As I left the Capitol on April 30, I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for the opportunity to serve SD 15 the past four months. While it wasn’t without its challenges, I am proud of all the legislature accomplished this year, and more importantly, I’m proud of how we worked together to pass the bills that you, my constituents, told me were important to you.

Let’s start with the positives. We accomplished the “big three” priorities we set at the beginning: protecting our rural hospitals and clinics by renewing Medicaid expansion, boosting teacher pay so our kids get the best education possible, and lowering your property taxes. Rural Montana will be stronger because of the bills we passed this session.

The biggest surprise for me, though, was how some fellow Republicans were willing to vote all of this down simply to make an ideological point. They didn’t care about finding solutions. They weren’t willing to do whatever it took to make sure you see a lower property tax bill next year.

You may have heard that I, along with eight of my colleagues in the Senate, overspent, weren’t responsible with our budget, and didn’t get things accomplished. You might have also heard that we weren’t willing to work with the Freedom Caucus. None of that is true. We found real solutions for Montana without any help from the Freedom Caucus, who were unwilling to sit down with us, let alone work to find solutions. I don’t care who I need to work with to accomplish what you asked me to, and I’ll continue to work with anyone who cares about solutions first.

Another vicious rumor circulating is that we raised Montana’s budget by 18%. That’s also not true. Most of that number comes from the property and income tax relief we offered to hundreds of thousands of Montanans. After you take tax relief and investments out of the equation, our budget only grew by about four percent, and our budget is fully balanced as required by the Montana Constitution. Your tax dollars were handled in a fiscally responsible way.

With over 4,000 bills introduced and less than 900 ultimately passing, I’m grateful to my constituents who helped me keep track of the bills that most affected our corner of Montana. From hospital leaders to City Council and County Commission members, Chamber of Commerce reps to principals and teachers, to nursing home executives, judges, and small business owners, your insight and experience helped me navigate my first legislative session and make the best decisions for our communities. Thank you for your support.

For 85 long days, I didn’t give up on making sure rural Montana is stronger than ever. I’m proud of the work we did and that we accomplished what we set out to do. Now we begin work on interim committees, so please let me know how you feel this session went, what we could have done better, and how you’d like to see me serve you in the future. I can always be reached at gregg.hunter@legmt.gov. I hope to visit with as many of you as possible over the coming months. Thank you, sincerely, for the opportunity to serve you and Senate District 15!

Sincerely,

Gregg Hunter

Senate District 15