Week 3 of the 2019 Legislative Session:
What You Need to Know
The 2019 Legislative Session is in full swing and the Montana Women Vote staff are here to keep you informed and give you the tools to affect policy and create change in our state.
Week 3 Priority Bills
Medicaid Expansion – SUPPORT
Montana’s Medicaid Expansion provides health insurance to nearly 100,000 Montanans. In 2015, the Legislature expanded Medicaid, but without legislative action, the program is set to expire in July 2019.
Representative Mary Caferro’s Keep Montana Healthy Act (LC 1088), would lift the Medicaid expansion sunset, and protect the healthcare coverage of nearly 1 in 10 of our friends and neighbors.
The Capitol Switchboard is open weekdays from 7:30 am to 5 pm. Call your legislators today at (406)444-4800, and ask them to SUPPORT LC 1088!
To find out who your legislators are, click here and enter your address.
Tax Bills – OPPOSE
House Bill 144, carried by Rep. Alan Redfield, would eliminate the Earned Income Tax Credit, which provides tax credits for working families, while retaining the Capital Gains Tax Credit, which primarily benefits the wealthiest 1% of Montanans.
House Bill 148, carried by Rep. Forrest Mandeville, would require 2/3 of the Montana Senate and House of Rep.s to enact a new tax or fee or increase an existing tax or fee. This would limit the state’s ability to respond to crisis and/or recession, protect outdated or wasteful tax breaks, and likely cause future cuts to vital state programs.
Call your legislators today at (406)444-4800 or send them a message through this online form, and ask them to OPPOSE both HB 144 and HB 148!
To find out who your legislators are, click here and enter your address
Voting Rights Attack – Tabled
Senator Mike Cuffe recently introduced Senate Bill 143, a bill to eliminate Election Day Voter Registration. The bill would have ended voter registration at 5 pm on the Friday before election day, making it more difficult for working Montanans to register to vote.
On Wednesday, SB 143 was tabled in the Senate State Administration Committee without a hearing, meaning the bill is effectively dead.