Pat Flowers

The state’s roughly $14 billion budget has advanced out of the Senate with few amendments and will return to the House for consideration.

Senate Bill 566 would create a primary system in which the top two candidates who win the most votes advance to the general election, regardless of party. Right now, each party has separate primaries and advances a winner.

Democratic lawmakers walked out of committee in protest on Tuesday during debate over proposed restrictions on abortion access.

Friday is the official halfway point of Montana’s 68th legislative session. Lawmakers have pulled several marathon floor sessions this week to pass bills through the House or the Senate before a procedural deadline.

Debate on the state Senate floor came to a rare halt Tuesday after tense and emotional exchanges over a bill to ban gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

The life cycle of legislation is just getting started. The mechanics of public power are sorting and sifting policy, and much of that work starts with the building of relationships. Learn more now on The Session, a preview of the policy and politics inside the Montana statehouse.

State agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars defending laws passed by the 2021 Legislature in court. Gov. Greg Gianforte wants an additional $2.6 million to bolster the Montana Department of Justice’s legal defense.

Montana lawmakers worried about losing federal funding have amended a proposed ban on transgender women and girls competing in interscholastic women’s…

Montana lawmakers Wednesday advanced a proposal to hold the 2021 legislative session in a hybrid format, allowing for both remote and in-person…