Legislative roundup for March 15, 2017

After uncertainty about how the upcoming special congressional election would change the makeup of the Montana Legislature, the nomination of Democrat Rob Quist and Republican Greg Gianforte means it’s back to business as usual at the state Capitol.

Multiple legislators had announced their intention to run for the vacant congressional seat after former Rep. Ryan Zinke was nominated and then confirmed as U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

The Democratic nomination ultimately went to to Rob Quist, a country musician from Cut Bank, while the Republican nomination went to Greg Gianforte, who unsuccessfully ran for governor against Gov. Steve Bullock last year.

With the legislature intact after transmittal break, lawmakers will now focus on closing out the remaining half of the session, amending the state budget and making decisions about all surviving bills.

Montana House debates right to shop for healthcare

A bill that would incentivize shopping for health care services and provide increased transparency in pricing drew testimony in the House Human Services Committee last week.

The Senate passed Senate Bill 96, introduced by Sen. Cary Smith, R-Billings, 34-16 in late February. It would require health care providers and insurers to tell a patient the cost of a treatment beforehand. It would also give patients a financial incentive to find cheaper treatments.

Four people supported the bill at the House hearing last week, all of whom said transparency was necessary in the face of rising health care costs.

“The bill empowers consumers with the transparent information they need,” said State Auditor Matt Rosendale.

Rosendale admitted he thinks the bill “doesn’t go far enough,” but added that he was willing to make concessions.

“I think they should be able to go online and get that information,” Rosendale said.

The bill also drew 15 opponents.

“It actually incentivizes care fragmentation, which has been proven to drive up the cost of health care,” said Jessica Rhoades, Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock’s health policy advisor. Rhoades said it is more important for hospitals and insurance agents to pursue joint partnerships to prevent errors that come from referrals and other forms of fragmentation.

Other opponents said they did not take issue with the notion of transparency, but had problems with certain language issues in the bill.

“This is a little bit of a work in progress,” Smith said, suggesting that further amendments would be made to the bill.

The House committee didn’t take immediate action on the bill.

Local counties may no longer be allowed to regulate seed

The House Agriculture committee heard a bill last week that would prevent local governments from regulating agricultural and vegetable seed.

Senate Bill 155, introduced by Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, would only allow the state to set regulations on seed sale and production.

“My only resistance to local government support is when it jeopardizes private property rights,” Lang said.

The bill passed the Senate 33-17 before moving to the House.

Lang said seeds account for $2.8 billion of Montana’s agricultural revenue, and that seed operations often cross county lines. He said the bill would prevent counties from restricting what types of seed may be planted.

While many argued that is presently not a problem, Lang said “there’s nothing wrong with being proactive.”

Many of the bill’s supporters said they wanted to prevent additional regulations on the agriculture industry.

“Agriculture is already one of the most heavily regulated industries out there,” said Chelcie Cargill, representing the Montana Farm Bureau.

Jacob Baum, representing the Montana Seed Association, said because small areas can often yield large amounts of seeds, a local government deciding to regulate against a particular seed could be disastrous for the market at large.

Opponents of the bill argued the problem doesn’t exist.

“Despite what we’ve heard from proponents, there really is no problem to solve,” said Kristina Hubbard of the Organic Seed Alliance. “There is neither a patchwork of local seed regulations harming producers, nor are such regulations being proposed.”

Ole Norgaard, of the Montana Organic Association, said the bill is founded on “fear and a fear-based mentality that has nothing to do with Montana.”

Adam Haight, representing the Northern Plains Resource Council, said local legislation allows communities to better protect themselves against market concerns about genetically modified products. He said scares about GMOs have the potential to drastically affect overseas wheat markets, and that local legislation could help prevent this.

The committee didn’t immediately take action on the bill.