Montana lawmakers are no closer to agreeing on who should fund a missing persons bill after a hearing Tuesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee. House Bill-21, or “Hanna’s Act” is named for a Northern Cheyenne woman who was murdered in 2013. The bill would create a position in the Montana Department of Justice to investigate every missing persons case across the state, in an attempt to bridge gaps in communication and jurisdiction between state, tribal and federal agencies.

A new proposal from House Republicans is calling for a scaled down version of Gov. Steve Bullock ’s plan for the state to borrow money for public works projects. Bullock’s infrastructure plan released early in the session called for $160 million in state bonding. That money would fund $44 million in local assistance grants. It would also and pay for additional water and wastewater grants through the treasure state endowment program, funded through coal severance tax.

As negotiators from the United States and Canada consider tweaks to a longstanding treaty about the Columbia River system, Montana legislators are pushing for local water security and compensation. The Columbia River Treaty outlines shared management of flood risk and hydropower generation along a river system that crisscrosses the international border. The United States, Canada and tribal nations are in the process of modernizing that agreement.

A roughly $10 billion state budget passed out of the Montana House Appropriations Committee Monday afternoon. Lawmakers are pushing forward with a smaller state spending plan than the one offered by Gov. Steve Bullock back in November .

State legislators are considering requiring mandatory decontamination for wakeboarding boats, and having boat owners pay for the procedure. House Bill 608 would establish a $50 fee for boats with ballasts or bladders to undergo a mandatory decontamination each time they enter the state or cross the Continental Divide into the Columbia River basin.

Montana high schoolers are using electronic cigarettes more than their peers across the country. The state health department highlighted e-cigarette risks today as the Bullock administration and health care advocates push for a new tax on e-cigarettes.

Tonight on Capitol Talk : The state health department faces permanent job cuts; A sales tax proposal reappears at the Capitol; Sexual harassment allegations among lawmakers lead to a new anti-harassment policy; And with time running short, Gov. Bullock remains coy about his 2020 election plans.

Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration is objecting to the Legislature’s initial plan to cut funding for around 230 open job positions across Montana government in the next state budget. The state’s $4.3 billion general fund budget is first up for debate as lawmakers arrive back in Helena for the second half of the 2019 legislative session.

Montana’s health department was dealt a major blow in late 2017, when the agency was forced to cut almost $50 million to help balance the state budget . Mary Windecker of the Behavioral Health Alliance of Montana, an advocacy group representing about 30 addiction and mental health care providers, says that was, “A huge shock to both the mental health and substance use systems in the state of Montana.”

Following a trip to Washington, D.C. arranged by U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, a Montana lawmaker said he’s 65-percent confident a White House plan to subsidize coal-fired power plants will succeed. Colstrip Sen. Duane Ankney says he discussed the idea of helping coal compete with renewables and natural gas with the U.S. Department of Energy.