The dust has settled after a historic legislative session. Montana’s governor has now set a benchmark for measuring the success of his campaign promise to lead the state’s comeback from the pandemic.

Montana lawmakers declined to override eight vetoes from Gov. Greg Gianforte on bills that saw close votes when passed during the 2021 legislative session.

Montana’s lone U.S. representative Wednesday afternoon voted against a bill to establish June 19 as a federal holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. The proposal passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the House.

A Montana Supreme Court justice who voted in a 6-1 ruling to uphold a new law allowing the governor to appoint judges directly to open benches is also condemning Republican lawmakers and the state’s attorney general for their handling of the proceedings.

Montana’s senior U.S. senator is among a bipartisan group of 10 lawmakers working on an infrastructure deal after President Joe Biden ended talks with a core group of Republicans earlier in the week.

The two Democrats and two Republicans in charge of redrawing the state’s new congressional and legislative districts are in disagreement over how to start drawing lines. The U.S. Census Bureau has not yet released the final data states need to start drawing districts, but Montana’s Districting and Apportionment Commission met Thursday to talk about the rules that will guide the process.

Montana’s governor will retain a new power to appoint judges directly to vacant benches without the input of the Judicial Nomination Commission. The Montana Supreme Court upheld the law in a ruling issued Thursday .

Montana lawmakers will consider overriding eight of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s vetoes from the 2021 legislative session. The bills Gianforte vetoed meet the threshold for an automatic poll of lawmakers asking if they’d like to reverse the governor’s decision.

A record number of Montanans are enrolled in the state’s expanded health coverage program for low-income adults. More than 9% of the state's population is enrolled in the program. Enrollment in Montana’s Medicaid expansion climbed to record levels this spring after rising since early 2020. Nearly 99,000 Montanans were enrolled as of the latest data in April.

Gov. Greg Gianforte is taking public comment on five judges being considered for a vacant bench in Cascade County.