The 64th session of the Montana Legislature opened Monday. Montana's 90-day session is always a little hectic, here's how you can follow the proceedings, stay informed, and keep in touch with your state representatives.
The Montana Legislature website is a good place to start if you want to contact a legislator or look up a bill. The legislature site also provides live streaming video and audio for some committee meetings.
At the Open:States website you can track bills and see profiles of legislators. The profiles include all the bills each legislator has sponsored, how they've voted, and who funded their campaigns.
MTPR will provide daily updates throughout the session. You can find all our Montana Legislature coverage online, and listen to updates from Helena during our daily newscasts.
"Capitol Talk," our legislative news and analysis program, will air every Friday throughout the session. The program features MTPR's Sally Mauk and Lee Newspaper reporters Chuck Johnson and Mike Dennison. Listen on your radio Fridays at 6:35 p.m. or online every Friday afternoon.
Twitter is a great place to find legislative news as it happens. Many legislators, journalists and citizens share news about the Montana Legislature using the #mtleg hashtag. Here's a list of people to follow for Montana Legislative news:
- Montana Legislature @MTLegislature
- Montana Public Radio @mtpublicradio
- MTPR News Director Eric Whitney @mtprnd
- UM J-School reporters Madelyn Beck @madelynBeck8 and Michael J. Wright @mj_wright1
- Yellowstone Public Radio News Director JackieYamanaka @jackieyamanaka
- Lee Newspapers reporters Chuck Johnson @c_sjohnson and Mike Dennison @mike dennison
- Great Falls Tribune reporter John S. Adams @TribLowdown
- Senate Democrats @MTSenateDems, House Democrats @MTHouseDems
- House Republicans @MTHouseGOP
Finally, don't forget you can show up in person to talk to your representatives and testify on bills. For more details on when and how to do that, contact the helpful legislative staff.
Do you have a website or twitter account we should add to the list? Tell us your suggestions for keeping up with the legislature.