Introducing MTLeg Weekly Debrief
Be sure to stay tuned as we will continue to provide weekly updates as the legislation you care about makes its way through the legislature.
The long wait is finally over – the 2023 Montana Legislative Session has officially begun!
And with it, we are launching a new weekly series entitled MTLeg Weekly Debrief, to help keep you filled in on the key bills making their way through the Legislature.
Without further ado here is the first addition:
HB 21 increases legislative oversight over the education bureaucracy by requiring any regulations for school accreditation resulting in a “substantial” impact on school expenditures to first earn legislative approval before being implemented. This models successful policies in other states which require economic impact statements for all regulations and legislative approval for economically burdensome regulations. HB 21 follows Frontier Institute’s recommendations to increase legislative accountability in agency rule-making processes.
Current Status: House Education Committee Hearing scheduled for January 6th at 3:00PM
A bill from the Governor’s Red Tape Relief Initiative, HB 152 follows Frontier Institute’s recommendations to make the pandemic model of universal licensure recognition permanent. Among many other important reforms, HB 152 will allow workers with a professional license in another state to work in Montana for up to 21 days each year without requiring any additional licensure red tape.
Current Status: Referred to House Business and Labor Committee
HB 101 allows behavioral healthcare workers such as social workers and addiction therapists licensed in good-standing by other states to quickly bypass licensure red tape and start working in Montana. Frontier Institute has recommended that the legislature go even farther, making the pandemic model of universal licensure recognition permanent.
Current Status: Referred to House Human Services Committee
51 Bills originating from the Governor’s Red Tape Relief Initiative have already been introduced. Of these bills 23 have been scheduled for a hearing before a committee.
To track the status of all of these Red Tape Relief Bills CLICK HERE.
Be sure to stay tuned as I will continue to provide weekly updates as the legislation you care about makes its way through the legislature.
For Liberty,
Tanner Avery
The Latest
I am excited to announce that Frontier Institute is officially hiring for our Director Of Development position! So if you are looking to join a team that will enable you to pursue principled and meaningful reforms in Montana – then we’ve got the job for you!
To find out more about this position and to learn how to apply CLICK HERE.
Forward Toward MEPA Reform
This Friday, The Montana House Committee on Natural Resources will have a hearing on HB 85. HB 85 will expand categorical exclusions for improvements related to agriculture and grazing leases on state trust lands. If you are not familiar, a ‘categorical exclusion’ allows projects or actions with a minimal environmental impact to skip the rigors of lengthy environmental impact statements and instead receive more moderate analysis.
Our Take: Expanding categorical exclusions ensures fewer farmers and ranchers have to wait for a bureaucratic and time consuming environmental analysis when their improvements do not significantly affect the environment. This bill would remove excessive red tape for Montanans in some of the state’s most important industries.
Graphic Of The Week
To see more about this graphic CLICK HERE.