Montana committee hears bill to bar mandated workplace trainings deemed 'controversial social vision'

House Judiciary heard testimony on House Bill 319 on a proposal that would prohibit employers from disciplining employees who refuse to attend workplace trainings the bill labels as promoting a “controversial social vision.” Representative Steve Kelly (R., House District 9) sponsored the measure, saying "the workplace is the workplace" and that employees "should not have to... conform to somebody's ideology just to have a job."

The bill would add a protected refusal-to-attend-training category to the Human Rights Act and defines "controversial social vision" broadly as "any agenda, concept, or theory that promotes concepts, ideas, or issues that are not broadly accepted in society or that generates strong opposition by mainstream political, religious, or social groups." The sponsor said exemptions would cover political organizations and churches and that the intent is to limit the rule to standard workplaces, not faith-based or explicitly…