2019 Montana legislative session

Montana State Legislature
General information
Type:	State legislature
Term limits:	2 terms (8 years) in Senate, 4 terms (8 years in House)
Session start:	January 7, 2019
Session end:	April 25, 2019
Website:	Official Legislature Page
Leadership
Senate President:	Scott Sales (R)
House Speaker:	Greg Hertz (R)
Majority Leader:	Senate: Fred Thomas (R) House: Brad Tschida (R)
Minority Leader:	Senate: Senate: Jon Sesso (D) House: Casey Schreiner (D)
Structure
Members:	50 (Senate), 100 (House)
Length of term:	4 years (Senate), 2 years (House)
Authority:	Art V, Sec. 2, Montana Constitution
Salary:	$82.64/day + per diem
Elections
Last election:	November 6, 2018 Senate House
Next election:	November 3, 2020 Senate House
Redistricting:	Montana Districting and Apportionment Commission has control

Montana convened its legislative session on January 7, 2019, and legislators remained in session until April 25, 2019. No party had a veto-proof supermajority this legislative session. Following the 2018 election, Republicans had a 30-20 majority in the Senate and a 58-42 majority in the House. Democrats controlled the governorship, creating a divided government.

Click the links to read more about the 2020 state Senate and state House elections.
Click the links to read more about the 2018 state Senate and state House elections.

Partisan control in 2019

See also: State government trifectas

Montana was one of 14 states under divided government at the start of 2019 legislative sessions. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor's office, a majority in the state Senate, and a majority in the state House. For more information about state government trifectas, click here.

Montana was also one of 28 state legislatures where neither party had a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers. Veto overrides occur when a legislature votes to reverse a veto issued by an executive such as a governor or the president. If one party has a majority in a state legislature that is large enough to override a gubernatorial veto without any votes from members of the minority party, it is called a veto-proof majority or, sometimes, a supermajority. To read more about veto-proof supermajorities in state legislatures, click here.

The following tables show the partisan breakdown of the Montana State Legislature in the 2019 legislative session.

Montana State Senate

Between 1992 and 2018, partisan control of the Montana State Senate was controlled by Republicans for the majority of the time. The table below shows the partisan history of the Montana State Senate following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

During the 1900s, the Montana Senate was held for long periods of time by both the Democratic and Republican parties.^[1] In the early 1990s, Democrats controlled the Montana Senate until Republicans took over the chamber in the 1994 election. From 1990 to 2018, Democrats held the chamber between the 1990 and 1994 elections and the 2004 and 2006 elections. Democrats held their largest majority following the 1992 election with a 10-seat advantage.

Despite the Democratic majorities in the early 1990s, Republicans gained 11 seats in the 1994 election and took control of the chamber. From 1994 to 2018, Republicans maintained their majority in the chamber with the exception of the years between the 2004 election and the 2006 election when Democrats controlled the chamber. Republicans held their largest majority following the 1996 election when they held the chamber by an 18-seat majority. The Republican gains from 2008 to 2016 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

Montana House of Representatives

Between 1992 and 2018, partisan control of the Montana House of Representatives was controlled by Republicans with the exception of four years when the chamber was tied. The table below shows the partisan history of the Montana House of Representatives following every general election from 1992 to 2018. All data from 2006 or earlier comes from Michael Dubin's Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures (McFarland Press, 2007). Data after 2006 was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

The Montana State Legislature convened its first legislative session in 1889. Between 1889 and 2017, Republicans held the Montana House of Representatives for almost 20 years longer than Democrats. During those same years, the partisan balance in the state House was tied between Republicans and Democrats from 1893 to 1894, 2005 to 2006, and 2009 to 2010.^[2]

Between 1889 and 1992, the Montana House of Representative was controlled for long periods of time by both the Democratic and Republican parties. Since the 1992 elections, the Republican Party has controlled the state House with the exception of four years when the chamber was tied. While the state House was tied from 2005 to 2006 and 2009 to 2010, Democrats elected the speaker of the House. According to Montana law, when a chamber is tied, the political party that controls the governor's office will choose the speaker. Democrats controlled the governor's office during those years. After the chamber became tied in the 2008 elections, Republicans rebounded in the 2010 elections. Republicans picked up 18 seats in that election and won a 68-32 majority. The Republican gains in 2010 were in line with a national trend toward Republican state legislatures during the presidency of Barack Obama (D). From 2009 to 2017, Democrats experienced losses in state legislative elections, totaling 968 seats all together.

Leadership in 2019

Montana State Senate

• Senate president: Scott Sales (R)
• Majority leader: Fred Thomas (R)
• Minority leader: Jon Sesso (D)

Montana House of Representatives

• Speaker of the House: Greg Hertz (R)
• Majority leader: Brad Tschida (R)
• Minority leader: Casey Schreiner (D)

Regular session

The following widget shows up to 25 pieces of legislation in the 2019 legislative session that most recently passed both chambers of the legislature, were signed by the governor, or were approved by the legislature in a veto override. If no bills are displayed below, no legislation met these criteria yet in 2019. This information is provided by BillTrack50.

Standing legislative committees

See also: Standing committee and List of committees in Montana state government

A standing committee of a state legislature is a committee that exists on a more-or-less permanent basis, from legislative session to session, that considers and refines legislative bills that fall under the committee's subject matter.

At the beginning of the 2019 legislative session, there were 39 standing committees in Montana's state government, including six joint legislative committees, 17 state Senate committees, and 16 state House committees.

Joint legislative committees

Senate committees

House committees

Legislatively referred constitutional amendments

In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment. In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures.

The methods in which the Montana Constitution can be amended:

See also: Article XIV, Montana Constitution and Laws governing the initiative process in Montana

Montana Constitution
Preamble
Articles
I • II • III • IV • V • VI • VII • VIII • IX • X • XI • XII • XIII • XIV • Schedule

The Montana Constitution provides three mechanisms for amending the state's constitution—a citizen-initiated process, a legislative process, and a state constitutional convention. Montana requires a simple majority vote (50% plus 1) for voters to approve constitutional amendments.

Initiative

See also: Initiated constitutional amendment

An initiated constitutional amendment is a citizen-initiated ballot measure that amends a state's constitution. Eighteen (18) states allow citizens to initiate constitutional amendments.

In Montana, the number of signatures required for an initiated constitutional amendment is equal to 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election. Montana also has a distribution requirement that requires proponents to collect signatures equal to 10% of the qualified electors in each of two-fifths (40) of the state's 100 legislative districts. A simple majority vote is required for voter approval.

Legislature

See also: Legislatively referred constitutional amendment

A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required of all members of the legislature during one legislative session for the Montana State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. Since Montana has 150 legislators (100 Representatives and 50 Senators), at least 100 members must vote in favor of a constitutional amendment for it to pass. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

Convention

See also: Convention-referred constitutional amendment

According to Section 3, Article XIV of the Montana Constitution, a question about whether to hold a state constitutional convention is to automatically appear on the state's ballot every 20 years, if it has not otherwise appeared on the ballot in the last 20 years. Montana is one of 14 states that provides for an automatic constitutional convention question.

The table below shows the last and next constitutional convention question election years:

The Montana State Legislature is also authorized to submit a constitutional convention question to voters via a two-thirds (66.67%) vote of both chambers. Citizens may also initiate a constitutional convention question. The number of signatures required to place the question on the ballot is equal to 10% of the qualified electors of the state, including at least 10 percent of the qualified electors in each of two-fifths of the legislative districts. Any amendments proposed by a convention must be ratified by the voters.

2021 measures:

See also: 2021 ballot measures

Certified:

The following measures were certified for the ballot.

No measures to list

2020 measures:

Below is a list of measures that were referred to the 2020 ballot by the legislature.

See also: Montana 2020 ballot measures

Certified:

The following measures were certified for the ballot.

• Montana C-47, Initiated Statute and Referendum Distribution Requirements Amendment (2020)

Historical partisan control

The table below depicts the historical trifecta status of Montana.

See also

Elections	Montana State Government	State Legislatures	State Politics
Montana State Senate elections, 2018 Montana House of Representatives elections, 2018	Montana State Legislature Montana House of Representatives Montana State Senate Governor of Montana Montana Supreme Court	State legislative elections, 2019 State legislative special elections, 2019 State legislative elections, 2018 State legislative elections, 2016	State government trifectas State government triplexes Veto overrides in state legislatures State executives State courts Ballot measures

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• Montana State Legislature homepage

Footnotes

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