Government

News from the Office of the Governor  MONTANA – Consistent with Governor Gianforte’s announcement on Feb. 10, the statewide mask mandate is allowed to expire. Local jurisdictions may still choose to implement their own mask requirements. Gianforte emphasized how providing incentives and encouraging personal responsibility are more effective than imposing impractical, unenforceable government mandates. On Feb. 10, Gianforte signed S.B. 65 into law, which provides a liability shield to businesses, nonprofits and others who protect their workers, their customers and their clients from the spread of COVID-19. In keeping with Gianforte’s Jan. 13 directive, wh...

News from DPHHS On Feb. 9, the Department of Public Health and Human Services was notified the state will receive 16,425 first doses and 13,525 second doses for those completing the vaccine series. This allocation will be distributed to local jurisdictions the week of Feb. 15. DPHHS continues to be n...

News from the office of Senator Daines MONTANA — U.S. Senator Steve Daines joined a group of bipartisan senators in sending a letter to the National Institute on Drug Abuse in support of efforts to research and develop effective medication treatment options for those struggling with addiction to m...

MONTANA — Tribal leaders and advocates pushed back Tuesday, Feb. 2, against a Republican lawmaker’s bill that would eliminate a property tax exemption for tribal lands.  The Senate Taxation Committee held the first hearing for Senate Bill 138 on Tuesday. Bill sponsor Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Po...

News from the office of Senator Tester MONTANA — U.S. Senator Jon Tester led a bipartisan group of Senators in reintroducing his Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, which will work to address the shortage of trained workers that are necessary to fill next-generation jobs in the telecommunica...

U.S. SENATE — U.S. Senators Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) along with U.S. Rep. David Price (D-N.C.) are reintroducing their Spotlight Act to shine a light on dark money political donors and hold the government accountable to enforce our nation’s campaign finance laws.  The S...

LAKE COUNTY — Temporary tribal tax exemptions for property being put into trust status is currently suspended in Lake County. The change comes from a new agreement between Lake County and the Montana Department of Revenue. “The agreement stipulates that the Department of Revenue will grant no ...

News from the Lake County Conservation District The Lake County Conservation District kicks off its third annual conservation speaker series Wednesday, Jan. 27 at 6:30 p.m. The speaker series consists of three speakers on the subject of living with wildlife. This month, wildlife biologist Kari Eneas wit...

News from the USDA The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making available $12 million for use in making payments to forest landowners with land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program in exchange for their implementing healthy forest management practices. Existing CRP participants can now sign up f...

News from the Office of Jon Tester MONTANA — On the 11th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that turned on the spigot of dark money in elections, U.S. Senator Jon Tester reaffirmed his commitment to fighting the corrosive influence of dark money and announced he will...