Week five is in the books and we continue to see fireworks from the Senate. Work in the House continues at a steady pace with bills flowing through committees and the House floor. Friday brought the first-floor debate of the much-anticipated Medicaid Expansion bill with it passing handily. The House also debated several of the property tax reduction bills this week. The property tax debate is far from over and there will be several more as the session moves on. There are multiple ideas and the bills differ significantly on their merits. As for what bills will remain in the end, it is unknown, but the governor will have different options to sign if they make it to his desk.
The Senate continues the investigation of ethics complaints against Hamilton Republican Jason Ellsworth. As Republicans looked to remove Ellsworth from his committee assignments, Minority Leader Pat Flowers of Belgrade motioned to suspend the Ethics Committee and move the investigation to the Department of Justice. It was a lively Senate floor debate into Thursday evening and ended with Democrats and nine Republicans, including Ellsworth, voting in favor of suspending the Ethics Committee.
H.B. 248 has successfully moved through both second and third readings and is now headed to the Senate, where we will start the process over again. We had very good support and expect the same on the Senate side.
