House Agriculture Committee adopts proxy rule, outlines amendment and witness procedures

The Montana House Agriculture Committee voted by voice to allow proxy voting and then approved a rule that proxies be held by the vice chairs for the duration of the 2025 session.

The committee’s leadership said the change is intended to help the panel keep business moving when members are absent. Committee staff explained other administrative practices for the session: members should submit requests for drafting amendments at least 24 hours before they plan to offer them; informational witnesses are to identify themselves and state whom they represent but should not lobby; and executive action may be used early in the session to move noncontroversial bills out of committee if members agree.

Clerk Emma Bauer described an informal, voluntary system for collecting small donations to buy snacks for committees that meet two days per week, recommending a suggested $25 contribution per member and a card to record dietary restrictions.

Committee research analyst Laura Shirley described her role in drafting amendments and said she can only draft amendments authorized by a legislator; she asked members to request amendment drafting at least 24 hours before the committee meeting to allow for legal and technical review. The committee also clarified that fiscal notes are prepared during drafting or can be requested later and that legal notes can be requested through the drafting process for individual legislator-sponsored bills.

The committee’s chairs also reviewed customary hearing order (proponents, opponents, informational witnesses) and asked members to keep conversations with lobbyists and the public in the hallway or public seating area rather than in the committee’s private space.

Administrative motions recorded on the transcript were approved by voice votes: a motion to accept proxies, and a follow-up motion about how proxies would be held. The committee then moved on to a bill hearing on House Bill 73.