Wednesday at the Montana Legislature, nearly a hundred bills will be thrust onto the Senate and House Floors for debate. Ready or not.
Speaker of the House Republican Representative Austin Knudsen says he expects to hear at least 50 bills on Wednesday.
“If we go long and do lots of talking like we did yesterday, we could be on the floor all day. It kinda depends how chatty everyone is.”
The rush is due to something called transmittal. That is, the bills in the House must pass the floor and travel to the Senate, and vice versa, or they die by the Friday deadline.
Republican Senate President Debby Barrett says it’s only just the first step.
“And then there’s also the revenue bills and other type bills, appropriations bills, that have different schedules.”
Some bills expected to come up Wednesday include the Salish Kootenai water compact bill, a bill to expose dark money, and several bills to protect Montanans’ privacy.