Saturday, July 12, 2025
75.0°F

House amends rule on freeing up legislation

The Associated Press | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 10 years, 6 months AGO
by The Associated Press
| January 8, 2015 7:11 PM

HELENA — Members of the Montana House adopted a new operating rule Thursday that will give some bills a better chance of being heard.

Democratic House Minority Leader Chuck Hunter introduced the amended rule that was approved by an 86-12 vote.

It would allow lawmakers to pull certain bills languishing in committee to the House floor with a simple majority vote of House members. Republicans and Democrats will each have six opportunities during the session to make use of the rule.

Hunter called the change fair for both sides.

The change means it’s possible that a bill not favored by Republicans who hold the majority in the House, such as Medicaid expansion, would need only 51 votes to be brought to the floor. Previously it took a supermajority of 60 votes for the bill to reach the floor.

Republican Rep. Jeff Essmann of Billings said overall this year’s rules are similar to those that have been in effect for 25 years.

The House Rules Committee also did away with a proposed rule that would have given the House speaker more power over the fate of bills.

The change would have called for a super-majority vote to overrule the speaker’s decisions to send bills to the Appropriations Committee instead of a simple majority vote.

Because the committee is chosen by the speaker, the tactic is sometimes used to indefinitely stall a bill a speaker doesn’t like.

MORE IMPORTED STORIES

Water compact headed for rules fight
Daily Inter-Lake | Updated 10 years, 3 months ago
Medicaid expansion is a hot topic in Helena
The Western News | Updated 10 years, 4 months ago
House and Senate committees pass preliminary legislative rules
Daily Inter-Lake | Updated 2 years, 7 months ago

ARTICLES BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

September 9, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: US helped family escape Afghanistan overland

WASHINGTON — The United States is confirming for the first time that it has helped a U.S. citizen and family members to escape Afghanistan through an overland route to a neighboring country.

September 8, 2021 12:03 a.m.

The Latest: Top Republican says Taliban holding Americans

WASHINGTON — The top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee says some Americans who have been trying to get out of Afghanistan since the U.S. military left are sitting in airplanes at an airport ready to leave but the Taliban are not letting them take off.