Legislative Update

Greetings from Helena!

The 67th Legislative Session has begun. This session I am again on the Senate Judiciary committee, which is a very active committee. We meet in the mornings Monday through Friday. It is one of the busiest committees in the Senate. We worked on a few clean up bills this week. The committee I am on which meets M-W-F afternoons is Senate Public Health, Welfare and Safety. My committee on Tuesday and Thursday is Senate Fish and Game. I will be serving as the chairman of Fish and Game this session.

We have talked about our priorities and what we want to accomplish this legislative session.  The rule that applies to every bill is 26 senators, 51 representatives and 1 in the Governor’s office. If we don’t have that count, or more, the bill is dead. This is a challenge we have with every bill. 

We are sad about some of the happenings in our great nation. There are several legitimate concerns about fraud in elections. Our Founding Fathers had experienced fixed elections, so they put certain safeguards within the US Constitution and the Montana Constitution. We thumbed our nose at some of these safeguards during this last election and it turned out to be a breeding ground for corruption. We are going to work hard in Montana to make sure our elections are fair and proper. 

Another thing we are concerned about is the attack on our nation’s capital. The fake news and others are quick to blame this on our President. We have been to some of the President’s rallies and they have been peaceful. There was a Trump rally at the capital here in Helena on Wednesday and it was peaceful. The people we talked to who attended the rally in DC said all the people around them were peaceful. However, there were some troublemakers (ANTIFA disguised as Trump supporters) there the same day that broke into the capital and caused a lot of destruction to humans and property. These are the same bad actors that rioted and caused destruction in Minneapolis, Seattle and many other places in the country. This makes us sad and we encourage everyone to stay strong and join us as we pray for our great nation.

For Freedom,

Steve Hinebauch