15 November 2018 — 1548 mst
Mandeville wants to require a supermajority for tax and fee increases;
Keane continues jihad on PowerPoint; Lynch would legalize sports betting
Requests for bills for the 2019 session of the Montana Legislature now number 1,294. Most requests have a generic title, and are placeholders for legislation that will be drafted later, but some have titles that are clear as day and therefore serve as announcements that mischief is afoot.
Mandeville’s minority empowerment
Rep. Forrest Mandeville (R-Columbus, HD-57), just re-elected (without opposition) to a third term, has requested LC-1277, a bill with the title “Referendum to require 2/3 vote in legislature to pass tax/fee increases.” No draft is available yet, but the intent is clear: confer upon a minority the power to prevent raising more revenue, thereby starving and shrinking government. This is asymmetrical fiscal mischief: so far, neither Mandeville nor anyone else has proposed requiring a supermajority for cutting taxes and fees.
Keane’s jihad
Rep. Jim Keane (D-Butte, HD-73), a fixture in Democratic politics, and increasingly a curmudgeonly technophobe, doesn’t have an email address. His constituents must call him, buttonhole him, or write to him. And because he hates PowerPoint with the passion of a religious zealot, he wastes the time of the bill drafting staff with requests for bills against PowerPoint. He’s at it again with LC-0067, a bill request with the title “Prohibit PowerPoint usage.” I’m no fan of PowerPoint, but neither am I a fan of Keane’s irascible bill requests.
Lynch blesses sports betting
Rep. Ryan Lynch (D-Butte, HD-76), just elected to his fourth and last (for a while) term, has requested LC-0923, which has the title “Authorize sports betting.” That would not make Montana more wholesome, but it would encourage points shaving and other cheating at the high school and college levels, and make Montana more attractive to organized crime. We already have the lottery and gambling machines. This would take us further down the road to perdition. But it wouldn’t make Butte any more attractive as a tourist destination than it already is.
If the past is a guide, the ultimate number of bill requests will approach 2,500. It’s an awful thing to contemplate, but these three abominations could be among the least obnoxious requests.