Lawmakers have proposed over a dozen amendments during the legislative session thus far. It takes 100 votes from both chambers to send an amendment to be considered by the voters.
SB 518 was one of two parental rights bills heard Monday morning in the Senate Judiciary Committee, the other coming from Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe, R-Billings. The committee also heard Seekins-Crowe’s bill that was the legislature’s second attempt at passing Legislative Referendum 131, which failed at the ballot box last fall, with new language that a parent could reject medical care for an infant not expected to survive; as well as a bill from Rep. Brandon Ler, R- Savage, to permit misgendering of transgender children in school.
Montana Republican lawmakers say parents should have more control over their children’s experience in public schools. One of their proposals passed and one failed, approaching Friday’s deadline for general policy to advance.
On Tuesday, a Montana Senate committee passed a bill that would create a “Constitution Settlement Commission of the States” by state compact to review, evaluate, and define the scope and power of the federal government. This would set the stage for states to take further action to refuse to cooperate with overreaching federal power.