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Budapest Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Budapest Times
A star and a fighter for humanity too
Yes, I may have married and divorced four times but don't expect the Whore of Babylon, Myrna Loy cautions upfront. She can't understand how you can love one man while sleeping with another. No, rather, here is a level-headed woman, and what's really important is her 124-feature film career stretching over five decades from 1925 to 1980, while getting seriously involved in politics and possessing a deep feeling for human dignity too. Film-wise, there were many highlights, but Loy is probably best known for her terrific rapport with William Powell in six 'Thin Man' comedies in the 1930s, part of their 14-film union. Then she peaked in the 1940s with 'The Best Years of Our Lives', 'The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer' and 'Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'. We hope to read all about those. Politics-wise, this was an equally important part of Loy's life, as she became increasingly passionate during World War Two. She had read Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf', making her an outspoken critic, and later joined the US National Commission for UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation that promotes these qualities to foster peace and equality worldwide. She also actively supported Democratic presidential candidates from Harry S. Truman onwards. Surely this will all be well covered too. But this is getting ahead of the story, and if there is some kind of proof that Myrna Loy was a methodical sort of lady, it is that she eschews the slide-in approach of many biographies and autobiographies by beginning right at the beginning, albeit after briefly excusing herself for failing to qualify in the above-mentioned Hollywood whoring stakes, unlike those 'bed-to-bed marathons that keep appearing'. As she says, she sent a brazen Clark Gable flying off her back porch into the bushes one night. 'Keeping ahead of Spencer Tracy wasn't easy, either. He chased me for years, then sulked adorably when I married someone else. Leslie Howard wanted to whisk me off to the South Seas, and, believe me, that was tempting. But he happened to be married at the time – they all were – and that sort of thing never appeealed to me. Besides, I was usually married or about to be myself, so extracurricular activities didn't interest me.' That beginning was as Myrna Adele Williams, born in Radersburg, Montana, on August 2, 1905. Her grandparents were adventurers, young people from Wales, Scotland and Sweden. They came to the wild, wooly West in the mid-1800s for gold or land or freedom or a better life. Her father was a congressman in the Montana House of Representatives. Mother was involved in music and active in local politics. Her parents attempted ranch life, and when her father was taking cattle to market in Chicago the train made a whistle-stop at a place called Myrna in Nebraska, so that's how she got her name. The young Myrna began doing plays in their cellar, and after performing in one at school she decided that anything but being on stage seemed inconceivable. In 1918 her father died of Spanish flu and Mother and the two children relocated to Culver City, a hamlet between Hollywood and the Pacific. Myrna became a professional dancer and she excited screen heartthrob Rudolph Valentino. She failed a screen test but it aroused in her an enormous interest in films and she haunted the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer casting office. Fellow thespians thought the name Myrna Williams was unsuitable and she became Myrna Loy. Beginning with the film 'What Price Beauty?' in 1925, one minor part followed another in rapid succession as the studios worked actors hard. Her almond-shaped eyes saw her given 'exotica' roles, makeup transforming her into a slant-eyed Oriental – Burmese, Chinese, a South Sea islander, Mexican, a Creole. a Javanese-Indian half-caste. Also a vamp, moll, gypsy, slave girl, spy. Now, very few of those pictures stand out, she says. Many are lost. In six years she was in 60 pictures. When the silent era ended she was among those able to make the transition to sound. A strong woman, she raised hell when the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer publicity department invented a 'torrid romance' with Ramon Novarro, and it never happened again. And she stood up to the imposing Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw when he visited a set and tried to goad her. 'Having been brought up by people who respected themselves, I wasn't easily done in by any of these great figures.' As the 1930s progressed, in less than two years at MGM she made 15 films.'They worked us to death. You'd go from one picture to another without rehearsal, often not knowing what your part would be from scene to scene. They would hand you your afternoon lines in the commissary to learn over lunch. These so-called moguls used us terribly. We were little more than chattels, really, but it was valuable experience. You didn't need acting school; you learned on the job… ' Her famous and evergreen role as Nora Charles in the long-running 'Thin Man' series gilded her screen persona as 'the perfect wife''. But as film historian Imogen Sara Smith says in a Preface, this tag is 'dated and patronising (no one called William Powell 'the perfect husband', though for some he might be)'. And Loy found the tag restricting. Nonetheless, this was her breakthrough and its success completely obliterated the mediocre parts that had gone before. It also caused her to become one of the first actresses to rebel against a Hollywood studio, staging a one-woman strike in 1935 over the poor roles she was getting and the fact that she was earning half Powell's salary on their films together. She fled to New York and beyond, and finally MGM caved, even giving her a bonus to lure her back. As Loy unfolds her story, it is punctuated occasionally with personal reminiscences from many luminaries, with Gary Cooper (a fellow Montanan), Powell, Loretta Young, Gable, Rosalind Russell and Burt Reynolds among them. Hollywood biographies tend to drop names freely, and here are encounters with Garbo, Lamarr, Chaplin, Crawford, Harlow, Hemingway, Flynn, Grant, Dietrich, Sinatra, Reagan, Nixon and many more from both films and politics. In 1946 'The Best Years of Our Lives' was a huge success and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but while all around her won Oscars, Loy was overlooked. In fact she was never nominated for one at all until in 1991 she received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her career achievement. Frail health prevented her attending the ceremony. This was two years before she died on December 14, 1993 at age 88 during surgery. Fortunately, Loy had published this autobiography in 1987 and a lifetime in Tinseltown is a lifetime unlike most others. The book is available again in this new edition with the film historian's Preface, and there are tales galore such as this one: 'They put me right to work in 'Manhattan Melodrama' [1934], which precipitated the demise of John Dillinger, Public Enemy No. 1. FBI agents shot him down outside the Biograph Theatre, in Chicago, after he'd seen the film. Supposedly a Myrna Loy fan, he broke cover to see me. Personally, I suspect the theme of the picture rather than my fatal charms attracted him, but I've always felt a little guilty about it, anyway. They filled him full of holes, poor soul.' Conglomerates moved into Hollywood and as she aged she transitioned from glamorous leads to supporting roles. She adapted to television and the stage. Hers was a life of full of commitment and responsibility, at the United Nations, in Washington, supporting civil rights and opposing discrimination in housing. She attended international conferences at which she gave important speeches. Here are her considered thoughts, mixed in with movie stardom.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Howell returns to work as county elections seek stability
May 16—When school trustee elections for Libby and Troy were held last week, Lincoln County Election Administrator Melanie Howell was back running the show. Howell returned to the job May 1 after she was put on administrative leave March 31. At the time, county Clerk and Recorder Corinna Brown didn't say why Howell was put on leave, but said her office would be managing the elections with help from election office assistant Sierra Gustin. Howell spoke to The Western News on Election Night, Tuesday, May 6, about the situation and her return to the job she was hired to do in May 2023. "I'm happy for the voters and for the support I received," Howell said. "It's been really hard not knowing what would happen, but now it's time to move forward and do the best we can. A lot of people stepped up to make sure this election was held." Howell also provided a report at the county commissioners meeting Wednesday. "Corrina (Brown) blessed us with a good handoff from the work she and her staff had done prior to the election," Howell told the commissioners. "We had 246 ballots that were undeliverable, many to seasonal addresses, and we had 55 ballots from Libby and 27 from Troy that were postmarked too late, but we can't control that." Howell believes her return to her job has a lot to do with a measure introduced by Montana House of Representatives member Tom Millett, R-Marion. Millett represents District 2, which includes sections of Lincoln and Flathead Counties. House Bill 293, introduced Jan. 22, sought to have a election administrator report directly to the governing body of the county, specifically the county commissioners, as opposed to reporting to the clerk and recorder. "I'm glad that HB 293 was overwhelmingly passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor because it clarified the law (MCA 13-1-301) thereby allowing the Commissioners to make a well informed decision as to the best path forward for the administration of Lincoln County elections," Millett said in a statement to The Western News. According to Montana Code Annotated 13-1-301, in part, the county clerk and recorder of each county is the election administrator unless the governing body of the county designates another official or appoints an election administrator. In addition, the election administrator is responsible for the administration of all procedures relating to registration of electors and conduct of elections, shall keep all county records relating to elector registration and elections, and is the primary point of contact for the county with respect to the statewide voter registration list and implementation of other provisions of applicable federal law governing elections. District 1 Commissioner Brent Teske is pleased something was worked out. "I'm happy to have a less-conflicted resolution," Teske said. "We didn't find out about HB 293 until Senator Cuffe told us. Howell said reporting to the commissioners and making decisions together will be better. "The rotation is set so that I'll report to Brent (Teske) first, then Jim Hammons and finally, Noel Duram," Howell said. "My hope is for each of them to understand elections better and when they make a decision about a question I have, I'll have to stick to it." Howell's assistant, Sierra Gustin, will work full-time in the election department when they are preparing to hold an election. But during slower times, she'll work in the Clerk and Recorder's Office, which is dealing with not having enough help to perform its usual tasks. Millett's bill saw little opposition in the House and Senate and was signed May 1 by Gov. Greg Gianforte. All parties are hopeful the recent resolution will bring stability to a department that has seen more than its fair share of trouble since 2020. Howell was hired to run the county's elections in May 2023 following the resignation of Paula Buff. Buff, former Clerk and Recorder Robin Benson and another election office employee resigned in March 2023 following heightened tension between them and former County Commissioner Josh Letcher. Letcher alleged Buff falsified election documents at a March 1, 2023 meeting, though Benson said she had no idea of what documents Letcher was referring to and was not provided a copy of any specific documents. Buff later sued the county, alleging she was constructively discharged. "Constructive discharge" means the voluntary termination of employment by an employee because of a situation created by an act or omission of the employer which an objective, reasonable person would find so intolerable that voluntary termination is the only reasonable alternative. Buff also alleged acts and omissions by the county were "malicious." Buff's case is set for a jury trial in December. Brown was appointed to take over the Clerk and Recorder job in March 2023 and won election to the position in 2024. While they seem ready to move forward, Brown and Howell have butted heads previously. In July 2024, Howell sought a split from the Clerk and Recorder's Office. She cited various reasons at a July 10, 2024, commission meeting, including election security and to avoid confusion for voters. Howell is the fourth person to hold the election administrator title since 2020. Buff was on the job from 2021 to 2023. Before her, Chris Nelson served from August 2020 to November 2020. He resigned following the general election that year. Nelson replaced longtime election administrator Leigh Riggleman, who resigned in 2020 while the commissioners were indecisive over holding an all mail-in election, meant to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, or a traditional poll election.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Officials approve sweeping ban on controversial food packaging: 'If the feds aren't gonna do it, we're gonna do it'
If you've ever gotten takeout from a restaurant, there's a good chance that at some point, your food was packaged into a Styrofoam container. While Styrofoam is effective at being a lightweight, protective packaging material and a great insulator, it has long been the target of environmental groups. However, for folks in Montana, single-use Styrofoam food containers may soon be a thing of the past. House Bill 477 was introduced by representative Marilyn Marler. The bill refers to Styrofoam as a "material that causes environmental harm and poses a threat to fish and wildlife." According to the bill, "Styrofoam threatens the right of each Montanan to a clean and healthful environment." The bill would ban the use of Styrofoam containers in the food industry by 2030. This includes the use of containers used to serve or package food from restaurants and food establishments. Meaning everything from coffee cups, plates, and trays would soon be phased out in the state. As reported by the Daily Montanan, H.B. 477 passed in the Montana House of Representatives in March with a vote of 56 to 44. In April, the bill was passed in the Senate by just two votes. Styrofoam, or expanded polystyrene, can take a very long time to properly decompose in landfills. Some estimates suggest it could take 500 years or more. The decomposition process is not a complete breakdown but rather a fragmentation into smaller and smaller pieces, potentially leading to microplastics. Microplastics have been reported to have the ability to accumulate in various food sources, including marine life and mammals. This can carry pollutants and toxins to humans. While the specific health effects in humans are still being researched, studies suggest potential risks such as gastrointestinal issues, inflammation, and disruption of endocrine and reproductive systems. Senator Daniel Zolnikov, one of the most vocal proponents of H.B. 477, emphasized the importance of the bill. "We have chemicals in our food, we have chemicals touching our food, we are being poisoned in more ways than we know," Zolnikov said, per the Daily Montanan. "This is an easy way to say if the feds aren't gonna do it, we're gonna do it. We're gonna phase it out." Should the government ban gas stoves? Yes Only in new buildings Only in restaurants No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
From legislative secrecy to Constitutional sunlight
The main stairway to the third floor of the Montana Capitol building is seen on Wednesday, February 12, 2025. (Nathaniel Bailey for the Daily Montanan) Only a handful of us who served in the legislature under the old 1889 Montana Constitution still survive. That constitution reflected the dominant power of the copper mining industry when Montana achieved statehood. It was also ridiculously verbose and prescriptive, and by the late 1960s a consensus had developed that the time had come for our 1889 Constitution to be replaced. Among the people's major concerns was the secrecy by which laws were made within the Legislature. It was 1971 when, at 23, I took my seat in the Montana House of Representatives – the youngest member. The House chamber was overwhelming in its grandeur. What I didn't know then was that what went on in that grand place was far less grand than its setting. Legislative bodies are organized around committees. One of my earliest experiences in a Montana Legislative committee was having the committee chair excuse all nonmembers from the committee room except two gentlemen whom I soon learned were lobbyists. They were hired by a special interest to protect that interest's affairs in the legislative process. Behind those doors, closed to citizens, these selected lobbyists freely interacted with committee members as they voted on the bills before the committee. With no experience, I simply assumed this was fine. Certainly, as the legislature's greenest newbie, I wasn't going to question it. Fortunately, a few legislators were starting openly do so. One, was Flathead Representative James E. Murphy. Murphy had served in the Missouri legislature before relocating to Montana after World War II. He led the Montana House Judiciary Committee and was also Montana's representative on the Republican National Committee. I greatly admired Jim Murphy. Murphy thought the 1889 Constitution was far outdated and needed to be replaced. A prime example of what needed changing was my first experiences with the public's lack of access to legislative decision-making and the open role of lobbyists in orchestrating law-making decisions behind closed doors. Well, the committee procedure I witnessed in the 1971 legislative session could not happen in the Montana legislature of today, thanks to Montana's 1972 Constitution. It requires legislative meetings as well as other government meetings to be open to the public. No longer can lobbyists, but not the public, be allowed to meet with and impact decisions of committees behind closed doors. Under the 1889 Constitution, legislation was routinely passed or killed by either the Montana House or Senate, with few recorded votes and no way for the folks at home to really know how their legislators had voted. Since 1972 they always can. It is constitutionally required. Once in 1971, we house members were startled by a camera flash from the back balcony of the chamber. A photographer had taken a picture of the voting board of a vote that the 1889 Constitution allowed to be non-recorded, 'off the record,' even though that vote essentially determined the outcome of an important bill. The Speaker immediately called for the Sergeant-at-Arms to apprehend the photographer's film. But the photographer was too fast and escaped, film intact, from the capitol building. When the state papers carried the picture of the voting board the following day, the votes of all legislators on that bill were revealed. Such a dramatic act to inform the people is not needed now, thanks to the 1972 Constitution, which stipulates that any vote in the House or Senate, including committees, that could result in a bill being passed or killed must be publicly recorded. These true-life examples directly show how much more open to the people the Montana legislature is since the adoption of our 1972 Constitution. Bob Brown is a retired Whitefish history teacher who also serves as a Board Member of Friends of the Montana Constitution. A member of the Montana Legislature for nearly 30 years, he was also Senate President, Montana Secretary of State and Candidate for Governor. Bob also served on the Board of Trustees for the Montana Historical Society. This column on the Montana Constitution produced for this publication by the 'Friends' organization.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
House approves $16.6 billion state budget
The Montana House of Representatives convenes for a floor session on Jan. 6, 2025. (Micah Drew/ Daily Montanan) Fixing bridges and roads, while funding nursing homes and law enforcement officers took center stage Wednesday on the House floor with the full chamber's first look at Montana's big budget bill — a plan that costs $16.6 billion. Last fall, Gov. Greg Gianforte proposed his budget for the next biennium, and since the beginning of the 2025 Montana Legislature, House subcommittees have combed through the request and put their fingerprints on it. Wednesday, House Appropriations Chairperson Llew Jones, R-Conrad, and the chairpeople of the subcommittees presented the various sections of House Bill 2 on health, justice, education and natural resources and transportation. Jones said the budget is the result of a lot of time and work by staff and legislators, and the product before his colleagues generally followed growth in inflation and population. Given the hours of investment legislators had put into HB 2 the last three months, he urged his fellow representatives to stick with the bill as is and avoid any amendments — either to increase or decrease it. 'It has some discipline and is transparent,' Jones said. But adopting a budget is job No. 1 for the legislature, and Rep. Bill Mercer, R-Billings, advocating for his own amendment, said legislators shouldn't just be rubber stamps. 'You're not a potted plant here. You have to exercise your own judgement as to whether this makes sense,' Mercer said. The largest chunk of the bill goes to the Department of Public Health and Human Services, or Section B, an estimated 44%, according to a budget overview from the Legislative Fiscal Division. That's $7.3 billion for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. Education accounts for $3.5 billion, and transportation and natural resources make up $2.9 billion. Rep. Mary Caferro, vice chairperson for House Appropriations, said the budget is a statement of legislator values, and she too thanked staff from the Legislative Fiscal Division, 'the smartest people in the whole Capitol.' 'The people of Montana deserve a fair budget that makes life more affordable and provides them the freedom that comes from economic security and good health,' said Caferro, D-Helena. After a full day of review, the House adopted the budget bill on a 60-39 vote. 'Let's send it onto the Senate and let the work continue,' Jones said. Montana's population is increasing, and the state is feeling effects of both the population growth and tourism, said Rep. Jerry Schillinger, R-Circle. 'It's affected all of these departments,' said Schillinger, chairperson of Section C. His committee reviewed Fish, Wildlife and Parks, the Department of Environmental Quality, the Department of Transportation, the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, and the Department of Livestock. For example, he said, the state needs to fix bridges, although the number of people needed for the job was debated in an amendment, as was a hunter education course for Montana. The legislature added 22 people to the Department of Transportation, many to work on bridges, although with money from state and federal fees. It also added four meat inspectors in the Department of Livestock, one portion of an overall 6.4% increase for the biennium from the 2025 base, or $2.1 million overall. In an explanation for the meat inspectors, Schillinger said the pandemic brought to light how fragile food systems have become, and those employees will help with safety. He also said the Department of Environmental Quality has been affected 'in a large way' with housing and commercial developments and legal challenges related to permitting. As a result, he said, nine more people are budgeted to handle the growing caseload for that agency at a cost of $2.3 million for the biennium. That amount is part of a 7.2% increase for the biennium altogether, or $9.7 million, including $5.4 million for mine reclamation. All told, Schillinger said his section added 63 positions for a total of 3,973. On the floor, Mercer tried to cut an engineer and project manager from the Department of Transportation budget, or two positions altogether out of 16, but the amendment failed. He said everyone is committed to bridges, but he didn't see the need for the total number of new employees. 'I think that's excessive,' Mercer said. But Schillinger and others said the legislature discussed it, a number of bridges are under restrictions, and Montana roads need the resources. Rep. Marilyn Marler, D-Missoula, pitched a successful amendment to reinsert a hunter education program into the budget, which she argued is a healthy and important part of the state's culture and heritage. Marler also said it wasn't costing taxpayers because the dollars come from hunting licenses and an excise tax on guns and ammunition. Rep. Shannon Maness, R-Dillon, said it pained him to speak in support of a budget increase, but the money was already allocated for that purpose — and it's needed. 'This program is suffering,' Maness said of hunter education. 'It's been hampered in recent years.' The public safety portion of the budget, comprising five agencies, is led by Rep. Fiona Nave, R-Columbus, and is the smallest of the budget sections. 'These dollars really, really have to stretch over things that we are required to do,' Nave said. Nave summarized the budgets for the judicial branch, Department of Justice, Office of Public Defender, Department of Corrections and the Public Service Commission, the latter of which receives no general fund money. The budget approved in committee gave substantial, 9% raises to highway patrol to address poor retention, which Nave said was one of the biggest issues in state law enforcement. 'The officers end up moving from agency to agency depending upon who can pay them the most. And unfortunately, the state's a little bit disadvantaged because of the timing,' Nave said 'We end up having to do it first and then all the counties can take a look and say, okay, you know, can I match that.' Another big ask came from the judiciary, where the courts asked for additional judges in Yellowstone County to handle increased caseload. The committee approved two of the requested three judges, but added a condition requesting the 10 judges in the county to look at having specialized dockets to streamline the process. The Department of Corrections saw the largest increase in the budget with a $68 million bump. The biggest chunk of that is nearly $24 million in contracts for out-of-state prison beds — roughly three times what the state originally paid in 2023 to send 120 inmates to Arizona. Now, Montana houses 600 male inmates in out-of-state prisons owned by private prison operator CoreCivic, and while the Legislature is considering hundreds of millions of dollars for DOC capital projects, it is unlikely to make much headway in the backlog of inmates in Montana's penal system. Rep. S.J. Howell, D-Missoula, brought an amendment to strip the funding to send inmates out of state, citing concerns over accountability and oversight at private prison facilities, but the House opposed the change, with Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, calling the argument 'completely fallacious.' Nave said that while she was sympathetic to Howell's position, the state was 'in a crisis' and had no other choice but to pay. 'There are no places to put these people. If we're not going to fund this, you can either put bunk beds in places we have now or put them on the streets,' she said. 'The money put here in the line item is to pay for the beds we are already utilizing and that we need to pay for. We are obligated.' Another amendment to increase funding for the Office of Public Defender — which the committee funded below what the department had asked for — also failed. But one amendment introduced on the floor did pass. Earlier in the session Speaker Pro Tempore Katie Zolnikov, R-Billings, carried a bill to create a railroad safety inspection program within the PSC as a standalone bill, which passed the chamber 98-2 before being tabled in the Appropriations Committee. Her budget amendment asked for half the inspection staff the original bill requested, and many lawmakers spoke in support, pointing to recent train derailments in Montana as a need. Rep. Neil Duram, R-Eureka, said he wanted to avoid another scenario like a 2021 Amtrak derailment that killed 3 people and injured more than 50. 'That's the event that we want to prevent. If $200,000 will get us there, I'm a yes.' The Department of Public Health and Human Services accounts for nearly half of the entire budget for HB 2, more than $7 billion for the biennium. Rep. Jane Gillette, R-Three Forks, served as chairperson for that subcommittee, and she said the good news is that the legislature trimmed the budget slightly from the governor's proposal. However, she also said one difficulty is declining federal match dollars for health programs. Gillette said for every 1% decline in federal match, Montana has to pay from $16 million to $17 million. 'That's going to present some serious future challenges for us,' Gillette said. Caferro said Gillette ran a fair subcommittee, and such leadership is important because many members of the public from all walks of life testify there. 'We see the faces of the people behind all of these decisions and numbers and lines on pieces of paper,' Caferro said. To Caferro, the agenda represented a 'strong agenda for children,' for babies, toddlers and families. 'Children don't ask what home to be born into, but I believe it's government's role to take care of children first and foremost,' Caferro said. The cost for the biennium is 1.6% lower than the base in 2025, according to the overview from the Legislative Fiscal Division. Highlights include one-time funding of $79.5 million to operate facilities including the Montana State Hospital, nearly $2 billion for Medicaid expansion, provider rate increases for Medicaid and non-Medicaid providers, and a cut of 80 net positions out of 2,832. The House considered numerous amendments — to cut and add — and all but one, characterized as a technical adjustment, failed. Mercer, a fiscal conservative, proposed numerous amendments to trim the budget, and his proposals failed, but other legislators joked that they would work on softening his heart. 'My heart is plenty soft,' Mercer joked back. Rep. Terry Falk, R-Kalispell said much of the work on the general government section of HB 2 was about ensuring 'we have good transparency and accountability in state government.' The committee reviewed the Legislative branch, Consumer Council, Governor's Office, the Commissioner of Public Practices, the Auditor's Office, the Department of Revenue, the Department of Administration, the Department of Labor and Industry, and the Department of Military Affairs. Some of that was seen in the Legislative branch, which received information and technology upgrades, including an additional $229,000 in one-time funding to increase the public's access to lobbying information. The State Auditor's Office also received money for consumer information and fraud prevention. The Department of Military Affairs also saw a boost, with the budget adding $3.8 million to develop 14 new positions. Rep. Luke Muszkiewicz, D-Helena, said the section was about the people behind the numbers and that state employees are 'knowledgeable, conscientious and dedicated public servants who are committed to serving the people of Montana.' Falk said there was some pushback at times, but called out the tension between the Legislature and the Executive office, saying 'it should be there.' Three amendments were brought, with just one passing from Falk. It eliminated $12.9 million from the general fund, state special revenue, federal special revenue, and proprietary funding that was set to go to the Recruitment and Retention Contingency Fund, the largest cut made to the budget on the floor. 'I think in general, things were restrained,' Falk said. 'I would like to have seen us do more.' Chairman David Bedey, R-Hamilton, highlighted investments the state is making in education. Bedey's subcommittee reviewed the Office of Public Instruction, the Board of Public Education, the Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, the Montana School for the Deaf and Blind, the Montana Arts Council, the Montana State Library and the Montana Historical Society. The Office of Public Instruction received a 10% increase in funding for the Local Education Activities Program, which involves aid for major maintenance projects, debt service assistance and school lunch funding. The budget also includes an increase in teacher pay, which is contingent on the passage of House Bill 252, which has come to be known as the STARS Act and is a major education proposal this session. There's also $640,000 for a study of high schools and $2 million for OPI for database modernization. Several bills — HB 515, HB 551, SB 322 — will have to pass for some appropriations to go through. There's also money for the agency to add seven new staff. Bedey also added the committee had made some adjustments and cuts 'to align the budget with actual projected spending for the unanticipated significant enrollment appropriation.' There's also money to study how AI will be used in classrooms, which will be implemented by the Montana Digital Academy. 'Its purpose is to get our arms around how AI is going to influence education and the kind of educational materials that we more and more rely upon, like online materials, to support,' Bedey said. 'We don't use books like they did when I was a kid.' The Montana State Library will also see some increases, mostly for personal services and fixed costs. The Montana Historical Society also received an increase — including a one-time appropriation of $1 million to plan for the country's 250th birthday — as well as half a million for operation of the Montana Historical Society.
