Montana
New Montana legislative website has problems, Legislative Services working on fixes • Daily Montanan
The Montana Legislature used to have the best legislative website in the country for tracking bills — that’s what Sen. Andrea Olsen was told roughly eight years ago.
This year, a new system launched, complete with new bugs.
The chief information officer for the Legislative Services Division said Wednesday a technology team is delivering code on a daily basis to fix the problems, and the goal is to have a top-notch system once again.
In the meantime, however, legislators, lobbyists and members of the public are running into roadblocks in trying to follow the work of the 69th Montana Legislature.
“Unfortunately, it truly is a disaster to start the session without efficient capacity to track bills,” Olsen said. “This is for us as legislators, but particularly for the public.”
Olsen, a lawyer, said the lack of transparency also runs contrary to protections in the Montana Constitution.
“We have a constitutional right to know, and a constitutional right to participate, and those two things are infringed when we have a system that is so difficult, and when there’s so many bugs to still work out,” Olsen said.
Jerry Howe, executive director of Legislative Services Division, and Dale Gow, chief information officer, said Wednesday the old system was a workhorse, but nonetheless, on its last legs.
Howe said he feared it wouldn’t make it through 2025, and the Legislative Services Division decided to create a new one in house. He said the goal is to have a website that works better than the old one, and the team is making progress.
“We understand that there is some frustration,” Howe said. “Be patient with us as we build this system from scratch. We think that people will be pleased with it as it unfolds and as it reaches its maturity.”
Problems, some solutions
Charles Denowh, with the Montana Group, has worked legislative sessions since 2003, and he said the old system was “very functional.” However, he said it was also dated, and the user interface was rudimentary.
“I understand why they decided it was time for an upgrade,” Denowh said.
He said Legislative Services couldn’t fully test the new system until the session started, and launching now means having to “fix it on the fly.”
“I feel bad for those guys,” Denowh said of the workers. “I know a lot of people are pretty angry at them. They’re fixing it as fast as they can, and I’ve been pretty impressed at how dedicated they’ve been to getting things right.”
He said he’s figured out some workarounds, but some features are still missing.
At least midday Wednesday, the third day of the session, he still hadn’t seen committee assignments listed on legislator pages. He’d also seen cancelled hearings still show up as taking place in a data export feature.
“That’s probably been the biggest difficulty I’ve seen is getting an accurate committee hearing schedule,” said Denowh, a lobbyist.
In the Senate, a political power struggle is taking place, and committee meetings have stalled. The stalling ended up demonstrating new shortfalls in the system too, Howe said.
“When they cancelled hearings in bulk, it created issues we had not foreseen or contemplated in the past,” Howe said.
On the other hand, he said it means developers can address it and create a more robust site.
“I’m not sure the old system would have accommodated the cancellations,” Howe said.
Time for an update
Howe said the redo didn’t come out of some desire to improve the system, it came out of necessity.
“We got through last session, but it took a lot of effort and work to hold that thing together,” he said.
A major upgrade was needed, and Gow said they decided to bring the project in house with a new suite of applications and the goal of “all the functionality that everybody has been using the past 30 years.”
They couldn’t dig into it right after the 2023 session because staff still have work to do afterwards, he said. They get funding to start their projects in July, but he said money wasn’t the issue, and time was.
“This was replacing 30-year-old technology within 10 months to get to baseline for the session,” Gow said.
A security application that was part of the project had some issues too, and that took nearly two months to sort out, Gow said. But he said the new applications are more secure.
“They used to be wide open,” he said.
In the past, he said, they relied on someone in Ireland to help fix system problems, and they decided to do the baseline work in their own shop in order to support the system themselves.
“Now we’re able to do all of these enhancements and bug fixes in house, and we’re able to turn those around very quickly,” Gow said.
People are calling to report problems, and since Monday, the number of tickets related to the new website was 51 as of Wednesday, Howe said. That’s out of 202 total tickets for all tech issues, such as a legislator needing help with a printer.
Gow said eight developers and six analysts are working to address problems, in addition to their other duties.
A timeline for when the new system could be considered largely complete wasn’t set.
“It does take time to develop software in that way, and we’re confident that in time, this new system will be able to accomplish all the needs the public has with respect to bill status and transparency of the legislative process,” Howe said.
Moving forward
Matt Leow, with Tenacious Campaigns, said the old system was not just functional, it was familiar. The lobbyist said the new system is making Capitol veterans like him, around for 20 years, feeling like it’s the first day of school.
“What people are doing to try to address the problem is they’re buying the subscription services, which is great if you’re a well-paid lobbyist, not so great if you’re a member of the public who wants to stay informed and get involved in the process,” Leow said.
Years ago, Olsen said she attended the National Conference of State Legislators, and software sales people trying to sell bill tracking programs wouldn’t try to sell to her when they learned she was from Montana.
“They looked at me and said, ‘Oh, well you already have the best system in the country,’” Olsen said.
So she said she appreciates the goal with the new system is to emulate the old one, although the clock is ticking with the lack of transparency.
“It’s a disaster for public notice purposes,” Olsen said.
Sen. John Fuller, a Kalispell Republican, said he hasn’t heard complaints from constituents, but the slowdown in the Senate is part of the bigger picture too.
“Of course, part of the problem is we haven’t done anything yet,” Fuller said. “When we start cranking stuff out, if it’s not fixed by then — I think it will be — but if we start cranking stuff out, then people have the right to get upset.”
He said no one is to blame because the project involves a lot of changes, and he knows staff are working hard on the “hiccups.”
“We’re trying to increase accessibility while maintaining cybersecurity. Duh. Those are opposing ends,” Fuller said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the number of tickets logged for problems with the website, which was unavailable at press time.
BOZEMAN — Aaron Flint and Al Olszewski, Republican candidates for Montana’s Western District U.S. House race, squared off Tuesday in their party’s only scheduled debate before the party primary.
The two debated for about 90 minutes at Bozeman’s Calvary Chapel before an audience of about 120 people. Bozeman anchors Gallatin County, which is second in Republican votes only to Flathead County within the 18-county district.
Natural resource jobs, affordable housing and U.S. military attacks on Iran dominated the discussion. Each question drew 12 minutes of response. Both men called for an end to stock trading by members of Congress, and for federal budgets to be passed on time through regular procedures.
The Montana GOP sponsored the debate. Candidate Christi Jacobsen, Montana’s secretary of state, was unable to attend, according to state Republican Party Chair Art Wittich. State Senate President Matt Regier moderated.
Among the highlights: Flint mentioned no fewer than eight times that he is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Olszewski mentioned Trump by name only a couple of times.
Never too far from Flint’s talking points were “far-left socialists,” whom he credited for “gerrymandering” the Western House District (which has delivered comfortable wins for Republicans since first appearing on the ballot in 2022). The 2026 election cycle was the target of Democrats on the state’s districting commission, Flint said. (Both Democrats on the commission that drew the district in 2021 voted against its current configuration.)
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The near faux pas of the night came during Olszewski’s discussion of good-paying jobs in trades and natural resources: “Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, you know, high-dollar, white-collar jobs, our remote workers who have moved into Montana, and we’ve adapted an economy around them. You know, these are the people, and those are the jobs that will bring our kids home, those high-paying white-collar jobs, or a good natural resource job in western Montana, in one of those mines, or, you know, you know, a sawyer or a hooker” — big pause — “as in timber, not the other way around.”
The line that didn’t land: Flint tried and failed to get audience applause for the 2024 defeat of Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester by Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy — an unseating Flint campaigned for.
“How many of you out there are so glad that we finally got rid of the flip-flop, flat-top liberal senator, Jon Tester? How many of you are so glad we finally did that?”
After a silence, Flint explained to people watching the debate on Facebook that the audience was just being polite.
“They’re waving because we can’t have disruptions. See, they’re good rule followers here in the Republican Party,” Flint said.
Asked how to alleviate Montana’s housing affordability crisis:
Olszewski: “The only way you can afford an expensive house is you’ve got to have a job that pays good money. Tourist jobs provide rent and roommates. Trades jobs, natural resource jobs, high‑dollar white‑collar jobs … those are the jobs that will bring our kids home.” Dr. Al, as Olszewski is widely known, said Wall Street investment buyers are distorting housing prices and the federal government has weakened the dollar.
Flint: “Thirty percent of the cost of a home is all due to red tape and regulations … It costs $100,000 to build a home before you even put a hole in the ground.”
Flint said reviving Montana’s timber industry would lower home values and added, “I support President Trump’s ban on these big Wall Street firms buying single-family homes. I think that’s something that we’ve got to get across the finish line.”
“We can deliver when it comes to making the Montana dream affordable again by delivering affordable housing. But another piece is promoting trades and trades education to build up our workforce.”
Asked how Congress should respond to the Iran conflict:
Olszewski: “I supported our president with what happened in Venezuela. There’s a $25 million bounty on basically someone that was killing our people through drugs, right? I’m not so happy with what’s going on in the Iran war. I’m not a warrior. I’m a physician from the military that fixed military people … What my perspective is, is that countries can win wars, but people do not. They don’t come back.” Olszewski said Congress will have to decide whether to authorize further use of military force and set terms in about 10 days.
Flint: “Let me just say this. We are sick and tired of these forever wars, and we do not want to see a long-term boots-on-the-ground Iraq-style nation-building exercise, and I think President Trump shares that mission as well. Let me also say this about Iran. First off, [former Venezuelan President Nicolás] Maduro is behind bars. [Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei is dead, but the far-left socialists are on the march in Montana.”
Asked about reforming Congress:
Olszewski: “What our congressmen and congresswomen have to understand is that if you’re in the House, the House belongs to the people, and they need to, first and foremost, represent you, not themselves, not special interests. It’s not about sound-bites. It’s about actually getting work done and governing.” Olszewski said the House needs to pass a budget based on 12 agency appropriations bills before the end of each federal fiscal year, a process known as “regular order.”
Flint: “We need to return to regular order and get single-subject bills and get these appropriations bills done one by one. If they can’t get a budget done, they shouldn’t get paid. And we need a ban on congressional stock trading. Because I think part of the reason why the American people are so frustrated with Congress right now is because … they believe that Congress is so useless, because we’ve got some of these politicians back there that are getting rich off the backs of taxpayers.”
Neither candidate offered a plan for cutting taxes, once a staple of Republican platforms. Both supported reductions in federal spending without identifying particular cuts.
Voting in Montana’s 2026 primary election begins May 4 and ends June 2.
POLSON, Mont. — Two motorcyclists crashed on Highway 35 near Polson after failing to negotiate a left-hand curve, leaving one man dead and another hospitalized, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
Two motorcycles were traveling southbound on Highway 35 when both drifted into a guardrail. Both drivers were separated from their motorcycles and ended up on the other side of the guardrail.
A 58-year-old Polson man was confirmed dead at the scene. The second driver, a 45-year-old man, also from Polson, was taken to the hospital with injuries.
Alcohol is a suspected factor in the crash, according to the Montana Highway Patrol.
The crash is under investigation.
KALISPELL — A Flathead County man is turning a personal rock bottom into a lifeline for his community by starting a free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads.
Adam Bruzza started Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle LLC, a free ride share service for people who have been drinking, after realizing he was struggling with addiction.
Maddie Keifer reports – watch the video here:
MT man starts free, late-night ride service to keep drunk drivers off the roads
“I just wanted to give people who do still drink the option for a safe, sober ride home,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza said a devastating mistake behind the wheel became a turning point where he decided enough was enough.
“I was charged with a DUI October 22 of 2024,” Bruzza said.
After a few months focused on his sobriety, Bruzza channeled his energy into his community by starting the shuttle service.
He operates the shuttle in his personal pickup truck. Riders can reach him by phone, text or social media at any time of day or night at no cost.
“I just wanted to give others the opportunity to not get a life changing charge,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza works with bars to connect riders with his service. Although the Big Sky Sobriety Shuttle is a new endeavor, he has already seen a big impact.
“The community response without a doubt has been unconditional love and support that makes my heart all warm and fuzzy,” Bruzza said.
Bruzza also shared a message for others who may be struggling with addiction.
“Your life is worth it, there are people that care out there and it is okay to ask for help,” Bruzza said.
To learn more, click here to visit the Facebook page.
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