MONTANA NEWS ROUNDUP: Montana Taxes WILL Drop

Montana's 2025 legislative session is over

But there are a lot of GOP lawmakers who are complaining loudly that the job of over property tax reform, balancing the budget, and judicial reform remains unfinished.

The House called the session first, followed later by the Senate, capping the session 5 days earlier than scheduled.

A majority of Republican Senators felt lawmakers were leaving major work unfinished.

READ MORE: Tax Relief Coming for Farmers and Small Business Owners

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Montana property tax bills approved

Under the legislation approved in the closing hours, Governor Gianforte got his "homestead" changed, which shifts some of the Montana property tax burden to owners of second homes.

The Department of Revenue estimates the cuts will save just over $700 in property taxes on a median-priced ($360,000) home.

GOP Senators like Daniel Zolnikov were critical of the property tax reform package, calling it complex and likely to be overturned in court, as well as the lack of a balanced budget.

"Our property tax relief is a failure," Zolnikov scolded, as the session was about to close. "We know it's going to be kicked down in the courts. It's convoluted and most of us don't know what we voted for."

"We came here, and in 15-minutes of the first day this session was off the rails." -Sen. Daniel Zolnikov R-Billings

Majority Whip Senator Barry Usher is still smarting from the GOP split, where a handful of Republicans formed a coalition with Democrats.

"We failed to send the governor a balanced budget," Usher stated, saying the Republican majority had been "steamrolled" by Democrats and the defecting GOP moderates.

"There are 23 of us that came up here to do the right thing."

However, Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers felt the session had been productive, with measures helping renters and preserving Montana's Medicaid expansion.

     -Now, we'll watch to see what the governor signs in the coming days.

Are you ready for Montana runoff?

With temperatures expected to spike the next couple of days, it's a good time to make sure your properties are ready for some quick snowmelt and runoff, especially across Southern Montana following the snow at the start of the week. Temperatures in Billings, as well as Great Falls and Missoula, are likely to hit the low to mid-80s on Friday. The warmth will be short-lived, though… a hazardous weather warning is out for snow across the high country in Wyoming, which may also include Yellowstone, where the east entrance opens this weekend.

Montana inmate wins multi-million dollar lawsuit

Even as the state advances a plan to add more prison space, possibly with more involvement of the private sector, at least in development, one of the current contracted companies is facing a big legal bill.

Word came last week that Tennessee-based CoreCivic has lost a $27-million lawsuit filed by an inmate at the Crossroads Correctional Center in Shelby. A federal jury determined the company's liability because staff didn't catch another inmate who entered the defendant's locked pod, nearly beating him to death.

Montana Thursday Throwback

😷 On May 1st, 2020, the numbers had taken a serious turn in the first weeks of the pandemic.

     -State health officials reported 121 new COVID-19 cases, but more tragically, the death toll was already approaching 1600 people. There had been 109, 215 total cases at that point.