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City staff outlines status of key state bills after transmittal deadline
Summary
Jessica Miller of central services briefed council on which bills affecting city authority and programs survived the transmittal deadline, bills that died, and several still-active measures the city is tracking.
Jessica Miller of the city’s Central Services office updated the Missoula City Council on state legislative activity, describing bills that missed the transmittal deadline, bills the city supported or opposed that died, and several measures still advancing that could affect local authority and funding.
Miller said transmittal — the point by which general bills must move between chambers — had passed and any bill not transmitted was effectively dead. She listed bills that missed transmittal and died, including House Bill 482 (which would have made local elections partisan), several bills described as targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (HB 618, HB 635 and HB 319), HB 799 (allowing property owners to vote in levy elections where they do not live), and SB 146 (a ‘‘Private Property Protection Act’’ that she summarized as greatly limiting local zoning authority). Miller also said SB 209 (revising conservation-easement term lengths) and SB 254 (limiting payment of lobbyists with taxpayer dollars) missed transmittal and are dead.
Miller noted some bills the city supported that have died at transmittal, including HB 160 (repealing the uniform auxiliary container regulation law that restricts some local bans on plastic bags) and SB 504 (grant funding for permanent supportive housing). She said Representative Marler’s bill on Styrofoam takeout containers remains active.
She also identified bills still moving that the city is tracking: HB 311 (requiring refund of unused rental-application fees), HB 155 (homestead/property tax relief), SB 90 (redistributing certain state tax revenue for primary-resident property tax relief), HB 20 (requiring voted levies to be expressed in dollars rather than mills), HB 427 (building-code citation text that could affect permit timelines), SB 117 (limitations on property-tax increases), SB 133 (revising impact-fee laws), HB 594 (prohibiting additional local licensing beyond state requirements for some businesses), SB 2 (tax-increment financing treatment at expiration), and SB 420 (limiting local fees for children's park use). Miller closed by inviting council questions; none were raised.
Miller’s update reflected the city’s current legislative positions and the effect of the transmittal timetable on which measures will proceed this session.
