HELENA -- A bill in the Montana Legislature would mean voters would no longer be asked every 10 years to reauthorize the six-mill levy, a property tax for higher education that has been on the ballot every decade since 1948.

A new proposal to continue Montana's Medicaid expansion program surfaced at the state Capitol Wednesday. It offers the first peek at the eagerly anticipated Republican bill to modify Medicaid expansion in the state. That's the program that extends health coverage to around 95,000 low income Montanans. Montana Public Radio Capitol Bureau Chief Corin Cates-Carney joins us now to talk about it.

A bill named for a murdered Northern Cheyenne woman had its first hearing in the Montana Legislature Wednesday morning. Hanna’s Act, House Bill 21 , is one of several in the legislature that draws attention to the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls.

Professional firefighters are again asking lawmakers to expand their workers' compensation benefits to cover chronic diseases they’re more likely to catch because of their jobs. However, the unknown price tag that could come with it is posing a hurdle.

HELENA -- Montana lawmakers are considering a bill that would invalidate consent as a legal defense for doctor-assisted deaths, meaning doctors could be charged with homicide if they help a terminally-ill person die.

When Republican state lawmakers heard an updated economic report yesterday that says Medicaid expansion grows Montana's economy, they didn't have a lot of questions, or push back much against the findings. "The big numbers are roughly 6,000 jobs, roughly $350 million of personal income, $420 million of gross state product," Economist Bryce Ward said at the state Capitol yesterday, presenting a follow-up to his April study on Medicaid expansion.

Montana lawmakers met today to start setting the budget for programs that help people with mental illness or drug and alcohol use disorders. State health department officials say in recent years the administration has increased Montanans’ access to mental health care with the help of Medicaid expansion.

The number of confirmed measles cases in Washington state continues to grow amid a government-declared emergency there. Thirty-five confirmed cases and 11 suspected cases of measles have been identified as of Sunday. Thirty-one victims were unvaccinated, while the status of the remaining four isn’t known. Most cases struck children one to 10 years-old.

HELENA -- Montana would be the 42nd state to criminalize nonconsensual pornography if a new bill introduced in the Montana Legislature becomes law. Rep. Marilyn Ryan, D-Missoula, is sponsoring House Bill 192 , which would make the distribution of sexual images of people without their consent a felony.

Another Republican joins the 2020 race for governor. Republicans may be open to borrowing money for infrastructure projects — with a catch. A proposal for the state to buy a coal-fired power plant gets a rocky reception. Why passing new taxes could get harder. And a new poll shows the power of independent voters in Montana. Learn more now on "Capitol Talk" with Sally Mauk, Rob Saldin and Corin Cates-Carney.