MT: Republican legislators hold hearing on abortion ballot initiative; vote won't appear on petition
As Republicans on the Law and Justice Interim Committee were preparing Thursday to vote whether or not to support CI-128, the abortion access constitutional amendment initiative, Sen. Keith Regier asked the committee attorney when and where the vote would be attached to the initiative petition.
“It won’t be,” committee attorney Julianne Burkhardt responded.
Republicans held the hearing Thursday morning to give an up-or-down vote for the measure despite the Montana Supreme Court having ruled that because of the way the law is written and because Republican Attorney General did not find the measure to be legally sufficient — the Supreme Court did — it was not subject to review by a legislative committee.
In the end, the committee voted 6-0 not to support it. But the two Democrats on the committee did not attend the hearing, nor did the groups that make up Montanans Securing Reproductive Rights or their supporters, which they said would be the case at their kick-off event Tuesday afternoon, calling it “theater.”
https://dailymontanan.com/2024/04/18/republican-legislators-hold-hearing-on-abortion-ballot-initiative-vote-wont-appear-on-petition/