Latest news with #SenateBill342
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate considers bills to reshape Supreme Court administration in Montana
The door to the old Supreme Court Chamber at the Montana Capitol. (Micah Drew/Daily Montanan) The Senate Judiciary Committee rejected the idea of appointing the Clerk of the Montana Supreme Court as a nonpartisan position, but during the same meeting supported changing another position, the court's chief administrator, to guard against political influence. The committee held hearings and took executive action on both bills at its Feb. 25 meeting, as the Legislature heads toward the transmittal deadline to send legislation to the opposite chamber. Senate Bill 342, introduced by Sen. John Fuller, R-Kalispell, would alter how the Supreme Court administrator is appointed. Fuller said SB 342 would improve accountability and transparency in the court system by having the Chief Justice appoint the court administrator, as opposed to the entire seven-justice bench. Fuller cited a lawsuit stemming from the 2021 session that involved then-court administrator Beth McLaughlin and a legislative subpoena. 'That court administrator had some important political influence and incidents, and this is designed to eliminate that,' Fuller said. Greenwood testified in favor of the legislation, noting that a similar bill was introduced last session that would move appointment authority from the justices to the Clerk, but that he found this to be a better alternative by keeping control of the administrator within the court. He added that because a single justice is up for election every eight years, having the administrator answer to the Chief Justice makes it more feasible for changes to be made in the position if necessary. Fuller said that he understood the Chief Justice, as the 'big kahuna of the Supreme Court,' takes care of many of the administrative duties of the court, and it made sense to group the positions together. The GOP-led judiciary committee passed the bill along party lines with all Democrats in opposition. The committee also took executive action on Senate Bill 332, tabling the bill brought by Sen. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula, which proposed changing the role of Clerk of the Supreme Court into an appointed position, rather than its current partisan elected position. The Clerk of the Supreme Court controls the court's dockets and filings, manages the appellate process, is the custodian of all official court records for the public, issues subpoenas, writs and certificates, and is responsible for licensing the state's attorneys. While the position has been an elected position for decades, Curdy told the judiciary committee, given the increasingly political rhetoric around the judicial system, he believes a better model would be to remove the partisanship of the position. 'This bill dovetails with the Chief Justice's point of view that all those working within the court should reflect that politics has no place within the functioning of the court,' Curdy said, referencing Chief Justice Cory Swanson's State of the Judiciary speech to the Legislature last week. In his address, Swanson stated that the judiciary 'should remain non-partisan, despite the almost irresistible pull of partisan spending and messaging in these highly contested campaigns.' However, Swanson made no mention of specific roles within the judiciary, which Bowen Greenwood, current Clerk of the Supreme Court, mentioned while testifying in opposition to the bill. Greenwood, a Republican, said that in his more than six years serving in the role, he hasn't had a single complaint about a filing or document being treated differently because of the partisanship, economic status, or physical appearance of a filer. 'So nothing's wrong. Why would we want to fix it if nothing's wrong?' Greenwood said. In addition, Greenwood said that having Montanans elect the clerk gave a measure of accountability over the Supreme Court — whereas if the position answered to the justices, it would remove some oversight. 'The clerk's office is responsible for making sure that the rules have been followed before a document goes to the Montana Supreme Court. But sometimes in the past, the Montana Supreme Court has chosen to operate outside its own rules,' Greenwood said. 'When that happens, the office responsible for following those rules really matters.' 'I work for the people in Montana, not for the court,' Greenwood added. Patrick Yawakie, representing the Blackfeet Tribe, the Fort Belknap Indian Community and the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Rocky Boy, was the lone proponent for the legislation, arguing that keeping the court as nonpartisan as possible was the best path forward. He pointed to statements made by Greenwood during his 2024 campaign, including that 'Republicans must observe every advantage we can get… I'm the only Republican in the court. We cannot risk losing gains we've made,' to show that the position had become overtly politicized. The committee took immediate executive action on the bill, voting to table it in committee in a 5-3 party line vote.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bipartisan Ohio Senate bill aims to pay for public school breakfast and lunch
Students eat lunch at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School in South Salt Lake, Utah, on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps/Utah News Dispatch) A co-sponsor of a new bipartisan bill to give Ohio public school students free meals is hoping to see it included as a priority in the state's two-year operating budget due July 1. State Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., said the newest move to get the state to pay for all students to have free breakfast and lunch at school is similar to Senate Bill 342, which he and co-sponsor Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, introduced in the last General Assembly. 'It's such a great idea, it's a public good,' Blessing told the Capital Journal. S.B. 342 had other aims, such as increasing the Local Government Fund and modifying funding for the Low and Moderate-Income Housing Trust Fund, along with the goal of total eligibility for student meals, so when Blessing and Smith brought back the idea in the new General Assembly, simplicity won out. 'To me, this should be a no-brainer,' Blessing said. Under the new bill, Senate Bill 109, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce would be directed to reimburse public and chartered nonpublic schools who participated in the National School Breakfast Program to cover the gap between the federal reimbursements for free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches, along with covering those who would be required to pay because they don't qualify for meal assistance. The bill lists an appropriation of $300 million to support the reimbursements. Blessing and Smith plan to push for the bill to be included in the new two-year state operating budget due July 1, currently under negotiation in the Ohio House, though Blessing hopes to have at least one hearing in the Senate Finance Committee 'to say this is great policy.' Polling as recently as last year in Ohio showed vast public support for a universal free school breakfast and lunch program in a state where 1 in 6 children live in households that struggle to keep food on the table. A 2023 report from the advocacy group Children's Defense Fund Ohio found that 1 in 3 children who live in those homes don't qualify for free school meals. School nutrition administrators spoke to the legislature during the last round of budget negotiations, telling stories of student meal debt putting them in the difficult position of keeping students from receiving a hot meal, and perpetuating the stigma that comes with students identified as free or reduced-lunch eligible. Support for universal school breakfast and lunch comes as the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee contemplates cuts that could impact the Community Eligibility Provision, which works within the federal National School Lunch Program in high-poverty areas to provide no-cost meals to students who qualify. Schools qualify based on the rates of participation the school students and families have in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The national Food Research & Action Center found that the proposed changes to the eligibility provision on the federal level could impact more than 280,000 Ohio students and 728 schools. Blessing acknowledged there was pushback about paying for the state-level measure in the last operating budget. But he countered the argument by saying the measure could be paid for by increasing some taxes, such as the severance tax. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I wouldn't be surprised if it's the House or the Senate that puts a significant income tax cut in (the new budget), and that's money out the door right there that could have paid for this,' Blessing said. In the previous state operating budget, $4 million was included to extend free meals to those who qualified for reduced-price breakfast and lunch for the 2023-2024 school year. But attempts at universal eligibility didn't make it to the final draft. For Blessing, a bill that gives school-aged kids two meals a day addresses campaign promises that were made to ease the costs for everyday Ohioans and Americans. 'Right, wrong or indifferent, Trump was elected because there was a cost-of-living crisis,' Blessing said. 'I would hope that we would deliver on this to help with that. It should matter to everyone.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
