Montana
‘Personhood’ amendment advances, despite abortion rights initiative
House lawmakers on Wednesday voted to put a constitutional amendment before voters that would define “person” as “beginning at the stage of fertilization or conception.”
If passed in 2026, the proposal would likely conflict with CI-128, the constitutional abortion rights amendment approved in November. During a Tuesday debate on the measure, the sponsor of House Bill 316, Rep. Lee Deming, R-Laurel, said that he believed voters may have “some buyer’s remorse” about the recently passed measure.
“To be honest with you, I’m not sure that the people who voted on CI-128 really understood what they were voting for,” Deming said. “I want to give these people of Montana another opportunity.”
CI-128, which bars state government from restricting pre-viability abortions, passed by a 16 percentage point margin.
Deming’s proposed amendment will advance to the Senate for consideration but is unlikely to pass out of the Legislature. Constitutional amendments introduced by lawmakers must have the support of two-thirds of the entire branch, or 100 votes from the two chambers combined.
The House’s party-line vote Wednesday gave HB 316 the support of 58 Republican lawmakers. That number means that 42 out of 50 Senators would have to vote for the bill in order for it to pass, a high bar for a chamber with 18 Democrats.
The personhood amendment is one of the few abortion-related bills that have been introduced this session. Other efforts to curb medication abortion and prohibit abortion “trafficking” inside and outside of Montana’s borders failed to advance.
Two of those proposals were tabled in committee, in part because of concerns from Republican lawmakers about conflicts with CI-128. A separate bill failed to pass a vote on the Senate floor. Another measure to allow for paternity testing and child support payments during pregnancy, which also included language about life beginning at conception, also failed to advance out of committee.
Supporters of HB 316 have acknowledged that the measure runs counter to what voters expressed several months ago at the ballot box. But lawmakers who spoke in favor of the amendment on the House floor this week said it aligned with their deeply held beliefs about protecting fetal life. Several likened their commitment to the issue to the long fight for the abolition of slavery in the United States.
“In a few years or decades, I believe we will look back on the error of not recognizing personhood for babies. Please join me in voting yes on this bill and may history look favorably upon your vote today,” said Rep. Greg Overstreet, R-Stevensville.
Multiple Democrats and one Republican spoke against the measure on the floor. Some raised concerns about who would be able to assert the rights of a fetus, and whether the will of the state, an abusive partner or potential grandparents could hamstring the medical decisions of the pregnant person.
“I think that one of the serious unintended consequences of an initiative like this is that it creates a legal pathway for more of that sort of coercive control,” said Rep. SJ Howell, D-Missoula. “Control over a woman by somebody who does not have her best interests at heart.”
If it became part of the state Constitution, opponents said, the amendment could also interfere with the provision of birth control, miscarriage management and in vitro fertilization processes for people trying to become pregnant.
Members of the public who testified against the bill during its first hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in early February raised similar points. During that discussion and the recent floor debate, Deming acknowledged that the proposal would impact IVF access in Montana, a fertility treatment he said he would otherwise support if not for the disposal of unused embryos.
Proponents reiterated that the bill promoted more foundational values.
“We’re ignoring a basic truth that nobody seems to — everybody wants to seem to step around it,” said Rep. Zack Wirth, R-Wolf Creek. “Women give life. Men protect life. There’s no other truth more basic.”
Other opponents rebuked lawmakers for, in their eyes, disregarding what Montana voters decided in November.
“The voters have weighed this issue. They have voted. You didn’t like what they did, so now you, as the Legislature, are deciding you’re going to override their vote,” said Rep. Pete Elverum, D-Helena. “Just stop.”
Rep. Sherry Essmann, R-Billings, was the only Republican to vote against the measure Tuesday, citing her reluctance to further change the Montana Constitution with a contradictory amendment.
“We’re doing nothing but confusing our voters. We asked them last time if they were for or against abortion, and now we’re gonna give them even more confusing language that makes them wonder, ‘Well, now what does this mean?’”
During her questioning about the bill’s intent, Essmann asked Deming whether he thought Montana voters were not smart enough to understand what they were voting on last year. Deming said he thought the electorate was “plenty smart enough,” but suggested that voters may have been misled by some of the messaging by CI-128 proponents.
Essmann’s opposition did not hold for the bill’s final House vote. The measure passed on Wednesday 58-41. It has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the Senate.
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MISSOULA — Four out of five members of Montana’s Public Service Commission were in a federal courtroom in Missoula Thursday morning, as the PSC’s former president challenges the disciplinary action taken against him earlier this year. Now, newly released documents are shedding more light on to what led up to this point.
(Watch the video for a closer look at the case.)
New documents shed light Montana PSC dispute
Commissioner Brad Molnar has sued President Jeff Welborn, Vice President Jennifer Fielder and Commissioner Annie Bukacek – the three PSC members who voted in May to require him to work remotely, after an investigation into complaints about his workplace conduct. Molnar has claimed he is being unfairly punished for constitutionally protected speech, and he asked Senior U.S District Judge Donald Molloy to allow him to return to the PSC offices.
Matthew Monforton, Molnar’s attorney, told the judge that barring Molnar from the building was limiting his ability to do his job.
“He has not been officially kicked out of office, but his voice has clearly been diminished,” said Monforton.
But Natasha Jones, an attorney representing the other three commissioners, said the findings were about behavior, not just speech, and that the PSC’s action was a reasonable response.
“These are serious concerns about a pattern of conduct that has made employees quit,” she said.
Jonathon Ambarian
On Tuesday, Molloy ordered the release of redacted versions of two full investigative reports into Molnar’s conduct – more than 100 pages of documents. Monforton had moved for the full reports to be made public, and Molloy ruled attorneys for the other PSC members hadn’t shown a compelling reason to keep the documents under seal as long as the names of people involved in the investigation were obscured.
While the names remained redacted in the investigation reports, the attorneys for Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek also filed additional documents – including a public declaration from Bukacek and from former PSC executive director Alana Lake, providing information about their allegations against Molnar.
The two reports, from an outside investigator, cover Molnar’s alleged actions over two periods: the first from February to August 2025, and the second from August to October 2025. The investigation began after the first formal complaint, filed by Bukacek in May 2025 – though the reports say employees had been bringing up concerns about Molnar’s behavior informally for several months prior.
Bukacek’s complaint claimed Molnar had repeatedly made what she called “sexualized and demeaning comments.” The examples she cited included saying the PSC should replace “Taco Tuesdays” with “Topless Tuesdays,” reminiscing about watching girls in bikinis as a teenager, and commenting about the beauty of women in areas of China who didn’t get “old and wrinkly.”
In her declaration, Bukacek also claimed Molnar had “maliciously disseminated false information” about her and “engaged in behavior that was dismissive, derisive and otherwise abusive.”
“My primary concern now is not for my safety nor my feelings, but for the rest of the staff who may not have the temperament to speak up or may feel too intimidated to speak up given concerns over job security,” Bukacek said in her declaration.
MTN News
The investigators determined Molnar had violated the PSC’s code of conduct by making comments of a sexual nature, and that it appeared his behavior had continued for some time after he was warned about it. They also found he had behaved unprofessionally and in a belittling manner toward Bukacek, though they said Bukacek herself had at times used “language that could be considered inappropriate” in emails to staff or other commissioners. Bukacek told MTN she “readily self corrected” any behaviors that were brought to her attention.
The investigation also found a violation in connection with a complaint from a PSC staff member, who said he “felt bullied” by Molnar when the commissioner sent an email complaining about his team not being “people with competence.”
However, much of the first report and the entire second report was focused on conduct after the initial complaints, when Molnar was accused of retaliating against people who participated in the investigation. Lake said in her declaration that she saw “an immediate and significant change in his behavior toward staff involved in the process.” She claimed he said he would use an attorney and private investigator to go after people who filed complaints, and she accused him of publicly criticizing her in interviews and removing her job responsibilities because of her handling of the investigation.
Lake said Molnar’s actions led to “declining morale within the agency,” undermined staff members’ ability to do their jobs and damaged her reputation. She said that led her to resign as executive director.
“I believe no employee should be forced to choose between reporting misconduct and protecting their career, reputation, or personal well-being,” she said in her declaration.
Lake has since become Helena city manager.
Jonathon Ambarian
The report said there was evidence to show Molnar had retaliated, including by “making disparaging statements about investigation participants” including Lake, by sending an email warning he could file complaints of his own against people involved, and by taking other actions investigators said could dissuade employees from reporting behavior in the future.
Monforton said during Thursday’s hearing that the initial comments Bukacek complained about were jokes Molnar had admitted were inappropriate, that he regretted saying them, and that he hasn’t made any similar comments in about a year. But he argued the vast majority of the findings against Molnar were about retaliation – and that those were primarily based on speech that the other commissioners don’t have the right to interfere with.
Monforton said it’s unreasonable to punish Molnar for what he said in the July news conference where he announced he was under investigation, in interviews with the media or in commission meetings. He said Molnar’s conduct doesn’t rise to the level of actual retaliation.
“This is an elected official, engaging in speech in his forum,” Monforton said.
He said Molnar may have made harsh comments toward staff, but that he had the right to raise objections about the way the agency does business.
Jonathon Ambarian
Monforton also argued the retaliation claims no longer justify keeping Molnar out of the office, since Welborn, Fielder and Bukacek voted to remove him as president in October and he no longer has the authority he’s accused of misusing. He said there haven’t been further complaints about his behavior since that time.
“We’re not asking for the moon and stars, we’re asking for the status quo as it existed for the last seven months,” he said.
Jones said there is enough evidence to show Molnar would have been punished regardless of whether any protected speech was excluded.
“This is not about a couple of jokes,” she said.
Jones said Molnar made maliciously false statements about people like Lake, and that type of statement isn’t covered by free speech protections.
She also said Molnar’s exclusion from the PSC offices is temporary, and that the PSC will reconsider whether to let him return if he apologizes for his actions, accepts the agency’s code of conduct and undergoes training.
Molloy indicated he saw indications that there was “acrimony” on both sides of the situation, and said he was skeptical it would be resolved easily.
“It would be nice if instead of juvenile behavior, there was professional behavior,” he said.
However, the judge said there was an avenue for Molnar to pursue if he wanted to reach a resolution.
Molloy took no immediate action Thursday. He told the parties he would rule as quickly as he could.
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