Montana lawmakers debate bipartisanship in state committees
Nicole Girten
(Daily Montanan) Republican and Democrat legislators largely disagreed on how party make-up in interim committees impact the bills that come out of them during a discussion on the topic Friday.
During the last session, the Republican supermajority passed a bill to change the makeup of interim committees from bipartisan, with equal Democrats and Republicans on the committee, to giving the majority party committee a majority in the committees and four partisan bills. That means with one party’s support, those can come from each committee, without any support of the minority.
Last week, the new committee structure came to a head when a lawmaker proposed committee bills — those sponsored by the interim committees — to help childcare. Democrats proposed the measure, and Republicans refused to support any of the ideas, saying they should be reserved for the majority party preferences, in this case, Republican bills.
Democrats argued during the Friday meeting bipartisan committees produced bills that require less vetting during the session, saving time and resources during a time-crunched legislative session. They also noted that the previous interim committee bills had to achieve bipartisan consensus to pass. But Republicans said the consensus requirement meant some good bills couldn’t get out of the interim committee, and breaking party lines to get bills passed could have consequences.
Rep. Kelly Kortum, D-Bozeman, brought the topic up during the State Administration and Veterans’ Affairs Interim Committee and said he thought the “beauty” of interim committees was being able to debate and write legislation thoughtfully prior to the time crunch during the legislative session.
Republicans hold a Supermajority in the legislature, and under the new law the majority in all the interim committees.
“If we’re not guaranteed consensus built out of this committee, we’ll just repeat all the same fights that we had here on the floor, and that’s not a good use of our time, in my opinion,” Kortum said.
Kortum also asked to have a study be conducted comparing the outcome of bills of partisan and bipartisan committees.
Sen. Forrest Mandeville, R-Columbus, said it was premature to look into changing the new system without a study in place. He said he didn’t think too highly of the bills that came out of interim committees, and chairperson of the committee Rep. Julie Dooling, R-Helena, agreed, saying sometimes there was “too much of a compromise.”
“I’ve seen really good legislation, really good things that should have happened in interim committees, go down because there weren’t enough votes,” Dooling said. “Somebody had to break party lines, and if you break party lines… there’s repercussions for that.”
Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, said seven of the eight interim bills out of the 2021-2022 Children and Families Interim Committee were signed into law, with Gov. Greg Gianforte vetoing one.
“It’s possible to have really good work in these committees, it just depends on the committees,” he said.
Staff for the committee confirmed with the legal department the interim committees have been bipartisan with an equal split between parties since 1973.
Democrats hope to gain legislative ground this session, likely not enough for a majority, but the party looks to add 10 seats, with Minority Leader Rep. Kim Abbott, D-Helena, citing wins from the redistricting process during a recent speech. Democrats believe incumbent candidate U.S. Sen. Jon Tester being on the ticket will also drive positive turnout.
But Kortum said during the meeting if the party gains ground it might not be reflected in the interim committee makeup.
“What if, say, my party has 45% of the vote share next time,” Kortum said. “That’s only 10 points down, but we’d still have way, way less representation proportionally in this committee.”
Legislative staff is requesting clarification from legal because section one of the bill says there should be a 3-1 ratio of majority and minority party representation, but there is also language that points to proportionality, reading members may be chosen “in a manner that reflects the majority and minority composition of the legislature.”
The committee Friday did not vote on whether to advance a study bill on the topic.