Things are moving quickly as we get toward the end of the Legislative session, with rumors of wrapping up by the end of this month.

This week Holly Michels, head of the bureau, runs down the status of a major piece of the puzzle still missing — the implementation of a recreational marijauna program. Three bills cleared the House, what’s next for them?

Holly will also walk through reporting from Seaborn Larson on the legal challenge to the new law giving the governor direct appointment power when there’s a judicial vacancy. Emails obtained by the Montana State News Bureau show judges around the state weighed in on the bill, posing challenges for who can hear the case now.

And then deputy Tom Kuglin will explain what happened with a bill that would have originally let state agencies charge the public to comment on environmental impact statements and how the bill was dramatically changed to make it less controversial. Tom will also describe how the pandemic made the public lands rally that normally fills the state Capitol building a much different event this year and get into a bill Gov. Greg Gianforte just signed that will put Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks conservation easements under the Montana Land Board, reversing a policy that under his predecessor went to the state Supreme Court.

Then Holly wraps up with the possibility of the Legislature overriding Gianforte’s first veto, something that hasn’t happened in nearly two decades.

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