Game Wardens, Employment

Missoulian: Bill complicates Montana warden funding
HB 2: General Appropriations Act

Missoulian: Hiring rises in 11 US states last month, gains widely spread
State Employment and Unemployment Summary
“Unemployment rates were significantly lower in February in 10 states, higher in 1 state,

and stable in 39 states and the District of Columbia, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

reported today. Nine states had notable jobless rate decreases from a year earlier, and 41

states and the District had no significant change. The national unemployment rate, at 4.7

percent, 

Suicide-prevention, Brewery Hours, Prison Cellphones

Missoulian: Montana suicide-prevention proposal gets overwhelming support HB 590: Generally revise suicide prevention laws and grants for youth suicide prevention

  

Missoulian: Bill would let Montana breweries, distilleries serve drinks until 10 p.m.

HB 603: Revise liquor laws to change hours, fees for microdistilleries, small brewers

Missoulian: FCC approves measures intended to combat prison cellphones
FCC Acts to Fight Inmate Use of Contraband Wireless Devices

Mine Pollution; Protecting Hunting, Fishing, and Trapping; Ending Medicaid Expansion

Missoulian: Bill ups bonding, adds audits to pollution-prone mines
HB 593: Revise metal mining laws

Missoulian: Referendum to constitutionally protect hunting, fishing and trapping passes committee SB 236: Constitutional referendum to safeguard right to hunt, fish, and trap wildlife

Missoulian: Ending Medicaid expansion would have big impact, health-care providers say
American Health Care Act
“Later, following additional changes to subsidies for insurance purchased in the nongroup market and to the Medicaid program, the increase in the number of uninsured people relative to the number under current law would rise to 21 million in 2020 and then to 24 million in 2026. The reductions in insurance coverage between 2018 and 2026 would stem in large part from changes in Medicaid enrollment—because some states would discontinue their expansion of eligibility, some states that would have expanded eligibility in the future would choose not to do so, and per-enrollee spending in the program would be capped.”

How Repealing Portions of the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums
“Premiums in the nongroup market (for individual policies purchased through the marketplaces or directly from insurers) would increase by 20 percent to 25 percent—relative to projections under current law—in the first new plan year following enactment. The increase would reach about 50 percent in the year following the elimination of the Medicaid expansion and the marketplace subsidies, and premiums would about double by 2026.”

Real ID

Missoulian: Under bill, Montanans could pick driver's license that complies with federal rules, or not

Provide for income tax credit for U.S. passport card
(draft bill not yet available)

Montana State Fund, Property Rights

Missoulian: Two Senate Republicans seek to eliminate or privatize Montana State Fund
SB 184: Revise workers compensation to allow termination of payments due to fraud

Missoulian: Supreme Court seems divided in property rights dispute
Murr V. Wisconsin