Lawmakers make peace, 4 bills headed toward passage
Posted Apr 07, 2005 - 11:31 AM

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON   Montana Forum
Lee State Bureau

HELENA - Patching up their partisan differences Wednesday, Democratic and Republican lawmakers approved some election bills and a highway measure that had died during some retaliatory bill killing this week.

Tempers ran short earlier this week when the political parties in the various houses flexed their muscles to kill bills that were headed for easy passage after their bills were killed. "It's disappointing to see that Democrats are more interested in political gamesmanship than in fair elections or job creation,'' House Republican Leader Roy Brown of Billings said Tuesday.

Senate Majority Leader Jon Ellingson, D-Missoula, said Tuesday, "It's a shame when the legislative process degenerates into a school yard squabble.''

By Wednesday, leaders from both parties and bill sponsors had worked out their differences so the four bills retaliated against were cleared for passage.

"Sometimes you have to surrender something not principle to get something,'' House Democratic Leader Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula, told the House Democratic caucus. "We will actually end up with a couple of pretty good bills.''

On the Republican House side, Brown said, "I know a lot of us on this side of the aisle had some heartburn (over SB302). The amendment satisfies a lot of our concerns.''

When the dust settled Wednesday, these bills were revived and appeared headed for final approval:

# Senate Bill 88, by Sen. Carolyn Squires, D-Missoula, to set up a procedure through which voters can, when applying for absentee ballots, indicate whether they want to be sent absentee ballots in future elections.

The bill, which started out as a permanent absentee voter registration bill, was amended in the House to address Republicans' objections. It now requires election officials to mail cards to those on the absentee ballot list. People seeking absentee ballots would have to complete a card and return it before each election to receive a ballot. If this card is not returned, the person would be ped from the future absentee ballot list.

The amended bill passed the House on a 91-7 final vote Wednesday after failing 50-50 Tuesday. The new version of the bill now goes back to the Senate for approval.

# SB302, by Ellingson, to revamp state election laws significantly. Among the changes are to provide for a late voter registration that covers the last 30 days before the election, providing that these people vote at their county courthouse where election administrators can check a statewide computer database to make sure they aren't also registered to vote somewhere else. The bill provides for a paper trail and auditing if new electronic voting systems are adopted. It would allow third parties to deliver absentee ballot request forms to election administrators.

At Republicans' insistence, the House stripped a provision that would have allowed third parties, political parties and special interest groups to take more than four completed absentee ballots and deliver them to election administrators to be counted. The bill was amended to keep the current restriction that allows third parties to take delivery of no more than four absentee ballots.

The House OK'd SB302 by a 96-2 preliminary vote and it faces a final House vote before heading back to the Senate, which must approve the House change.

Both SB88 and SB302 were backed by a coalition of groups that included Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson, Montana Association of Clerks and Recorders, Montana Conservation Voters, AARP Montana, Montana AFL-CIO, Montana Women Vote, the Montana Democratic Party, the League of Women Voters of Montana, Associated Students of the University of Montana and the Montana Advocacy Program.

# HB177, by Rep. Alan Olson, R-Roundup, to change election laws by revising the law allowing challenges to a person's right to vote and providing that questionable votes are not valid votes. It would change the schedules for retaining and destroying election materials after the election and revamp a number of election procedural issues.

Olson introduced the bill at the request of Secretary of State Johnson. It passed the Senate 49-1 on a final vote Wednesday after failing on Tuesday on a 27-23 party line vote, with Democrats voting no and Republicans yes. The Senate had given preliminary approval to the bill by a 48-2 vote on Monday. The bill is headed back to the House, which must vote on Senate changes.

# HB684, by Rep. Rick Maedje, R-Fortine, which would exempt the northern-most 10 miles of U.S. Highway 93 from bridge weight restrictions in northwestern Montana. He said that section of road had no bridges. Passage of the bill would have added 10-20 jobs in the struggling Eureka economy by allowing for a greater volume of truck traffic.

The bill passed a final Senate vote Wednesday by a 46-4 margin. It received preliminary approval on Monday by a 48-2 margin.

The bill now is headed to the governor's office.