Committee declines to adopt proposed statewide transportation study as a committee bill

Senator Olson asked the Senate Transportation Committee to consider a study of Montana’s transportation system, drawing on a 2019 proposal she said was never completed. Olson said counties and regional groups have begun work on passenger-rail and other regional transportation planning, and she urged the committee to act so the state can be ready to respond.

"If we don't know what's happening in the bigger world on this issue, then we're not going to be ready to act when we need to act," Senator Olson said, urging the committee to consider the study or make it a committee bill.

Senator Dunwell moved that the committee support making the proposal a committee bill. Senator Esp offered a substitute motion to not move the proposal forward as a committee bill, saying the sponsor may introduce the study as an individual senator and that the committee's formal endorsement was unnecessary.

The substitute motion to not advance the proposal as a committee bill carried after a roll-call vote. The roll-call record in the hearing transcript shows the following votes recorded aloud: Senator Hunter — yes; Senator Olson — no; Senator Dunwell — no; Senator Logie — yes; Senator Temple — yes; Senator Fern — no. The committee chair declared the substitute motion carried.

Committee members who supported studying Montana's rural transportation network pointed to passenger rail, highway passing lanes and the role of local airports for medical travel as topics that would benefit from an interim study. Opponents said the senator proposing the study could carry it herself without committing the committee to the effort.

With the substitute motion carried, the committee will not add the study as a formal committee bill; the transcript records that the sponsoring senator may still pursue the study individually or seek another avenue to move it forward.