2023 Capitol Tracker

The lawmakers, bills and votes of the 68th Montana Legislature

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Last update: 4:37 PM Mar 31, 2023
📑 Key bills🗂 All bills🔎 Find a bill🔎 Find a lawmaker🏡 Your district🗓 Calendar📝 What's happened🙋 How to participate
🏛 House
GOP-held 68-32
🏛 Senate
GOP-held 34-16
🖋 Governor
Greg Gianforte (R)
Sen. Bruce Gillespie, SD 9

Sen. Bruce Gillespie

Third-session Republican from Ethridge
Representing Senate District 9
Ethridge, Augusta, Choteau, Shelby, Cut Bank
(406) 949-4453 • Bruce.Gillespie@legmt.gov
Committees •Bills •Key votes •Voting stats •2022 election margin •MTFP Coverage

Gillespie previously served in the Montana Senate in 2019 and 2021.

Committee assignments

Senate Business, Labor, and Economic Affairs
Senate Natural Resources
Senate Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation - Vice Chair

Bills sponsored

📋 SJ 9: Joint resolution establishing soil health week and day
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
📋 SB 78: Revise reimbursement values for registered livestock
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text💵 Fiscal note
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
⚪️Gov.
📋 SB 217: Revise rangeland improvement loan state special revenue account
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
⚪️Gov.
📋 SB 295: Revising laws to accommodate grizzly bear delisting
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text📰 1 MTFP story
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
⚪️Gov.
📋 SB 398: Establish a Montana coordinate system for property
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
⚪️Gov.
📋 SB 447: Revising agritourism laws
Bruce Gillespie (R)📃 Bill text
✅1st Cmte.
✅Senate
✴️House
⚪️Gov.
Showing 6 of 6
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Key bill votes

Most recent floor votes on bills identified as notable by MTFP staff.
Motion / BillGillespie (R)OutcomeRepublicansDemocrats
Do Concur /
HB 13: State Employee Pay Plan and revising laws governing state employees		YES
Y
48-1
Y
32-1
Y
16-0
Do Concur /
HB 60: An act providing for an annual fee on electric vehicles registered in the state		YES
Y
39-11
Y
30-4
Y
9-7
Do Concur /
HB 172: Revise laws related to post-election audits		YES
Y
49-1
Y
33-1
Y
16-0
Do Concur /
HB 192: Use surplus revenue for income tax and property tax refunds and payment of bonds		YES
Y
32-18
Y
32-2
N
0-16
Do Concur /
HB 212: Increase business equipment tax exemption		YES
Y
33-17
Y
33-1
N
0-16
Do Concur /
HB 222: Provide rebates of property taxes paid on a principal residence		YES
Y
34-16
Y
34-0
N
0-16
Rerefer to JUS-Fitzpatrick /
HB 234: Revise dissemination of obscene material to minors laws		NO
N
18-32
Y
18-16
N
0-16
Do Concur /
HB 251: Provide budget stability through investment and liability reduction		YES
Y
34-16
Y
34-0
N
0-16
Do Concur /
HB 267: Create SAFER account for federal highway grants		YES
Y
33-17
Y
33-1
N
0-16
Do Concur /
HB 296: Revising laws relating to real estate transaction disclosures		YES
Y
40-10
Y
30-4
Y
10-6
Do Concur /
HB 326: Revise laws relating to the appointment of the judicial standards commission		YES
Y
29-21
Y
29-5
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 70: Revise the Quality Educator Loan Assistance Program		YES
Y
46-4
Y
30-4
Y
16-0
Do Pass /
SB 85: Require management of delisted grizzly bears at sustainable levels		YES
Y
37-12
Y
34-0
N
3-12
Do Concur /
SB 99: Provide for a youth health protection act		YES
Y
32-17
Y
32-1
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 109: Revise laws related to redistricting the PSC		YES
Y
30-20
Y
30-4
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 115: Revise definition of psychological abuse or neglect in CPS cases		YES
Y
47-2
Y
34-0
Y
13-2
Do Pass /
SB 121: Reduce top marginal income tax rate and increase EITC		YES
Y
35-15
Y
34-0
N
1-15
Do Pass /
SB 154: Define the right to privacy to clarify no right to abortion		NO
Y
28-21
Y
28-6
N
0-15
Do Pass /
SB 191: Revise preliminary injunction laws		YES
Y
33-17
Y
33-1
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 201: Revise judicial recusal laws when parties made campaign contributions		YES
Y
33-14
Y
32-0
N
1-14
Do Pass /
SB 295: Revising laws to accommodate grizzly bear delisting		YES
Y
35-15
Y
34-0
N
1-15
Do Pass /
SB 382: Create the Montana Land Use Planning Act		YES
Y
44-6
Y
28-6
Y
16-0
Do Pass /
SB 458: Define sex in Montana law		YES
Y
28-22
Y
28-6
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 481: Require cast vote records		YES
Y
49-1
Y
33-1
Y
16-0
Do Pass /
SB 490: Generally revising the legislature's investigative powers		YES
Y
34-16
Y
34-0
N
0-16
Do Pass /
SB 498: Revise laws related to absentee ballots		YES
Y
50-0
Y
34-0
Y
16-0

Floor vote statistics

Calculations based on 1,392 Senate floor votes in 2023 involving bills.
🥇 96%
of votes cast on winning side
Average for Senate Republicans is 91%.
🔴 95%
of votes cast on side taken by most Republicans
Average for Senate Republicans is 92%.
🔵 73%
of votes cast on side taken by most Democrats
Average for Senate Republicans is 68%.
Gillespie has been marked absent or excused for 0 votes. Average for Senate lawmakers is 9.3.

SD 9 election results

Last in-cycle for Senate election in 2022. House seats are elected every two years, Senate seats every four.

General election vote, 2022

(R) BRUCE "BUTCH" GILLESPIE(R) 100%
Ran unopposed

Party primary vote, 2022

(R) BRUCE "BUTCH" GILLESPIE(R) 100%
Ran unopposed

Governor vote in district, 2020

(R) GIANFORTE(R) 71%(D) 26%
Won by 45% (4,594 votes)

Montana Free Press coverage

MTFP legislative reporting involving Gillespie.
📰 Environment
How environmental policy proposals are faring at the Legislature’s halfway mark
Mar 9, 2023 • Amanda Eggert
📰 2023 Legislature
Republican lawmakers shy away from changing state’s constitutional right to abortion
Feb 17, 2023 •

About the 2023 Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker

This guide is an effort to make the quantifiable aspects of the Montana Legislature more accessible to the public by compiling information about lawmakers, proposed bills and the legislative process. This is a project of Montana Free Press, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit newsroom that aims to provide Montanans with in-depth, nonpartisan news coverage.

The information presented here is collected from a variety of sources including the Montana Legislature’s public roster and its official bill-tracking system, the Legislative Automated Workflow System, or LAWS. Reporting and web design was done primarily by MTFP Deputy Editor Eric Dietrich. Please contact him at edietrich@montanafreepress.org with bug reports, questions or suggestions.

Think there's a potential news story to be done about a bill or lawmaker you see here? Tell us at tips@montanafreepress.org.

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