Alerts & Actions
MHRN 2023 LEGISLATIVE SUMMARY, WEEK 5
The 2023 Legislative Session is heating up! Several Slate of Hate bills are moving forward in committees and floor votes. That means your legislators need to hear from YOU! It’s time for allies and co-conspirators to raise their voices and remind your legislators that extremists don’t speak for all Montanans.
Top action items!
Tell the House Judiciary Committee NO on HB 359 (drag show ban) and HB 361 (pro-bullying bill)
Tell the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee to vote yes on HB 141, which would establish Indigenous People’s Day in Montana
KEEP READING FOR ACTION ITEMS ON LGBTQ RIGHTS, INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY AND DEFENDING DEMOCRACY!
Write or call 2-3 times each week!
We know that we can score some big wins if a few more people commit to sending 2 to 3 emails a week on the 2 to 3 bills they care about most. Our updates will help make this simple and manageable, so stay tuned!
How to contact your legislators
It’s easy to contact them by phone or email, so don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts with them.
Look up your legislators here.
Call the very friendly Capitol operators at (406) 444-4800. Hours are 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, and you can leave messages for up to 5 individual legislators or 1 legislative committee per call.
Send an email using contact information from the legislative roster or using the online email form. The email form is especially helpful when you’re emailing an entire committee.
Use our online action forms! If we have one active, it’ll be linked here
LGBTQ+ Rights
Say NO to the Slate of Hate
We’re calling anti-LGBTQ+ bills the Slate of Hate because they’re designed to incite fear, restrict access to healthcare, deny people the right to live as their authentic selves, and take away the freedom of expression. Here are the Slate of Hate bills of the week.
Say NO to HB 359 – Tell the House Judiciary Committee to reject HB 359, a ban on drag events.
This anti-drag bill is a huge attack on freedom of expression and parental rights. HB 359 bans anyone under 18 from attending drag events, including drag story hours and drag bingo events, which are very popular. Businesses hosting drag events would be falsely labeled as “sexually oriented,” like strip clubs. We know that Montanans LOVE drag events, so please send a message and be ready to send another message when the hearing in House Judiciary is scheduled.
Say NO to HB 361 – Tell the House Judiciary Committee to reject HB 361, which would neutralize public schools’ anti-bullying policies. This bill will have a hearing in House Judiciary on Wednesday, February 8.
HB 361 would allow any student to deadname and misgender another student without consequences. The bill claims that this kind of harassment and intimidation would not be considered discrimination, leaving transgender, nonbinary, and Two Spirit students open to even more bullying than they already receive at school.
Say NO to HB 303 – Tell your Representative to vote no on HB 303. It will have a House floor vote on Monday.
This so-called medical “conscience” bill sponsored by Rep. Amy Regier (R-Kalispell) would allow any health care provider to refuse service to any person for any reason without consequences. Supporters admitted that if this bill passed, they would use it to refuse to take part in any gender-affirming care to transgender, nonbinary, and Two Spirit people. As we have already seen across the U.S., bills like these are especially harmful in rural areas where health care providers are limited.
Say NO to HB 234 – Please tell your Representative to reject HB 234. This will have a vote on the House floor soon.
HB 234 claims to protect minors from “obscene” materials but actually infringes on the right to access information. We are very concerned about how this bill could remove the authority of local school boards, the First Amendment rights of students, and parental rights. HB 234 is unnecessary, misleading, and is specifically targeting a book with LGBTQ+ themes.
Say NO to SB 99 – Tell your Senator to vote no on SB 99, which will have a floor vote soon. This form makes it easy! If you sent a message about this bill last week, feel free to send another one.
SB 99 is an extreme bill that is designed to prevent trans, nonbinary, and Two Spirit people from accessing medical care and support from educators and other professionals. The restrictions in this bill will also hurt access to medical specialists for all Montana youth.
Indigenous Sovereignty
Say YES on SB 141 – Please tell the Senate Education and Cultural Resources Committee to support SB 141. It will have a hearing on Wednesday, February 8.
SB 141 would establish Indigenous People’s Day as a legal state holiday on the second Monday of October. Changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day will allow us to recognize and celebrate Indigenous peoples’ resilience and strength as well as the immeasurable positive impact that they have made on every aspect of Montana.
Say YES on HB 317– Please tell the House Human Services committee to support HB 317. They will be voting on it very soon.
For far too long, state and federal legislation has allowed the violent removal of Indigenous children from their living, loving families and communities. Montana still needs to reckon with its participation in Indian boarding schools and other forced separations that have caused intergenerational trauma and lasting harm. Indigenous people and child welfare professionals testified very strongly in favor of this bill.
MHRN supports HB 317 for many reasons, including coordinated attacks by extremist groups on Indigenous sovereignty. More information here.
Say YES on HB 287 – Please tell your Representative to support this bill.
HB 287 would revise laws related to the established Montana Indian Language Preservation Program, MILP. This bill removes the Montana Historical Society as an administrator and places administration in the hands of tribal governments and the Office of Public Instruction. More information here.
SJ 6 update – This bill passed third reading in the Senate 43-5! We’ll remind you to take action when this moves to a House committee.
SJ 6 would recognize the trauma and harm done to Indigenous communities through the Indian boarding school system, which forcibly took children away from their families for over a century. The joint resolution would also urge the United States Congress to designate a National Day of Remembrance for the Native American children who died while attending a United States Indian boarding school.
Say YES on HB 18 – This bill passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously. Please tell your Senator to support this bill.
HB 18 will establish a missing persons response team training program and grant fund that will help search and rescue teams have a quicker response to missing persons reports. This bill is a necessary step in addressing Montana’s missing and murdered Indigenous people crisis.
HB 163 update – This bill passed unanimously in the House. We will let you know when it is assigned to a committee in the Senate. HB 163 will extend the Montana Department of Justice’s Missing Indigenous Persons Task Force through 2025.
SB 119 update – This bill passed unanimously in the Senate, and we will let you know when it is assigned for a hearing in the House.
SB 119 will provide tax exemptions for tribal members who own fee land and are in the process of converting that land to trust. The bill is an important step in affirming tribal sovereignty and helps Tribes and their members address the ravages of past federal policies like the Dawes Act. Click here to find out more about this bill.
Defending Democracy
MHRN is seeing outrageous attacks on voting rights, free and fair elections, and individual rights in the 2023 Montana Legislative Session. Here are the bills we’re fighting this week.
Say NO to SB 200 – Tell the Senate State Administration to vote no on this bill in its hearing next week.
SB 200 would allow candidates for nonpartisan races to declare a partisan affiliation and to have that affiliation appear on the ballot. As written, this includes judicial candidates and candidates for other nonpartisan offices, including school boards. Creating partisan offices in judicial races is an attack on the American concept of the independent judiciary. Judges and community members should be elected based on their qualifications and not their party affiliation.
Say NO to SB 222 – The Senate State Administration Committee recently heard this bill and will vote soon. Contact the committee and tell them to vote no.
SB 222 would establish the Montana Individual Freedom Act, which would severely limit access to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) trainings for state employees and contractors. DEI trainings help everyone learn about the harmful impacts of discrimination, unconscious bias, intergenerational trauma, and chapters of our history that have been erased. This legislation falls in line with national organizations’ efforts to attack anti-racism efforts.
Reproductive Rights
NO on SB 154 – This bill passed third reading on the Senate floor, 28 to 21. We will let you know when it is assigned for a hearing in the House. SB 154 would chip away at the personal right to privacy by excluding abortion care from constitutional protections. This defies the Montana Constitution and the Armstrong decision, which specifically protects the right to abortion in our state.
NO on HB 213 – MHRN strongly opposes this bill. It has passed through the House, and we will notify you when it has a hearing in the Senate HB 213 is an attempt to establish fetal personhood, with sweeping consequences for reproductive rights.
Economic Justice
NO on SB 121 – This bill is waiting for a vote in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee. Please tell them to vote no.
According to the Montana Budget and Policy Center, SB 121 revises income tax laws in a way that cuts income taxes for the richest Montanans and is expected to cost nearly $180 million each year once fully phased in. Evidence has shown that the ultimate cost of cutting income taxes is not offset by new economic growth. When combined with other bills like HB 222, HB 221, HB 212, HB 189, HB 192, and HB 225, it will create revenue losses of almost $1 billion. That’s $1 billion that won’t be available to fund needed public services.
Action on HB 216 – This bill will have a vote in the House State Administration Committee, so please tell them to vote no.
HB 216 is a union-busting bill that contains a lot of unnecessary language stating that public employees are not required to be part of a union. The language implies that union membership is coerced, and the restrictions the bill enacts represent government overreach and an assault on the freedom of speech. This is dangerous misinformation that should not be codified into public law. Public and private sector workers like nurses, educators, police, and state troopers who protect, serve, educate, and care for Montana citizens deserve to have the freedom to organize without burdensome restrictions.