NorthWestern Energy is asking Montana lawmakers to back a bill that would allow them to bypass some oversight by state regulators. The so-called Montana Energy Security Act of 2019 passed out of the Senate late last week.

The bill to continue Montana’s Medicaid expansion , and add work requirements for some recipients, cleared the state House Saturday, and will now be taken up by the Senate. Leadership in the conservative majority opposes the bill by Great Falls Republican Ed Buttrey. But unanimous backing from Democrats and a block of Republicans gave it enough support to advance to the Senate.

It's been a busy week at the Montana Legislature . Medicaid expansion and a bill to help NorthWestern Energy acquire more coal are still alive; A bill to fund preschool education is killed; And a bill to help find missing and murdered Native American women is passed, then killed, then revived. Learn more now on Capitol Talk with Sally Mauk, Rob Saldin and Holly Michels.

A Medicaid expansion policy with new requirements for some low-income adults enrolled in the program passed its first major vote today on the Montana House floor. The so-called Medicaid Reform and Integrity Act cleared the initial vote 61-39, despite objections from the Republican majority leadership.

HELENA -- The third bill in the Montana Legislature that would provide a local option sales tax was tabled with a 12-6 vote in the House Taxation Committee Thursday. House Bill 740 would have allowed local governments to adopt a voter-approved sales tax of up to 4 percent. No more than 40 percent of the tax revenue would go to property tax relief.

As the Montana House prepares to vote on new requirements for Medicaid expansion enrollees a federal judge has ruled that similar plans in other states are unlawful.

A state-funded preschool program has been rejected by Montana lawmakers. The state remains among only a few in the country without publicly funded pre-K. House Bill 755 was tabled on a 9-8 vote hours after its first hearing, Wednesday.

A roughly $80 million infrastructure bonding package is moving forward in the Montana House and faces a final vote in the coming days. The amended bill passed on a 68-32 vote with the Republican Speaker of the House, Majority Leader and other conservatives opposing it.

A controversial bill to change the state’s regulation of NorthWestern Energy in a potential deal at Colstrip cleared a critical vote Wednesday in the Senate. The proposal encourages the state’s largest monopoly utility to increase its operating share of energy production at one of the coal-fired power plant's four units.

HELENA -- As the cost of prescription drugs continues to rise, one bill moving through the Montana Legislature would require pharmaceutical manufacturers to provide information on why the price of a drug has increased.