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Whitefish council adopts 2025 legislative priorities, funds lobbying work
Summary
The Whitefish City Council on Jan. 6 unanimously adopted a set of legislative priorities for the 2025 Montana legislative session and confirmed funding and a lobby contract to represent the city in Helena.
The Whitefish City Council unanimously approved Resolution 25-01 on Monday adopting the city's legislative priorities for the 2025 Montana legislative session and confirmed the city's fiscal allocation and lobby arrangements for the session.
City staffer Dana presented the report and told the council the priorities "provide the council, staff and our lobbyists a very clear and united platform when addressing our elected representatives during the session." Dana said the city budget appropriates $28,000 for lobbying services and that the city has contracted with CMS and is "working directly with Mr. Geiger" as the city's lobbyist in Helena. She said the session opened that day and that the first hearing the city is tracking is scheduled for the following morning.
The council added two specific priorities based on prior council feedback: opposing any legislation that would limit the self-governing powers of charter cities to make local decisions and opposing piecemeal zoning requirements imposed by the state. Dana said those two items were added after a council work session and a few other minor clarifying edits were made to the priorities.
Dana told the council the Montana League of Cities and Towns is tracking roughly 900 bill requests related to cities and towns and that, as of her report, 211 bills had been drafted and released for review. She said the city will independently track bills as drafts are released and that some bill deadlines for introduction occur later in January and February for general and revenue bills, respectively.
No public comments were made during the public hearing on the resolution. A councilor moved to approve Resolution 25-01 and the motion passed unanimously.
The resolution gives staff and the contracted lobbyist a clear direction for testifying and tracking bills on behalf of Whitefish during the 2025 session; Dana said she has prepared a letter and Mr. Geiger plans to testify on the city's behalf on voted levies.
Looking ahead, Dana and staff will notify the council and their lobbyist as bills of interest are formally drafted and introduced.
