Guest blog: Freshman Rep. Alice Buckley reflects on caucus

Freshman Rep. Alice Buckley (HD 63 – Bozeman university district) offers her thoughts on her first legislative caucus that took place earlier this month. It’s hard enough to dive into Leg Week as a first-time legislator, but the pandemic is adding other layers of difficulty that Rep. Buckley and her colleagues are navigating.

With COVID-19 cases on the rise across the state, legislators were given the option to attend in person or remotely for our two days of legislative orientation. As a result, Democrats predominantly choose to stay out of the Capitol and participated via Zoom, because most Republicans were unmasked and not following safety protocols. The result was two days on Zoom where it was hard to learn effectively because we weren’t provided with all of the materials we needed, the rooms were not set up properly to see all of the speakers, and it’s hard to stay focused on Zoom for hours on end. Most importantly, we were all reminded just how challenging it is to build relationships virtually as well. It is going to be hard to know how to make the right decisions in the upcoming Legislature – it is clear that it will not be safe to be in the Capitol and yet it will be incredibly difficult to be effective while participating virtually.

Another result of participating remotely in orientation was missing our official legislative portraits, which gave me the excuse to have one of my dear friends replicate the Capitol studio in her living room and take some pictures for the 67th legislature. 

As we recalibrate our goals for the session, our goals will be to hold Republicans accountable for bad bills, speak up on behalf of Montanans, and communicate what is going on in committees and on the House Floor. It will be important to be in the Capitol, taking up space. And yet it’s going to be hard to do that in a way that’s responsible from a personal and public health standpoint. I anticipate I’ll participate in committees in person and the floor session virtually; committees will be safer and will be where most of the work will be done and the floor session presents a bigger safety risk and less of an opportunity to affect policy outcomes. The Democratic caucus is certainly not the only ones trying to figure this out – the public, stakeholder groups and lobbyists are also weighing the risks of participating in-person or remotely during the session. How do we do our jobs and advocate on behalf of our communities while also staying safe?

Committee assignments

There are a variety of committee types – “A” committees that meet every morning, “B” committees that meet most afternoons, “C” committees that meet only a few times a week, and “on call” committees that convene when needed, such as ethics, rules, and legislative administration.

Legislators share our preferences with House Leadership for which A and B committee (and C if we want three) we would like to be on, and Democratic leadership assigns us before giving the final say to Republican leadership. Each committee has a certain number of seats and those seats are given out to Rs and Ds in proportion to our make-up in the House. Because there are 67 Republicans and 33 Democrats, Republicans will have approximately 2/3 of the seats on any given committee. If we have expertise in a certain area, we make our case. Because I don’t have particular experience for any of the committees, I came to leadership and said, “I’m here to be a team player, throw me in where I can add the most value.” The result is that I am on Tax Committee as my “A” Committee and Human Services as my “B” committee and feel so excited to get to work.

Human Services is one of Rep. Buckley’s committee assignments. Here’s where you can see all the House and Senate standing committees for 2021; this Missoula Current article has details about the Republicans leading the committees.

Bills

I want to share one last big piece of learning on bills. Going into orientation, I was incredibly intimidated about drafting my own bills before learning there is a whole team of legislative staff whose job it is to draft legislation. The work of legislators is to come up with the idea, title and purpose, and Legislative Staff do the rest. It is a lot more accessible than I once thought – in fact, many legislators put in very vague bill drafts simply as placeholders for bills down the line, e.g. “a bill to generally revise alcohol laws” or “a bill to generally revise bail laws” or “a bill to generally revise healthcare laws.”

All of these bill drafts are public, by the way! Take a look and see who is up to what; it’s a very good indication of what’s to come. (Note: Here’s a link to bill drafts related to abortion, for example.)

It’s going to be extremely difficult to pass anything this session. Because of that, I’m limiting my bills to five or six, and trying to take small steps on issues that I care about. I’m hoping to use it as an opportunity to get my feet wet, build coalitions and partnerships, and hopefully move the needle just a tiny bit on important issues.

I’m certainly tempering my expectations for policy work and assuming none or few of my bills will pass. And yet, I’m thinking hard about what it looks like to be in the minority and not temper or abdicate my responsibility to speak up and speak the truth about the bills that are harmful, compromising and marginalizing to our communities, whether they are aimed at BIPOC, LGBTQ+, women, folks with pre-existing conditions, students, renters, low-income populations, elderly, disabled folks or any other group across the state whose rights and lives are on the line. I don’t know exactly what that will look like, particularly on Zoom, but I’m here to learn.

Finally, I have been thinking about listening and the precious, incredible opportunity I’ll have over the course of the legislative session and beyond to listen to communities across the state. In the wake of losing every single statewide election and a number of legislative seats, the Democratic Party evidently doesn’t represent what most Montanans want in leadership and in state government. It opens up an opportunity to slow down and listen – not with judgment or foregone conclusions or cynicism, but rather with curiosity and openheartedness - to my colleagues and constituents across the state. What can we learn about the needs, priorities, and fears of our communities, particularly our rural communities? I think it’s more than just jobs, although that’s part of it. What does a state government that is of, by, and for the people look like in Montana? What does that mean for a future that is just, equitable, and inclusive? Is there a way to achieve that without leaving communities or people behind? 

-- Rep. Alice Buckley, House District 63