Montana Senate President Welcomes New GOP State Legislators

Missoula, MT ( KGVO-AM News ) - After Tuesday's election, there are numerous new State Senators and members of the House of Representatives who will be meeting when the Legislature convenes in Helena in January.

I spoke with Montana Senate President Jason Ellsworth, a Republican from Hamilton who provided details.

The Senate Will Have 16 New Republicans in the New Legislature

"We have 16 holdover senators, because we have to run every four years, and so then we have 16 new Republican senators that will be joining us for a majority in the Senate," began Ellsworth. "We now will hold 32 seats in the Senate out of 50, which is very important for the state of Montana and our constituents."

Ellsworth said he wanted our listeners and website readers to meet the newest crop of state senators.

Ellsworth Named the New State Senators Coming to Helena

"Last night, (Election Day) we ended up with Senator Carla Glimm, Matt Regier, Greg Hertz, Josh Kassmier, Gregg Hunter, Bob Phalan, Sue Vinton, Gayle Lammers, Mike Yakawich, Tom McGillvray, Vince Ricci, Tony Tezak, Becky Beard, Wylie Galt, Theresa Manzella and Denley Loge," he said.

Ellsworth acknowledged the fact the property tax revisions are necessary but said they are primarily a local matter.

"Property taxes are not something state government functions off of," he said. "That is more of a local government issue. Certainly, there are things that we can do in state government, I think, to move that needle. We've done that with some rebates these last two years, and I think that's helped people. However, at the same time, you know there needs to be a permanent answer, and the people deserve that."

Legislators will Travel to Helena Next Week for Training

Ellsworth said that even though the legislative session doesn't start until January 6, there will be training for new legislators starting next week.

"We'll come in on Monday, we'll caucus; both Republicans and Democrats," he said. "We'll re-elect leadership, go through that process, and then we'll do three days of training and orientation so that when people come in, they can hit the ground running, and be successful. So we're to set the Senate up for success to begin with and start our training essentially one week after the election."