Montana News

What does the Kansas congressional election have to do with Montana's House race? Will the upcoming visits by Donald Trump Jr. and (possibly) Bernie Sanders, help the candidates? Mail-only voting looks dead in the Legislature , where passage of a gas tax hike looks likely and infrastructure funding and bonding are still being debated. And in 2018 election news, Jon Tester has a Republican challenger in the Senate race . These stories an more on this episode of "Capitol Talk."

The Senate gave final approval today to a bill that would fund capital projects, like university system renovations and a veterans’ home in Butte, with money from state special revenue funds, grants and donations.

Montana’s utility regulators failed Thursday in an attempt to push forward their top priority of the legislative session — changing the law to limit how much of the costs of electricity supply NorthWestern Energy can pass onto its customers.

Lee Enterprises, which owns the Missoulian newspaper and several other papers in Montana, announced Thursday it’s purchased the Missoula Independent . The sale price was not disclosed. The Independent , a weekly alternative paper, was founded in 1991 and is distributed at almost 500 locations in Missoula, Ravalli and Lake counties. Lee operates papers in 21 states and is estimated to reach almost 3 million readers in print alone.

The University of Montana this week unveiled the first draft of its new, long-range strategic vision . The plan is designed to show how UM distinguishes itself from other regional and national campuses. It does that in a number of ways, including reexamining its core curriculum and its relationships with faculty, staff and students.

The Montana House of Representatives killed a bill today that would have asked voters to make hunting, fishing and trapping a Constitutional right. Senate Bill 236 passed the Senate on a 30-to-20 vote back in March.

A proposal for a new kind of rainy-day fund to protect Montana from future boom and bust swings in the state budget passed out of a House committee Wednesday. Lawmakers are considering a change to how the state saves money, creating a new system allowing the state to react more quickly when it faces a shortfall in revenue.

HELENA — The Montana House gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would make it illegal for physicians to perform abortions after five months of pregnancy. Senate Bill 329 provides an exception for medical emergencies that threaten the life of the mother. The House passed the bill on a 60-40 vote, and will hold a final vote Thursday.

The Montana Legislature is taking a break this weekend after passing more than a dozen bills today. The Legislature has only two scheduled weeks left in the 90-day session.

House Bill 473 would impose the first increase to Montana’s gas tax increase since the early 1990s, when the tax was raised to the current charge of 27 cents per gallon. The new tax proposed by the House, in March, calls for an additional 8 cent tax increase per gallon of gas. But that was too high for the Senate. So, this week the Senate passed a compromise: 4.5 cents per gallon, going up to 6 cents by 2023.