Legislators fail to get votes for special session

Montana legislators voted last week to not have a special session.

A majority of at least 76 legislators was needed to approve the call for the special session. Only 55 legislators (54 Republicans and one Democrat) approved the call, including 37 in the state House of Representatives and 18 in the state Senate.

Sanders County legislators Bob Brown and Paul Fielder voted in favor of the special session and Representative Denley Loge voted against the special session.

The Montana Freedom Caucus, a group of 21 Republican legislators (including Brown and Fielder) called for the special session in order to address tax concerns after the state Supreme Court sided with the Department of Revenue regarding how much in taxes should be collected.

“The state government collected more taxes than it actually needs to run the government,” Rep. Fielder said on Monday. “We wanted to give the excess funds to the taxpayers. It’s been a tough year. People need the money now rather than later.”

Fielder said there were some questions about the cost of the special session, but he noted that the regular session got out three days early last year and so the money for the special session was in the budget. “It wouldn’t have cost anything more.” Fielder, the chair of the house taxation committee, noted that he and the senate taxation committee chairman both voted for the special session.

Republican Rep. Denley Loge from St. Regis, whose District 14 includes part of Sanders County, voted against the special session. “There were things that could have been taken care of in the regular session that didn’t get done,” Loge said. “To me the idea of going in for two or three days and trying to find long-term solutions is not a responsible way of doing it.” Loge said that what helped him make his decision on his special session vote was Governor Gianforte’s call for a special tax task force. “That’s the approach we need so we can come up with a good long-term plan and we can get input from constituents,” Loge expressed. “In a special session, meetings happen so fast and people don’t have time to give input. It didn’t look to me like the responsible thing to do. We just have to do the right thing for the people.” Loge said he agreed with some of the ideas for the special session, but he didn’t see any firm proposed bills.

The Secretary of State’s office mailed ballots to legislators to vote on the special session. Twenty-one legislators did not return a ballot, which equals a “no” vote. “On the House floor, you don’t get an option to not vote,” Fielder expressed.

The Department of Revenue argued that counties should be collecting 95 mills in a state school tax. The Montana Association of Counties had filed a lawsuit alleging that counties could levy fewer mills due to increased property values. Sanders County had signed a resolution asking MACo to represent them in the action.