Montana is one of only four states in the country that has a legislature that meets every other year. The majority of states have legislative sessions every year. Texas, Nevada and North Dakota remain holdouts like Montana.
The option for annual legislative sessions in Montana was sparked by the passage of Senate Bill 310 by Sen. Ryan Osmundson (R-Buffalo).
SB 310 calls for a 45-day, odd-year session focused on policy and statutory changes and a 45-day, even-year session that would focus on the biennial budget.
Montana State Rep. Brad Tschida
In a trial run, Montana legislators will meet for one week in January 2020 to work on the biennial budget and give annual 45-day sessions more consideration.
State Rep. Brad Tschida (R-Missoula) said he is not convinced that a change is needed, but he is open to hearing more in January.
“This has been studied numerous times, but it has never been conclusively resolved that it makes sense for legislators in Montana to meet every year,” he told Southwest Montana News.
Tschida does concede that meeting more regularly would have its benefits.
“The legislature is the ugly stepchild of the three branches of state government,” he said. “We come into Helena in a four-month storm and then it is back to business as usual (for everyone else) for 20 months when we go home.
“Legislators could gain a little bit more clout and a little bit more respect as a co-equal branch of government if we met every year,” he said.
State Sen. Fred Thomas (R-Stevensville) is a supporter of annual sessions.
“Part of the idea here is to say instead of a legislator going to Helena for four months and then the next 20 months they're kind of not legislators, we want to look at examining a process where we stay more engaged," Thomas told the Independent Record.
Another benefit that Thomas sees is that all the legislators will work on the budget together in even years. Then in the odd years, all the legislators will focus on policy together. He hopes annual meetings will promote more cooperation between policy wonks and legislators who are more focused on budget concerns.
During the January 2020 session, if there is support for annual legislative sessions, the Legislative Council could draft new rules to shift to a 45-day annual term. In the fall of 2020, the Council could then move forward by recommending formal adoption of annual 45-day sessions by the full legislature in January 2021.
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