Monday February 20
8 am … The gavel dropped, and we began with four Bills.
#1 by Representative Bill Mercer to simplify the probate process.
#2 Representative Bill Mercer … to allow discrimination cases to bypass the Human Rights Bureau and go straight to District Court. There were lots of pushback from Representative Zooey Zephyr (transgender), Representative S.J. Howell (non-binary) and the minority party in general. Representative Mercer must have hit a nerve right there, so that says quite a bit on how a person should vote on this. Sometimes these bills are so far out of your area of expertise that you can’t even question the sponsors on them because you’re just not sure what to ask. Many times, I check out at the opposition and in my “redneck mind” I conclude that this is probably a pretty good bill. I am leaning towards “yes”.
#3 was presented by Representative Steve Galloway. It addressed a revision to rental requirements in submitting a cleaning notice. If you evict a tenant, you don’t have to send them a cleaning notice. It just clarifies the legal language.
#4 was by Representative Neil Duram to allow the Security Team of the Lottery Division to be classified as law officers. This affects 3 full-time employees.
We did some executive action on 5 other bills. Again, this means all 19 of us on this committee will vote. If it passes out of this committee, the same bill is presented to the entire house, 100 members. If it fails in committee, the bill is called “dead” and will not be addressed again in this legislative session.
We had two abortion bills last week, in committee. We made a motion to table both bills. It was a straight party line vote 13-6, on both … they were DOA right there!! I don’t think I can say this enough, but if the minority party EVER re-gains their power in our state, many things will change, for the worse, at the speed of lighting. The unborn won’t have a chance.
A big day on the House Floor today. We had a Joint Session with the Senate, and Senators Tester and Daines spoke, as well as our Representatives Zinke and Rosendale. I took notes but will share just one observation. We were standing and clapping quite a bit, and I couldn’t help but notice that when Senator Daines mentioned his position on life, not one person from the minority stood or even clapped. When Representative Rosendale mentioned a balanced budget, all the Republicans stood and clapped, but the entire minority party refused to stand or clap. THAT speaks volumes!!!
All members of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees were invited to the Governor’s personal home (the mansion is being remolded) for drinks and appetizers later that evening. Governor Gianforte is so absolutely transparent. He asked God to bless the refreshments and told us he had no agenda to discuss that evening, and just enjoy ourselves, so we did! You will find that he is one of the most accessible Governor’s Montana has ever seen. Mrs. G told me that when session is over, they will leave every Monday for one of Montana’s 56 Counties. They cover the whole state at least once per year and just got back from Sidney, looking at the closing Sugar Factory situation. That’s what they do, and we are thankful for them.
Tuesday February 21 (week 
7:15 am … Meeting on 4th floor, Crow’s Nest, for whip meeting with Terry Moore. It’s not often that party leadership tells us how to vote, but Terry Moore made it clear we were to vote “no” on HB378. This is a bill on Candidate Disclosure and Reporting. I looked back and I had voted “no” on 2nd reading, so did the same again, as most of the majority party did.
Just a quick note … you can vote on the same bill 3 times. The bill is presented in a committee. If it passes, it goes to the House Floor. If it passes on the Floor, it gets in line for the 3rd reading. If it passes here, it goes over to the Senate for the same process and then on to the Governor’s desk, before it becomes Montana law. If at any point it does not pass the committee, it all stops there. I serve on these four committees … Judicial, Energy, Agriculture and Legislative Administration.
As I watch, and am part of this process, it makes me wonder about a State Supreme Court that can, many times, call a bill “Unconstitutional”, on just a whim. All that work in the legislature was for nothing. This court will cancel ANY election integrity bills. I am carrying a bill to study moving all elections (this includes school board and local mill levies) to either the primary or the general election days. Without reading one sentence, it already has 32 votes AGAINST it. Forgive my redneck math, but Bob Phalen’s Obscenity Bill, that takes porn out of school libraries, only passed 55 to 45, so it wouldn’t surprise me if this study bill either dies in committee or fails on the floor vote. It becomes very evident that we don’t all think alike … even the ones with “R” behind their names.
Just a note from today’s Judiciary Committee. We heard several bills, but I will mention one of them that was presented by our Chair, Representative Amy Regier. This bill will make it a felony if a counselor has sex with a client. We listened to a victim’s story, and it’s just hard to believe this wasn’t already in place … But it will be, soon.
An interesting story I want to share. We heard a bill called “Right to Repair”. This has to do with repairing and working on larger agriculture equipment, so I called a mechanic friend who I spent a lot of my life with. I asked him his ideas and opinions on this one. He was pretty definite on where he stood. The day went on, and I ran into Nicole Rolf (my youngest son is married to Nicole’s younger sister) so we know each other well. She is a full-time lobbyist for Farm Bureau and she asked me how I will vote on this bill. I told her my story about visiting with my friend, but she said that Farm Bureau is opposing this bill. I told Nicole that we would just have to be opposite sides on this one. I went about my day. After a while, I got a text from my buddy. She had called him and convinced him to change his mind. I thought “Holy Cow!!” How cool is this!!! She called the mechanic and lobbied him, bypassing me. So, I will oppose the Right to Repair bill when it’s time to vote. I saw pluses and minuses on both sides of this issue. I will for sure recommend Nicole for Lobbyist of the Year!!
I went to an event tonight sponsored by the Western Conservatives Summit and learned a lot. They talked about many subjects, but a lot of the discussion was about Colorado, and what has happened since they turned into a blue state and replaced energy development with marijuana. Denver is now one of the most dangerous cities in America. They use mail-in voting, drop boxes and all the techniques that we would call questionable. I hope you all know that I will always support election integrity and ultimately, would like to go all paper ballots, but good luck with that one.
Wednesday February 22 (week
7 am … Madam Chair gavels the Judiciary to order. Representative Jane Gillette drops one on us. I don’t know Representative Gillette very well, as she sits 2 seats away from me on the floor. She has at least 3 electronic devices, all running at the same time. It looks like she has so much energy that she must never sleep. Every time she speaks, it just makes sense. She is on Appropriations, so she must understand finance, accounting, etc. Here is the bill title … Cover abortion costs for Medicaid and CHIP. I thought, what happened to Jane? This can’t be right! But what the bill did was that it greatly narrowed the language for these “emergency” abortions that RARELY happen. No proponents showed up, but the opponents were lined up … ACLU, Planned Parent Hood, several doctors and other organizations opposed this bill. Representative Gillette is one smart Representative, and it was pure fun for me to watch her in action.
Next, Representative Jenifer Carlson introduced a bill that requires children in abuse or neglect situations, to have a qualified attorney. Jenifer is always fighting for the good of children. Just a scary thought, but what if the Jane Gillette’s, the Jenifer Carlson’s and the Amy Regier’s just decided to stay home? I’m telling you, for sure, that the other side will never stay home. They are in this for the duration. This situation would flip so fast, it would shock you. We watched it happen, immediately, when Biden took the reins on our national level.
Still not done talking about today’s Judiciary … the committee where most of the culture war is played out. Representative Marilyn Marler, minority party, introduced a bill that said you can’t interfere with one’s ability to obtain reproductive care (code for abortion), meaning you can’t picket in front of a clinic. I could give you the blow-by-blow detail, as it was a spirited debate. We heard every excuse and every scenario, but you get the idea. Again, I will always vote for the unborn.
Funny story today. I forgot Alice volunteered to take blood pressure on the House and Senate floor today. Representative Denley Loge, from St. Regis, who sings the Lord’s Prayer for the opening prayer for floor session on occasion, came up to me and said that Alice had taken his blood pressure and it was really high. I told Representative Loge she had the same effect on me! We have a little fun around here occasionally.
My seat mate in Judiciary is Representative Wayne Rusk from Corvallis. He volunteered to be Chair of the day on the House Floor. That involves being up front and running the entire floor session for the day. It’s a busy job and you must be very organized to do it. A page (high school volunteer for a week) approached Wayne with a note sent from another Legislator and handed it to him. It was folded in half and when Wayne had a minute, he looked at it … said “your fly is down”. Of course, he checked, and it wasn’t. Some days it’s a wild and crazy place but the humor defiantly helps you survive this stressful and demanding place.
Thursday February 23 (week
7 am … Our Chair lowers her gavel and boy, the hearings begin! Today, we will hear 6 or 7 hours’ worth of bills, just in Judiciary. As I mentioned earlier, I also serve on other committees and I take notes on every bill, because I have a great memory, but it’s just short. Here they come!
HB727 by Representative Steve Galloway. Just a note … Steve and Lola Galloway are both Representatives from Great Falls, the best people you could ever spend time with. They are conservative and a huge asset to me. Lola is on Judiciary with me and brings a huge amount of depth and experience to the committee. They own Dairy Queens, a Hardware Store, Rentals and other businesses in Great Falls. Steve’s bill had to do with rental properties. Tenants bring animals into their rentals and call them “emotional support animals”. Apparently, a person can get an internet permit that says you need this animal for emotional support. Steve’s bill states that you will have to be evaluated by a Montana Physician to qualify for an emotional support animal. A guy can learn a lot in Helena. I can’t relay everything here, because it would just get too long, but I will hit the high points.
My colleague across the aisle, Representative Ed Stafman, from the minority party, brought a bill to remove penalties from healthcare workers if they make a mistake working on you. I’m not so sure about this one.
He brought another bill that said a person can’t impersonate a public servant. On some of these bills by the minority party, I wonder what’s really being said. Forgive me, but many times I am suspicious. I have learned the bill title and the content of the bill might be two entirely different things
Representative Bill Mercer brought two Bills. As I have shared before, Bill Mercer is a Federal Prosecutor from Billings, and a huge asset here in Helena. He sees and understands things the rest of us have no idea about. He brought a bill that has to do with death penalty litigation, and he sighted the Patricia Batts 2022 trial for killing her grandson. They sought the death penalty and ended up not going thru with it, because Representative Mercer discovered the Office of Public Defender spent $1,601,468.03 defending her against the death penalty. Representative Mercer’s bill would fix some of this. I also learned there are 14 very dangerous, criminally insane inmates in Boulder that cost $1,000 per day each, to keep. It’s not that you don’t trust many of these state agencies, but you need to have a few Bill Mercer’s that know how to find this information and have the courage to do something about it. Representative Bill Mercer possesses these tools.
Another big day on the floor today. My seatmate to my right is Representative Jerry Schillinger and on my left is Representative Scot Kerns, a Lutheran Minister out of Great Falls. Because Schillinger is late to session on so many days, I push the green button for roll call for him … my civic duty for the day … LOL!!
Today we had the vote on Representative Braxton Mitchell’s Drag Queen Bill. We heard the bill in Judiciary and, as I told you in an earlier journal, it was a huge show … real drag queens and everything. Today we had the floor vote, and it went on and on, but we finally voted. It was pretty much a party line vote. Because I was slower in leaving, I noticed Representative Zooey Zephyr in the mail room, in absolute tears. He/she was very emotional because of the “perceived” prejudice toward him/her. Honestly, when I saw Representative Zephyr in that condition, my heart was moved, but there are some things in life I am very sure about. God gave us an instruction manual, and if you follow the instructions and get to know the Author of that Book, you will always feel like the wind is at your back, and that you can face anything, even death. When a person goes totally against the plan of God, they will pay an incredibly huge price for that disobedience. I think Zooey made a payment today … entirely my opinion.
Friday February 24 (week
7 am … We begin early and hear Representative Bill Mercer bring 2 bills right away. Again, Bill Mercer is quite a guy, and his bills always accomplish something.
1st bill has to do with the Office of Public Defender, because if you can’t afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. This is a huge financial cost for the state, and most court cases in Montana are handled by an Office of Public Defender lawyer. Mercer’s Bill would not allow OPD lawyers to do any work on misdemeanor cases, only felony’s. This would save the state a ton of money. ACLU was not happy.
#2 Mercer bill would make “Right to Know” from all State Agencies a requirement. The only oversight State Agencies have is with the State Legislature, so they need their “Right to Know” (information) requests honored in a timely manner. Representative Mercer knows how the game is played.
Just a few more from today. The next one was to restrict restraints on youth in the courtroom … i.e. handcuffs, leg irons, etc, but with some exceptions.
Also, nephews & nieces can be charged with incest.
Ban Killer Drone Robots in Montana.
Can’t use vaccine status in child custody hearings.
Make it a requirement that a blood sample is taken in traffic accidents, where a death occurs, from those that are alive, even if by force.
Define the word “Contempt” as stated in the Constitution.
Form an “Innocence Inquiry Commission” to study Felony Convictions to see if they were rightly convicted.
No Drones allowed over Prison. Apparently, they fly over and drop contraband.
This is a sample of bills heard today, just from the Judiciary Committee and this is by no means all of them, but I want to mention one introduced by Representative Jennifer Carlson. It stated that said the Feds must contact the local Sherriff before they do any law enforcement activity in that Sherriff’s County. Sherriff Jesse Slaughter, from Cascade County, stood as a proponent. He had an impactful testimony about what a Sherriff’s authority should look like. All Sherriff’s Departments should watch this Bill Hearing … HB604. If you want to view it, go to the state web page and follow the prompts, leg.mt.gov is the web page address.
Floor session at 1, and one of the most “telling” days for me as a learning freshman. Representative Paul Fielder had an excellent bill that simply allowed Judicial Candidates to optionally declare their party … Republican, Democrat or Independent (***code for a huge election integrity bill) If you recall the Montana November ballet, we had a highly contested race for State Supreme Court. Jim Brown vs Ingrid Gustafson, or David vs Goliath, so to speak. Ingrid supports all the liberal, left-wing agenda items every time, so we watched millions of dollars come into our state (from out of state) to convince us that Ingrid was a normal, mainstream Montana resident. All of us knew Jim Brown worked very hard and a lot of money came his way, but it was an uphill battle when every other billboard across the entire state was filled with Ingrid’s picture and propaganda. Every newspaper was full of stories and pictures about her representing “true” Montana values, and you literally couldn’t turn the radio/tv on without hearing all about Ingrid. It was a huge mountain to climb, but I am sure if Jim Brown could have had an “R” behind his name, he would be our Supreme Court Justice today. Basically, many people didn’t have a clue who they should be voting for in this race. So, there was a lot on the line, to put it mildly. I say all this to paint a picture of what happened on the House Floor Friday … It was huge and beyond belief. 19 Republicans voted with the minority party to kill HB464 … 49 voted “yes”, (to let this identification take place) and 51 voted “no”. Going forward from this point, you come to realize that some of the real enemies of “ … faith, freedom and the pursuit of the American dream … “ are known as “Republican’s”. They can spew out “hold the line”, “Vote Pro American” and all the other rhetoric because our current State Supreme Court can continue to veto anything they want, which is a huge step backwards for lovers of freedom, self-reliance and other values that that made America the greatest place the world has ever seen. So very disappointing that these 19 would even consider putting an R behind their name.
The day is not even close to ending. By the time I allow you to get to know the real Greg Kmetz you will either love me or hate me … I don’t straddle the fence.
At approximately 8 pm this Friday evening, I presented a blood bill to the Health and Human Services Committee. We are a little backed up in Helena, to put it mildly. I was the bill sponsor and carried it, but the true sponsor was Dr. Christy Drivdahl from Miles City. The bill simply said that vaccinated people could no longer contribute to the blood supply, slightly controversial to say the least. Dr. Drivdahl was suspicious of the trillion plus dollar program to vaccinate the whole earth for a disease that had over a 99% survival rate. She refused to buy into it from day one, and neither did I. As she continued in her practice, she noticed huge jumps in myocarditis cases in the young. She had never seen that before and started asking the famous question … have you been vaccinated? She saw cancers take off like they were jackrabbits and again asked if they had been vaccinated, as she saw a correlation. Dr. Christy Drivdahl has become an absolute expert on vaccine injuries and blood supply issues, and it has been a high honor of mine to get to know her. She has taken a very bold stand against many of her colleagues and the medical community in general, and she is on my official “HEROS for Humanity List”. At approximately 8pm I introduced the bill to the committee made up of 21 legislators from both sides of the aisle. Counting Christy, we had 5 proponents, including Colleen Baker, a pharmacist out of Billings that traveled to Helena, not a small thing during the weather we were having. Representative Lola Sheldon-Galloway read a testimony from her brother, who owns a funeral home. He shared information about oddities coming out during the embalming process and have tied these to the vaccine those people had received. (By the way, go to Rumble and watch the movie “Died Suddenly” for a rude awakening.) Jo Vilhauer and Linda Wolff zoomed in from Miles City. Linda shared that shortly after her husband, Harvey, took his 4th booster, he did not feel right. A short time later, in his front yard, he suddenly died! The opponents then testified. All the big names in Montana Medicine were against my bill … it was a David vs Goliath for sure. After both sides were finished, I closed the bill with these 2 points:
#1 This issue is not going away
#2 Error on the side of safety when you vote on this bill
We all felt we did the best we could, and that a seed had now been planted. Honestly, at this point, we do not expect it to pass out of committee, but we’ll see. My on-going life in Helena …
