Dispatch from the Belgrade Legislative Listening Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, September 1st, 2023

CONTACT
press@montanademocrats.org

“Meetings like this can lead to actual legislative change”

Helena, MT – In a packed room at the Belgrade Community Library on Thursday night, Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers (D-Belgrade) and House Appropriations Vice Chair Mary Caferro (D-Helena) hosted the second Legislative Listening Tour. 

The event’s moderator, Ally Ball, a disability rights activist from Belgrade, kicked things off by introducing the speakers and welcoming community members. Ball spoke about HB 233, a bill that passed in 2021 after four sessions of meeting with legislators, that extends educational programs and services for 18-21 year olds with disabilities. She shared how profoundly that piece of legislation helped change her life and her son’s life, and thanked the legislators in the room who had been instrumental in getting that through. “Meetings like this can lead to actual legislative change, and that’s why it’s so important to participate in these listening tours,” Ball said.  

“Tonight is about the public. We’re going to all corners of the state and some parts in between. We want to hear from you,” said Rep. Mary Caferro.

“What’s on your mind? What’s bugging you about your state government? What do you think you should be seeing? We’ll build our agenda for the next legislative session around what we learn during these listening tour stops,” said Senator Pat Flowers, in his introduction. 

Senator Flowers asked the room to raise their hands to indicate their top three biggest legislative priorities. Affordable housing, property taxes, and affordable health care were of the largest concern to folks in the room. Public education and mental health care access were also common priorities. 

The first comment from the audience was from a woman concerned with the property tax increase hitting Montanans, and how rising costs will affect Montanans on a fixed income in particular: “My mortgage payment is already two thirds of my Social Security check. And if energy prices go up 20%, I’m not sure how I’m going to make it.” 

Others expressed concerns about how we can ensure affordable and accessible care for Montana seniors, especially in rural places. 

Half a dozen students from nearby MSU attended the meeting as well, and brought up the issues that mattered to them — including the right to choose, regulating short-term rentals like AirBnBs, and addressing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People epidemic. 

A parent stood up halfway through the evening to share that her children directly benefited from HB 233, the 18-21 educational expansion that several legislators in the room, like Bozeman Senator Chris Pope, and Ball had worked so hard to get passed, and what that meant to her family. 

“Our second stop on the Legislative Listening Tour was a profound and lively conversation with community members in Belgrade. The work of the Legislature is to make life better for Montanans. This evening served as an excellent example of why listening to our constituents is so important,” said Sen. Flowers and Rep. Caferro, after the event.

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