Imagine
you were told, as you headed onto the field, that your team would have
nearly one-third fewer players than the opposing team … and that the
other team would get to set the rules that you would have to play by.
For Democrats in the 2017 Legislature, that has been our reality.
As
the minority and the loyal opposition, our mission is clear: to be a
voice and a vote for what is right, and to fight every day for the
people who sent us here, all the while knowing that the odds are not in
our favor. This session, that was ourcall, and we are proud of our
caucus for answering that call with absolute resolve and determination.
In
order to get good things done, Democrats worked hard to reach across
the aisle and bring others on board. We did this successfully in
numerous issue areas and found others who were willing to set aside
political differences to pass good legislation. Together with a group of
reasonable Republicans, Democrats led the way on legislation that will
benefit Montanans for years to come. Here are some of the highlights:
•
Criminal Justice Reform: We passed the most comprehensive package of
criminal justice reform legislation in a generation -- more than a dozen
bipartisan bills that give judges and prosecutors the tools to make our
system smarter, save money, reduce recidivism and get people the help
they need.
• Earned Income Tax
Credit: One of the most progressive anti-poverty tax bills in years, the
Earned Income Tax Credit will help thousands of working families in
Montana keep more of their hard-earned money.
•
Apprenticeships: We helped Montana workers and businesses with a tax
credit for businesses that hire and train apprentices – and a double
credit for hiring veterans in an apprenticeship program.
•
Mental Health and Suicide Prevention: It’s imperative that we reduce
the stigma around mental illness and make care and treatment more
available. We established that insurance companies must cover mental
health on the same level as physical health. We also dedicated $1
million for local communities and school districts to develop their own
suicide prevention programs, with particular emphasis on rural areas,
Native Americans and veterans.
•
Early Childhood Education: We know that when we invest in kids through
early education, we improve their prospects for graduating from high
school and beyond. We were finally able to make some headway on this
front by providing funding for preschool pilot programs across the
state.
• Sexual assault: We passed a
package of bills to protect victims of sexual assault by making our laws
more consistent with a scientific understanding of predatory behavior
and victim response. We made it a crime to coerce children into viewing
pornography, and we made clear that a victim’s silence, or lack of
forceful resistance, does not equate to consent in a sexual assault
case.
• Foster care: We made
important investments in our foster care system that put children first
and address the significant challenges we are facing due to a resurgence
of meth addiction in Montana.
•
Protecting Public Lands: Democrats worked hard to fight off some
extremely dangerous legislation that would have forced Montana hunters
to compete with out-of-staters for licenses.
Although we celebrate these
many successes, it is no secret that we also experienced significant
disappointments this session. The number one priority of the Democratic
caucus this session was to pass a comprehensive infrastructure package
and get people to work on important projects across this state. Although
we carried and passed several important public works bills, and
supported a major roads and bridges bill that will bring a 7-to-1
federal funding match for highway repairs across Montana, we were not
able to overcome Republican opposition to the most important
infrastructure bill of the session.
When
we approached the jobs/infrastructure package, Democrats made it clear
from Day One that we were not going to pick winners and losers or pit
communities against each other. Since all Montanans pay taxes, all
communities should benefit from infrastructure projects and the jobs
they create.
With these ideas
in mind, Democrats and reasonable Republicans worked out a fair
infrastructure package that would have benefitted communities across
Montana, east and west, north and south, rural and urban, with critical
projects: rural water and sewer systems; repairs and upgrades to dozens
of schools; improvements to our MSU campuses in Bozeman, Billings and
Great Falls; a needed water intake in Laurel; improvements to Makoshika
State Park near Glendive; and a loan to finally build the long-planned
Southwest Montana Veterans home in Butte.
This
package passed out of the Republican-controlled Senate with the
required two-thirds majority. But when it got to the House, we came up
against the resistance of Republican House leadership, which did not
want it to go forward. We gave them every opportunity to say “yes” and
they took every opportunity to say “no.” At the end of the day, we
couldn’t get around the fact that they were in charge and they had the
ability to block progress.
We
can promise you that Democrats will continue to fight for infrastructure
into 2019. In the meantime, we hope the people of Montana will reach
out to lawmakers and let us know what matters to you. Emails and phone
numbers of all legislators are available on the Legislature’s website (www.leg.mt.gov).
We want to hear your opinions, positive or negative. And we will work
throughout the interim and beyond to make Montana a better state for all
of us.
Rep. Jenny Eck, D-Helena, is the Montana House Minority Leader. Sen. Jon Sesso, D-Butte, is the Montana Senate Minority Leader.
