It’s hard to believe it’s already September. I hope this finds you well and safe. As you know, the legislature did not meet in 2022 so we have been busy working on issues through regulatory efforts and on the community level where we can.
We had some great success during the 2021 session and are cautiously optimistic about 2023. A quick recap of our successes during the 2021 session are below.
Protect SNAP access – we (a large coalition of folks) were able to defeat legislation that would have required Child Support Cooperation to be eligible for SNAP. This was a damaging and costly bill. Similarly, SB 100 which would have kicked thousands of people off Medicaid and SNAP was stopped in committee.
Fight back against the Tobacco Industry
HB 285 - the Cigar Bar- would have allowed for ‘cigar bars’- but it was actually written so that most bars could become a cigar bar. We were able to defeat this bill in committee and twice on the floor.
HB 106 – would have removed vaping from local clean indoor air policies and also prevent local communities from adding vape into clean indoor air. Basically, a way to normalize vaping and sell more product. This bill was tabled in committee. A big thank you to all the advocates who did great outreach on this bill.
HB 137 - would have undone all local decisions about tobacco. It would have removed all the local clean air protections (same as the one above) AND made it so that NO decisions could be made locally to protect people from vape/tobacco. This bill passed the House, but we were able to defeat it in the Senate.
hero_image_alt_text===An exterior picture of the Montana state capitol building
thumbnail===https://assets.nationbuilder.com/yourethecure/pages/29046/attachments/original/1655741302/Montana%20Cap%20Building.jpg?1655741302
thumbnail_alt_text===An exterior picture of the Montana state capitol building
The 2023 Legislative session will be here before we know it. We are still assessing what will be our top issues but as we do our planning, we would like to hear from you about the issues you care about and how you would like to be involved. Please take a few minutes and answer our short (only 8 question) survey.
If you have any questions please reach out and we’d love to chat. Thank you for your support and we look forward to working together to build a healthier Montana.
Showing 2 reactions