News & Updates

As of yesterday, 256 bills have been introduced in the Montana House and Senate. That may seem like a lot, but when it’s all said and done, that number will rise to about 1600.

Many people know how a bill becomes a law because we’ve all seen the old Schoolhouse Rock video, “I’m Just a Bill.” But fewer of us know how a bill actually becomes a bill, how an idea in someone’s head becomes an actual bill on a piece of paper. It usually starts when someone sees something wrong and decides to do something about it. They run to their legislator and ask them to pass a law. If the idea has merit, the legislator requests that a bill be drafted. That sets an entire chain of events in motion.

It all starts in Legislative Services, a department within the legislative branch manned mainly by clerks and lawyers. The bill draft request is first assigned to a drafter who specializes in a given subject. Education bills go to one drafter, energy bills to another and tax bills to yet another. The drafter, usually a lawyer, checks to see if the idea is already covered in existing law. Then they meet with the legislator to understand exactly what they’re looking for. Some legislators start from scratch. Others are moving a successful idea from another state, so they can use that state’s law as a good place to start. Still others use what’s called “model legislation.” We do this a lot. One of our national partners, like Focus on the Family or the Alliance Defending Freedom will identify a problem common to multiple states, such as stopping President Obama’s transgender public schools mandate. They will then develop a piece of legislation that could be tweaked and introduced in several states. Because each state’s constitution is slightly different, the legislation has to be modified to fit.

Once the drafter and the legislator agree on the language, the drafting process moves forward. Depending on the subject and the complexity of the bill, it may go through several revisions before the legislator is comfortable with the final product.

Sometimes legislators come to US with an idea and direct the bill drafter to work with our government affairs team. The legislator, of course, signs off on the final version, but it can be helpful and a better use of their time, to let our people handle the nitty gritty. In addition to fleshing out an idea, the drafter also has to figure out where the bill fits into the Montana Code and which other sections it might affect. It’s a fairly complex process, and it takes time. Drafters rack up lots of overtime when the legislature is in session.

Once the language is finalized, the bill moves on to the checkers, who check it for format, grammar, spelling and punctuation. It’s embarrassing for the public to find a typo in a bill.

After the bill is edited, proofed and in its final form, it’s ready to be picked up and introduced. Sometimes legislators ask other legislators to add their names to the bill. These are called “co-sponsors,” and for a freshman, having the Speaker of the House or Senate President as a co-sponsor, lends a high degree of credibility to your idea.

Once the bill is introduced, it’s off to the races. To understand THAT process, check out “I’m Just a Bill” by Schoolhouse Rock. It’s on YouTube.

by Jeff Laszloffy

            As 2016 draws to a close and we look forward to Christmas, I find myself filled with hope for several reasons. First, politically. For some, it’s the main reason. Their hope rises and falls depending on who wins the election. For me, strangely, given my job and politics, it’s a side story. I am hopeful, however, that this coming year will be better than the last.

I’m hopeful that President Trump will focus more on governing than pushing a politically correct agenda; that we will once again use the military to defend the nation, rather than as some vast social experiment; the changes will be implemented that will reign in Obamacare and allow the middle class to once again afford health insurance; that funding for Planned Parenthood will finally be cut from the federal budget; that our borders will once again be secure; that we will once again be a reliable ally to Israel; and that we will seek constructionist judges on par with Justice Antonin Scalia, appointed to the Supreme Court. I’m hopeful that religious freedom will once again be protected rather than maligned; that Common Core will be thrown on the ash heap of failed ideas; and that the 95 million Americans currently out of work will find good-paying jobs as companies come back from overseas. Will it happen overnight? No, it took decades to dismantle America, and it will take years to rebuild, but rebuild we will, if government stays out of the way.

By now, it should be apparent that I have more faith in the industry and ingenuity of the people than I do in government think tanks and bureaucrats. I believe that individuals working to better their own lives and the lives of their loved ones will grow a stronger economy faster and better than one built by socialist utopians cut from the mold of Stalin, Lenin and Mao. But for all my hope that we will be better off politically, as I said earlier, it’s a side story.

My true hope never has been, and never will be, in government. I don’t wake up each morning looking for government to solve my problems, and my hope does not rise and fall, depending on who gets elected. I can truly say that my hope is in Christ, and Christ, alone. And that’s why Christmas is so important. Romans 5 says that “suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” Our hope through Christ is eternal. It doesn’t run from one presidential cycle to the next. It goes on forever and that’s TRUE hope.

The 2017 legislative session starts in just ten days. But for now, let’s lay aside the things of the world and focus on the things of God, things like love and joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and I would add, the gift of family. Christmas is a time to step back, take a breath and reconnect with God and those we love. And that’s OUR prayer for you!

From all of us at the Montana Family Foundation, have a very Merry Christmas and a joyful New Year!

Yesterday in a conversation with a Jewish friend of mine, I was reminded of the ongoing struggle of the Jewish people, a struggle that found its way into the news twice in just the past week: First, when Neo-Nazis called for an anti-Jewish march in Whitefish, Montana; and Second, when President Obama delivered a parting shot by refusing to veto a UN resolution condemning Israel. Both of these actions left me confused, angry, and sad for my Jewish friends.

The march in Whitefish is easier to understand. It’s plain, old-fashioned anti-Semitism, the same anti-Semitism that led to the expulsion of the Jews from Israel in the first century, the pogroms that led to the massacre of Jews in Europe, and finally, the most heinous of them all, the extermination of millions of Jews under Adolph Hitler. I’ve never understood it, especially when the persecution comes from so-called Christians. God’s Word is clear: Those who bless Israel will be blessed and those who curse Israel will be cursed. I, for one, want to be blessed.

The second news story is more confusing. Israel is our strongest ally in the Middle East, bar none, and this administration has treated them like dirt ever since President Obama came to office. We’ve snubbed their prime minister, we’ve undermined their national security and we’ve given preferential treatment to Iran, a nation whose leaders have sworn to wipe Israel off the map. In many ways, the current leaders of Egypt and Jordan have been better friends to Israel than the current U.S. administration. Everyone in the Middle East, including the Israelis, knows that there needs to be a lasting peace, but you don’t get there by unilaterally ceding land to the Palestinians. They tried that in Gaza and wound up with, in effect, a Hamas-controlled missile base lobbing rockets into the heart of Israel. One of the greatest challenges to a lasting peace agreement is, who do you negotiate with? Israel has a stable democratic government, but the Palestinians are fractured and none of them are willing to let a different faction negotiate for them.

It’s a challenge, to be sure, and one that few of us in the west will ever understand, because we’ve never seen millions of our friends and family fall victim to a holocaust. If you’d like to better understand Israel, theologically, geopolitically, archeologically and sociologically, then I would encourage you to join my wife, Jennifer, and me as we lead another tour to Israel this coming May. They say that before going to Israel, you read your Bible in black and white, and after returning, you read it in full color. It’s true, and our trips are life-changing. At a minimum, every pastor should go to the Holy Land, preferably early-on in their ministry. We still have a few slots open if you would like to join us.

And before I forget, next week, Monday, is the start of the 2017 legislative session. Our government affairs team is already in place, and their job is to pass the good bills and kill the bad ones. This broadcast will also change from a weekly to a daily format to keep you up-to-date and informed on everything that’s happening in Helena. You can also visit the bill tracker on our website at montanafamily.org and finally, you can keep us in the Capitol and on the air by making a year-end gift. It’s all part of keeping Montana a great place to raise our children and grandchildren.

For all the attention paid to the elections and for all the angst they cause, it’s important to remember they’re just the run-up to the main event, the convening of Congress and our state legislature in January. That’s where simple angst can become wailing and gnashing of teeth, depending on whether your team won or lost on election night. Before we get there, however, we need to choose our team captains, and that happened on Monday at the Legislative Winter Caucuses. The caucuses are the first chance for newly-elected legislators from both parties to get together, meet each other and start to form the working relationships necessary to move their agendas forward. Arguably, the most important part of the caucuses is the selection of leadership, because it’s the leaders who set the agenda, the tone and the tenor in any legislative session.

The fact that the most important slots would be filled by Republicans was a given. Republicans won large majorities in the House and Senate. The real question was whether the leaders would be chosen from the liberal or conservative wings of the Republican party. It all began at 10:00 a.m., and the House quickly re-elected Austin Knudsen as the Speaker. Knudsen is a solid conservative legislator and a good choice for our side. Next comes the majority leader, very important because he sets the agenda and leads floor action. It was Representative Ron Ehli against Representative Kirk Wagoner, both solid conservatives. In the end, Ehli won, although either would have been fine, in our opinion. Rounding out the field was Representative Greg Hertz who ran unopposed for Speaker pro tempore.

On the Senate side, it was more of a nail-biter. When the dust settled, Scott Sales of Bozeman was elected Senate president. Senator Sales once served as Speaker of the House and is considered to be one of the most dependable conservatives in the Senate. As Yogi Berra would say, the race for Senate majority leader was “déjà vu all over again.” Senator Fred Thomas took that slot, and ironically, he’ll move back into his old office. Fred was the Senate majority leader back in 2003 when I was Speaker pro tempore in the House. He’s always been a rock-solid pro-family vote. That left the race between Senator Lew Jones and Senator Bob Keenan for President pro tempore. It came down to a tie vote, and Keenan won by a coin toss. Ironically, he also served as Senate president in 2003. Both Senator Keenan and Senator Thomas were term-limited, sat out the requisite eight years and then ran for re-election. They quickly moved back into leadership because of their experience, and both will serve our issues well.

All in all, it was a good day. Now we begin Phase 2, the selection of the committees. This will determine, to a large degree, the final outcome of the session. Unlike the Senate which chooses its committee members by committee, the Speaker of the House has sole discretion when it comes to committee assignments. This makes him extremely powerful. By this time next week, we should know who serves on which committees, especially the House and Senate judiciary committees where our team spends the majority of its time. The Judiciary committees debate the heavy-duty moral and ethical issues, like life, marriage, the 2^nd Amendment and the death penalty. Getting the right members on the committees begins with getting the right people elected to leadership. Phase I complete, now it’s on to Phase 2!