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Montana Senate committee adopts proxy and witness rules, refers three non‑appointment bills back to Senate president
Summary
At an organizational meeting Jan. 7, a Montana State Senate committee led by Chair Jason Ellsworth agreed to allow proxy voting handled by vice chairs, limited informational‑witness remarks, and voted unanimously to return three non‑appointment agency bills to the Senate president for reassignment.
Chair Jason Ellsworth, of Senate District 43, opened the Montana State Senate committee’s Jan. 7 organizational meeting and laid out the panel’s primary role: reviewing gubernatorial confirmations and conducting interviews before sending recommendations to the full Senate.
“Today is just organizational,” Chair Jason Ellsworth said. “We could, you know, do an adverse committee report on somebody. We don't get to decide if they go forward or not per se. We get to do the process of the interview and ask the questions and get testimony. But at the end of the day, they go in front of the entire Senate. So ours is recommendations.”
Committee members agreed on three procedural points the chair flagged as priorities: establishing proxy voting procedures, limiting informational‑witness remarks to identification unless…
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