselves.

“It has been an honor,” Blasdel said. “... I think we’ll all walk out of here with our heads held high.”

He also thanked the governor for discontinuing what he called a heavy-handed approach by the previous administration regarding COVID-19 vaccines and precautions.

He said the people of his district are rugged individualists and he appreciates Gianforte letting them make their own health care decisions when it comes to the vaccine.

Despite this, Gianforte said the vaccines are safe and effective and said Montanans should absolutely get them.

He said he’s meeting with COVID-19 Task Force Director Maj. Gen. Matthew Quinn to make the vaccine more convenient to get by broadening distribution which he hopes will address the slowdown the state has seen in demand for the vaccine.

Gianforte also touted legislation that will boost starting teacher pay and trades education, as well as increase school choice for parents.

He said recent efforts by the legislature to improve and expand broadband access will make distanced learning easier and will help rural areas access telehealth services more easily and increase people’s ability to telework.

“We can close this digital gap that holds so many of us back,” he said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jason Ellsworth R-Hamilton., whom Gianforte cited as the expert when it came to the Legislature’s efforts to expand broadband access, said it’s unrealistic to say that every resident in the state is going to get fiber-optic cable but many technologies will be used to improve the state’s access which is the worst in the U.S.

Ellsworth said the funding mechanisms for this expansion are not yet entirely worked out but the project will bring jobs to the state, and will likely see engagement from the public and private sectors.

Gianforte also said his administration and the Legislature have increased access to health care by authorizing direct patient care agreements for the first time in the state’s history.

He said they have also protected Montanans’ safety by cracking down on drug dealers and helping recovering addicts as well as banning sanctuary cities.

Montana never had sanctuary cities and studies suggest there is no significant difference in crime rates between immigrants, undocumented or otherwise, and nonimmigrants.

Gianforte also said the administration and the Legislature are working to improve election security with bills eliminating same day registration.

Bills like this have been widely criticized as attempts at voter suppression, including by Democratic leaders at Thursday’s press conference.

Gianforte said the state is not trying to prevent anyone from voting but is trying to ensure fraud-free elections.

The Trump administration’s director of the Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency said the 2020 election was the “most secure in American history,” and there is no evidence that Montana or the U.S. saw significant voter fraud.

Gianforte said the Legislature also protected Montanans’ Second Amendment rights by expanding concealed carry rights and prohibiting the enforcement of federal gun laws.

Gianforte also praised recent bills, now signed into law, placing restrictions on abortion.

He thanked the Legislature for confirming his state agency leaders who he said are bringing back good customer service to the state.

“I could go on and on and I probably already have,” he said, “But I’m filled with enthusiasm.”

Democrats tout their own accomplishments

Senate Minority Leader Jill Cohenour, D-East Helena, said in the press conference last Thursday that despite a lack of cooperation from the other side of the isle Democrats in the Legislature did have some victories this session.

Cohenour said they worked with Republicans on policy packages to lower health care costs and invest in broadband infrastructure.

She said they helped shape many pieces of legislation including those which determine how funds from the American Rescue Plan will be spent and the implementation of marijuana legalization which she said they tried to make as close to what Montanans wanted as possible, making sure it’s safe and that tax revenue generated is used to support environmental conservation.

She also said Democrats stood successfully against every right-to-work bill this session, bills she described as a threat to unions across the state.

Abbott said Montanans have a lot of things to worry about with a Republican-dominated state government but Democrats will continue to fight for good-paying union jobs.

Cohenour said this session saw significant engagement from the people of Montana via virtual platforms which he found encouraging.

Cohenour and Abbott said the tone of this session was uncommonly contentious and the lack of balance within the state government between the two parties made for a legislative session the likes of which they’d never seen before.

Despite this, Cohenour said, the relationship between the two parties’ leaderships has always been and continues to be good.

Gianforte addresses new bills

Gianforte was also asked about legislation making its way to his desk in the near future including bills that restrict transgender students from participating in sports teams other than that of the gender they were assigned at birth.

He said he’s met with trans students and parents, as well as female athletes, and he will review their input and make the best decision for Montana.

When asked about bills that could curtail the power of the executive branch, many of these bills seeming to come in response to the actions of the previous administration regarding the pandemic, he said some he’s in favor of and some he’s not comfortable with but did not go into further detail.

Gianforte also addressed Montana’s recent acquisition of a second seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and said the boundary lines between Montana’s two districts should keep communities together and he doesn’t want gerrymandering in this state.