25 March 2019 — 1523 mdt
Legal review note questions constitutionality of
Buttrey’s bill to extend expanded Medicaid
A legal review note (page 1, page 2) written by legislative lawyers Todd Everts and Jaret Coles concludes that HB-658, Rep. Ed Buttrey’s bill to extend expanded Medicaid in Montana, may violate the Montana and United States constitutions:
By subjecting one group of people that are members ofa religous or apostolic asociation with a fee while not imposing a fee on other organizations, section 10 of LCl25l may raise potential constitutional conformity issues with respect to the Equal Protection requirements of Article ll, section 4, of the Montana Constitution, as well as the Equal Protection requirements of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. There is also a similar potential constitutional conformity issue with granting members of one religions organization an exemption from the community engagement requirement without providing the same benefit to other individuals of another organization.
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Consequently, section 10 of LCl25l as drafted may raise potential constitutional conformity issues with the Equal Protection requirements of Article ll, section 4, of the Montana Constitution.
Buttrey’s bill has a nonseverability clause that voids the entire law if any part of it is declared unconstitutional. Now we know why he inserted that doomsday device.