No Special Session of the Montana Legislature, For Now

There will be no special session of the Montana Legislature this month. So will a liberal federal judge decide to draw his own lines on the map instead?

The big question is PSC redistricting. Following the influx of newcomers into Montana, the lines for the Public Service Commission seats in Montana need to be re-drawn.

Here is a joint statement that was sent out by Speaker of the House Wylie Galt (R-Martinsdale) and Senate President Mark Blasdel (R-Somers) on Friday, as it was reported that lawmakers could not reach an agreement on the scope of the special session:

Special sessions take a lot of agreement and coordination to pull together. Democrats have said they're fine with liberal and California judges drawing Montana's maps, so Republican leadership has been working hard for months to get consensus among the diverse Republican caucus. Whether it's in a special session or during the next regular session, Republicans are going to reform the system to ensure federal judges can't interfere in Montana's PSC elections again.

Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MT) made it clear that he would consider calling a special session, but only if the session were to focus solely on PSC redistricting.

Some have argued that PSC redistricting should have been done during the last legislative session. However, the county level data from the 2020 Census wasn't available in Montana until last Fall, so why should they have rushed on redistricting last Spring? That's my take anyway.

Read More Background Here: Looks Like We're Close to Getting a Special Session in Montana |