6 days Ago By CARLY GRAF [email protected]
Depending on who you ask at the Montana Legislature, House Bill 400 does two very different things. Some say it would enshrine free speech and let people exercise their core values; others say it would condone bullying and overburden exhausted school teachers. HB 400 would remove the ability of educators and other state employees to take disciplinary action against someone who refuses to use a person’s name or pronoun if it’s inconsistent with their sex assigned at birth.
The bill would give anyone who believes they’ve been wrongfully punished for doing so the right to sue the school or state. One day after a stirring and lengthy debate on the Senate floor, the bill advanced from the chamber Friday on a 28-20 vote and now heads to the governor’s desk. “We all want to stand for our principles and stand our ground,” said Sen.
Barry Usher, a Republican from Yellowstone County. “I think the schools are bullying if they’re forcing someone to do something that’s against their core values and beliefs.” HB 400 expands on 2023 legislation that said misgendering trans youth — known as "deadnaming" and seen as harmful — can’t be considered unlawful discrimination.
Columbia Falls Republican Rep. Braxton Mitchell’s proposal, dubbed the Free to Speak Act, goes further by protecting them from discipline. Mitchell insists HB 400 is about “protecting reality in a time when truth is under attack,” not bullying — a claim denounced by opponents.
Rep. Braxton Mitchell, R-Columbia Falls, watches testimony on House Bill 121 during a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 10 in the state Capitol.
Current law requires a parent’s permission for a student to officially use in the classroom a name or pronoun that doesn’t align with their sex assigned at birth. “You guys, this is an anti-trans bill,” said Sen. Cora Neumann, D-Bozeman.
“I can’t believe that I had to wake up again this morning to discuss a bill that does nothing to protect Montanans, does nothing to provide property tax relief, does nothing to actually solve the problems that Montanans are actually facing. This is a mean, cruel bill.” Thursday’s Senate floor debate sprawled into a weighty conversation about public education and the role of schools in child-rearing.
The bill’s impact would likely be felt most by teachers around the state. Democrats called the bill “particularly ironic,” “spooky” and “goofy as heck.” They said HB 400 would hamper teachers’ ability to manage student behavior that veers into bullying and force them to make exceptions for conduct that could be seen as harassment against a single group of students.
“This is just beyond the pale for me,” said Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade. “Let’s trust our teachers to manage this issue as they have been and protect all of our kids on this issue.” Senate Minority Leader Pat Flowers, D-Belgrade, speaks during a floor session of the Montana Senate on Feb.
20 in the state Capitol. Half of the Senate Republicans signed on to HB 400 as cosponsors. One of them, Sen.
Jeremy Trebas, R-Great Falls, took issue with the argument that the bill would somehow jettison public schools. He cited last year’s findings that less than half of Montana students are proficient in reading, math and science to make the case that schools are already struggling, with or without HB 400. “This isn’t going to be the bill that sinks the ship,” Trebas said.
“The ship is sinking.” During its February hearing in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Rob Watson, executive director of School Administrators of Montana, told lawmakers that the legal right of action created in the bill could raise the price of liability insurance for school districts. Insurance companies, he said, would likely expect more lawsuits.
Already in the last two years, school districts in Bozeman and Missoula saw 22% and 15% increases, respectively, in liability insurance costs, Watson said. Butte saw its price jump by 11%. Watson noted that districts could turn to local taxpayers to cover the increased costs.
Sen. John Fuller, a Republican from Kalispell who spent most of his career as a teacher, chalked up many of the concerns as unnecessary hand-wringing. Teachers should know how to institute a classroom management plan that makes everyone feel respected — including those students who don’t want to use a trans classmate’s pronouns.
Anyone who can’t do that, Fuller said, “probably shouldn’t be teaching anyway.”.
