Concerned Citizens Meet at Library Wednesdays, 6 PM

A group of concerned citizens meets Wednesdays from 6-7 PM at the Whitehall Community Library. If you need help with the Legislative website, BillTracker, or your Substack media account, please come at 5:30 PM. The regular meeting will begin at 6 PM.

At our Feb 26 meeting, we reviewed the functions of the legislative website that had stumped us previously: the recorded hearing videos are accessed via the “Now Streaming” button (or course!). The bill tracker function works, the state pays for it, and it is a separate platform that will send you emails for the bills you select.

We opened with an excerpt from a TED talk by journalist Ann Curry that discussed the dissolution of the wall that once protected journalistic integrity from corporate profitmaking. We are building a media source table that shares bias, format, subject, and ownership.

We discussed some Montana bills: there are still two “right to repair” bills alive: SB509 and HB813. HB119, which would form a Montana Cattle Association (that will meet once per year) at the price of $1 per head, is still in the works, although the scheduled hearing to discuss it 2/27 was abruptly canceled.

SB 307 will reallocate 52% of the collected marijuana tax money away from public lands, veterans, and other specific groups, instead allocating monies to the general fund. This bill does not pass the sniff test, but it has passed the Montana senate. As of 3/2/25 the fiscal note for the bill states, “FWP [Fish, Wildlife, and Parks] will lose state special revenue of $15,838,000 in FY 2026, $16,540,000 in FY2027, $17,098,000 in FY 2029, and $17,741,000 in FY 2029.” There is no suggested change to the tax amounts, just changes to who gets the funds. Oddly enough, I ran across some content that said the marijuana tax funds would go into the general fund and then be shifted to a natural resource infrastructure trust fund that is being brought with amendments by my own House Rep Ken Walsh, HB 256. More research required.

We received several questions over the week with topics that ranged from the Department of Education, to USAID, to Biden’s long-time work in China in contrast to Trump’s long-time affiliation with Russia. The ramifications in Montana from the firings at the public lands agencies and the VA continue to evolve, and we share what we learn as facts emerge.

State legislative news has been dominating our time for these first two meetings, but we agreed to carve out time to discuss the federal government policies and actions in the next meetings. Everyone is welcome, and we hope to see you there.