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Board hears legislative updates; staff to circulate bill tracker and testimony guidance
Summary
Board staff briefed members on active bills affecting public health, including a House bill on settlement funding, potential restrictions on use of public funds for lobbying, an environmental health fee bill, and the recently passed Medicaid expansion; staff will circulate bill numbers and testimony instructions.
At the special online meeting, the Cascade City-County Board of Health received a legislative update from Abigail, who said she will circulate a bill tracker and bill numbers tied to the board's recent resolutions.
Abigail reported that House Bill 494 — the measure tied to the tobacco-settlement funding discussion — had a committee hearing the day of the meeting and that staff had heard "strong opposition to reducing that funding." She cautioned that outcomes were not certain and said staff would share hearing notices and sign-on-letter drafts for board review.
Commissioner Briggs explained how members can participate in committee hearings online, stressing registration rules and timing: "You need to be registered at least 2 hours in advance of a committee hearing," Briggs said, and described using the legislature's participation system to file written testimony or register to speak. Briggs also noted that bills killed in committee can sometimes be revived and said, "Nothing's ever over till it's over." The board discussed an environmental health fee bill anticipated to be introduced soon and other proposals that would limit public agencies from using public funds for lobbying.
Abigail gave a brief procedural update that Medicaid expansion had passed both the House and Senate and appeared to be awaiting the governor's signature. The board asked staff to monitor hearings closely and to circulate the participate.mt.gov link, bill-tracker links and any sign-on letters so members could register and, if desired, submit testimony on items relevant to the resolutions they had adopted.
