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Marijuana banking will follow major budget bill, Congress promises
By Chris Roberts, Reporter
June 26, 2025
https://mjbizdaily.com/marijuana-banking-will-follow-major-budget-bill-congress-promises/
Congress will return to long-awaited, key marijuana industry priorities such as banking protections in the fall, according to Washington insiders.
“In my mind, we have a really, really good opportunity to get SAFE Banking done during this Congress,” David Culver, the senior vice president of the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable, a major Washington lobby group, told MJBizDaily on Thursday.
“It’s the best opportunity we’ve ever had.”
But SAFER Banking will have to wait until after Congress passes President Donald Trump’s prized One Big Beautiful Bill Act, lawmakers and lobbyists agree.
Marijuana banking reform ‘hopefully in the fall’
But Congress has more important priorities before it can turn to cannabis, Ohio Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno said last week.
The freshman senator, whose state launched adult-use marijuana sales in August 2024, is the lead Republican sponsor of the Senate’s version of the marijuana banking protections bill.
He told Marijuana Moment that SAFER Banking will return to active consideration, “hopefully in the fall.”
Most all other business in Congress is on hold as GOP lawmakers squabble over Trump’s enormous tax and immigration bill.
Senate Republican leaders have pledged to put the Big Beautiful Bill on Trump’s desk by the July 4 holiday.
But that picture became more complicated Thursday, when House Republicans vowed to oppose significant changes made by the Senate.
“Our red line hasn’t changed,” said U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, R-Maryland, who also chairs the far-right House Freedom Caucus, according to the Washington Post.
“It has to conform to the House framework, and it doesn’t.”
If Big Beautiful Bill negotiations drag on longer than planned, other congressional business is likely to be delayed.
Harris is also the author of a spending bill that redefines hemp under federal law in a move to ban hemp-derived THC products as well as THCA flower.
The hemp THC ban’s chances are considered slim given likely opposition from Republican lawmakers representing states with sizable hemp industries.
That includes Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott recently vetoed a bill to ban that state’s estimated $5.5 billion hemp industry.
Focus on banking after rescheduling stalemate
Industry lobbyists considered marijuana banking protections the top priority on Capitol Hill before the Biden administration decided in October 2022 to reschedule marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).
Moving marijuana from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 of the CSA grants plant-touching businesses immediate tax relief – something banking protections do not do, observers have said.
But with the rescheduling process in limbo, there’s renewed focus on banking for the cannabis industry.
Banking reform has passed a Democratic-controlled House of Representatives multiple times but has yet to pass the Senate.
Passing even modest marijuana reform is still considered a prerequisite to tackling tougher issues such as interstate commerce or regulating all forms of THC under one unified policy.
SAFER Banking “opens the door up to future discussion of other financial services the industry is in desperate need of, as well as other reform efforts too,” the U.S. Cannabis Roundtable’s Culver said.
Mike Tyson And Other Celebs Push Trump To Go Further On Marijuana Than Biden By Expanding Clemency And Enacting Rescheduling
By Kyle Jaeger
June 27th, 2025
A newly formed coalition of professional athletes and entertainers, led by retired boxer Mike Tyson, has sent a letter to President Donald Trump—thanking him for past clemency actions while emphasizing the opportunity he has to best former President Joe Biden by rescheduling marijuana, expanding pardons and freeing up banking services for licensed cannabis businesses.
The “Coalition of Athletes and Entertainers Supporting President Trump’s Policy Objectives” also counts NBA’s Kevin Durant and Allen Iverson, NFL’s Dez Bryant, Antonio Brown, Ricky Williams, the musician Wyclef Jean and others among its members who signed onto the letter.
“Today, people continue to serve lengthy federal sentences for conduct that is now legal in most states–which makes their continued incarceration not only cruel but absurd,” the letter says.
“After making sweeping promises to voters in 2020, former President Biden failed to deliver on his pledge to address marijuana-related injustices,” the coalition said. “Not only did he leave office without commuting the sentences of those incarcerated for marijuana, but in one of his final acts, he denied nearly every pending marijuana-related clemency application.”
The athletes said that inaction reflects a “betrayal” that “underscores the urgent need for bold leadership, we believe, and represents an opportunity to correct glaring disparities as part of your Administration’s ongoing push for criminal justice reform.”
The letter, first reported by Fox News, also notes clemency actions Trump took in his first term, including the pardoning of Weldon Angelos over a cannabis-related conviction. Angelos has since become a prominent reform advocate who’s worked with both the Biden and Trump administrations to expand clemency opportunities.
Further, the coalition made the case that Trump should finalize the process of moving marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that was initiated under the last administration but has since stalled out.
“Marijuana’s current classification as a Schedule I substance is scientifically outdated, economically detrimental, and at odds with modern medical understanding,” they said. “Rescheduling marijuana would harmonize federal law with state policies, promote innovation, encourage research, and drive economic growth.”
Tyson separately addressed the rescheduling issue during an interview published by The Dales Report on Thursday. He said, “I have a strong belief that [reclassifying cannabis is] possible—more possible than during the last administration.”
The boxer also said that he feels Trump must be adequately informed about marijuana policy, in part because Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba “is educated on this,” and she’s “very acquainted with the president.”
Tyson, along with Habba, recently toured a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lab—donning a DEA jacket as he promoted his marijuana brand’s commitment to safety and learned about fentanyl-related issues.
“I just believe that it’s a powerful, powerful revolution going on right now,” Tyson said during Thursday’s interview. “I think we’re gonna win. I really believe in it.”
The letter from the coalition of athletes additionally speaks to the industry’s desire to enact reform allowing state-legal cannabis business to access financial services afforded to other traditional markets.
“State-legal cannabis operators, including many of us, have also been unjustly denied banking services despite full compliance with state law,” it says. “Despite operating legally in 40 states, employing over 450,000 Americans, and generating more than $35 billion annually, these businesses face unjust barriers to banking services, and their employees struggle to obtain mortgages from traditional lenders.”
“Moreover, cannabis businesses cannot take standard business deductions, leading to effective tax rates often exceeding 85 percent. While foreign cannabis companies benefit from listings on U.S. exchanges, such as NYSE and NASDAQ, American cannabis operators are unjustly excluded. We fully support your commitment to ‘work with Congress to pass common-sense laws, including safe banking,’ ensuring fair economic opportunities and equal access to financial services for all American businesses.”
Other signatories on the letter include NBA’s Steven Jackson, Chris Webber, JR Smith, John Salley and Al Harrington, as well as NFL’s Jim McMahon, Kyle Turley, Champ Bailey, Marvin Washington and Tony Richardson. Boxers Boyd Melson, Paul Willias and Keith Thurmon, as well as the streamer Adin Ross, also put their names on the letter.
This comes days after Trump’s first pick for attorney general in the current administration, former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), reiterated his own support for rescheduling cannabis—suggesting in an interview with a Florida Republican lawmaker that the GOP could win more of the youth vote by embracing marijuana reform.
On marijuana rescheduling, the president did endorse the policy change on the campaign trail. But he’s been publicly silent on the issue since taking office. Gaetz said last month that Trump’s endorsement of a Schedule III reclassification was essentially an attempt to shore up support among young voters rather than a sincere reflection of his personal views about cannabis.
A survey conducted by a GOP pollster affiliated with Trump that was released in April found that a majority of Republicans back a variety of cannabis reforms, including rescheduling. And, notably, they’re even more supportive of allowing states to legalize marijuana without federal interference compared to the average voter.
Meanwhile, Trump picked former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (R) to run DOJ, and the Senate confirmed that choice. During her confirmation hearings, Bondi declined to say how she planned to navigate key marijuana policy issues. And as state attorney general, she opposed efforts to legalize medical cannabis.
Adding to the uncertainty around the fate of the rescheduling proposal, Trump’s nominee to lead DEA, Terrance Cole, has previously voiced concerns about the dangers of marijuana and linked its use to higher suicide risk among youth.
During an in-person hearing before the Judiciary Committee in April, Cole said examining the rescheduling proposal will be “one of my first priorities” if he was confirmed for the role, saying it’s “time to move forward” on the stalled process—but again without clarifying what end result he would like to see.
DEA recently notified an agency judge that the proceedings are still on hold—with no future actions currently scheduled. The matter sat without action before an acting administrator, Derek Maltz, who has called cannabis a “gateway drug” and linked its use to psychosis. Maltz has since left the position.
Amid the stalled marijuana rescheduling process that’s carried over from the last presidential administration, congressional researchers recently reiterated that lawmakers could enact the reform themselves with “greater speed and flexibility” if they so choose, while potentially avoiding judicial challenges.
Nebraska judge tosses suit challenging constitutionality of medical marijuana initiatives
June 26th, 2025
LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — A Nebraska judge threw out a lawsuit challenging the state’s medical marijuana initiatives.
The lawsuit argued that the initiatives — which were approved overwhelmingly by voters — are unconstitutional because they conflict with federal marijuana laws.
But the judge ruled that former State Sen. John Kuehn, head of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, did not have standing to bring the case.
In legal terms, standing is when someone can prove they would be harmed by an action. It is a requirement of filing a lawsuit.
Kuehn pointed to a Nebraska law that allows any resident of the state to sue to stop an initiative petition from being certified.
But Lancaster County District Court Judge Susan Strong said because these initiatives have already been certified and passed, that law does not apply.
Kuehn also claimed to have standing as a taxpayer, saying public money should not be spent on something that is unconstitutional.
Strong’s ruling said that claim was “remarkably broad” because it counts every government action as an expenditure of taxpayer money.
“The Court does not believe that the incidental burdens of implementing a law, like employee time and printing costs, is an ‘expenditure of public funds’ sufficient to confer taxpayer standing under Nebraska law.”
This is the second time Strong has tossed out a lawsuit from Kuehn.
He filed a lawsuit before the election alleging widespread fraud during the gathering and notarizing of the petitions.
Strong ruled that there was not enough fraud to invalidate the initiatives, but Kuehn is appealing the dismissal.
There were also two criminal cases surrounding the medical marijuana petitions.
In one, a petition circulator admitted to faking dozens of signatures.
In the other, a notary public is charged with 24 counts of official misconduct.
Prosecutors say he was not with circulators when he notarized their petition pages, a violation of Nebraska law.
MORE MONTANA NEWS
Longtime Montana congressman, legislator Pat Williams dies at 87
LEE MONTANA NEWSPAPERS
June 26th, 2025
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/article
Longtime Montana politician U.S. Rep. John Patrick "Pat" Williams, 87, of Missoula, died Wednesday.
The former Democratic legislator, and the last Democrat Montana elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, grew up in Butte. He served nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1979 to 1997.
He became Montana’s longest-serving congressman.
Williams was first elected to the Montana House of Representatives from Silver Bow County in 1966. After serving two terms in the Montana Legislature, he worked as an executive assistant to Montana Congressman John Melcher.
He was born in Butte in 1937, during the Great Depression.
His working parents owned the American Candy Shop in Butte. Because of their round-the-clock schedule, he was raised primarily by his Irish grandmother Lizzy Keough.
In 1965, he married Carol Griffith Williams. Theirs was a 60-year relationship and they had three children.
She was also Pat’s ‘senior adviser’, campaign insider, policy director, poll manager, strategy leader — and the first woman to serve as both Montana Senate majority and minority leader.
Williams lost a primary race in 1974 for the U.S. House of Representatives to Max Baucus, who went on to win the seat that November. Williams would succeed Baucus in that role in 1978 after Baucus was elected to the U.S. Senate and then appointed to the seat before taking office.
In Congress, he sat on the budget, natural resources, education, labor and agriculture committees. He sponsored the Family and Medical Leave Act, helped create the American Conservation Corps, championed the National Endowment for the Arts, and was involved in protecting the Lee Metcalf and Rattlesnake Wilderness Areas in Montana. In 1985, he was appointed to be majority whip for the Democrats in the House.
Following his time in Washington, he returned to the University of Montana, where he taught environmental studies, history and political science. He also served on the Montana University System Board of Regents after being appointed by Gov. Brian Schweitzer in 2012.
Williams helped support programming at the Mansfield Center on public affairs and ethics, and the center released a statement calling him "one of our greatest statesmen and patriots."
"Pat once said that '...the personal attention that Mike Mansfield paid to Montanans has set the standard for those of us who have come after him.' But Pat himself set the bar for that personal care and integrity that defined his leadership for the people of Montana and all the people of our great nation," the center's statement said. "Our thoughts are with his family as we remember his tremendous achievements."
"He believed government could be a force for good, and that culture, wilderness, and education were not luxuries — but rights," his family said in an obituary. "He never gave up on the American experiment, nor on the rugged promise of his home state."
Williams is survived by his wife Carol, son Griff Williams, daughters Erin Williams and Whitney Williams, his daughter-in-law Christine Treadway, son-in-law Joe Easton, and his deeply loved grandchildren: Keelan Williams, Aidan Williams and Fiona Easton.
His body will be lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda in Helena. The Williams family will host a celebration of his life in Missoula. Both events will take place in July. Details will come at a later date.
Baucus, who served alongside Williams in Washington, D.C. for the entirety of Williams' time in Congress and went on to be U.S. Ambassador to China, said in a statement Thursday no one worked harder for working men and women.
"Tirelessly, relentlessly, in Montana and in Congress he proudly championed the rights and concerns of Montanans. It was in his blood. Always decent, always a gentleman, always honest, he was wonderful to work with," Baucus said. "Pat was a good friend. No one was more courageous than Pat. He passionately stood up for and protected the artistic community and freedom of expression. More than any other member of Congress, he saved the National Endowment for the Arts when it was under attack by those who found its art not politically correct."
"He wanted to do what's right. He did what's right," Baucus added. "Pat was a true Montanan. Honest, unpretentious, friendly, gregarious. Montana was lucky to have his voice."
Fellow Montana Democrat Jon Tester, a former U.S. senator, spoke of Williams on social media Thursday.
"Pat Williams was a serious policymaker who had the unique ability to insert comedy and fun into serious issues," he posted on X. "He was somebody I greatly admired who served our great state for his entire life."
University of Montana President Seth Bodnar issued a statement as well.
“The University of Montana community is deeply saddened by the loss of the Congressman Pat Williams. ... Pat’s was a life defined by service to others and to the state he loved so dearly. He was a fierce advocate for public education, a champion for working-class families, a defender of public lands and a strong supporter of the arts.
"While rising to the highest levels of public service, Pat never forgot where he came from, and his fervent pride in his Butte roots was always on full display," Bodnar said. "Pat was also an incredible supporter of our university and of education more broadly, and his engagement with and mentorship of UM students impacted countless Grizzlies.
"We will miss Pat dearly, but his legacy of service and impact will continue to inspire all of us,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, the Republican who represents western Montana, in a statement offered his condolences.
"Rest in peace, Congressman Pat Williams," he said in a post on social media. "Montana lost an iconic public servant and champion who loved our State and the people he so faithfully served. His legacy of exceptional leadership shall endure. My prayers and best wishes to Carol and family."
Gov. Greg Gianforte, a Republican, issued a statement on behalf of he and his wife, Susan.
"As Montana's longest-serving congressman, Pat championed Montana's interests, working to find common ground for nearly 20 years in Washington," Gianforte said. "He was a dedicated public servant. We ask all Montanans to keep his wife Carol and their children in your prayers."
"Cindy and I express our deepest condolences to the Williams family on the loss of Pat," U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Montana, said in a statement. "We are most grateful for his public service to the people of Montana and his legacy as a champion for our great state."
U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, R-Montana, offered his thoughts and prayers to Williams's family.
"Sad to hear about the passing of Congressman Pat Williams who dedicated 18 years of his life serving the Treasure State," Downing said. "My thoughts and prayers are with the Williams family during this difficult time."
Montana's Democratic Senate and House leaders, Sen. Pat Flowers of Belgrade and Katie Sullivan of Missoula, said in a statement his contributions to Montana would not be forgotten.
"While Pat is best known for his long standing service as Montana's federal congressman, he began his political career in the stomping grounds of the Montana State Legislature in Helena where he represented his hometown of Butte. As current State Legislators, and as minority leaders for House and Senate Democrats, we not only honor Pat's legendary service at the federal level, but also his hard work in Montana's Capitol where he began his lifelong career of looking out for children and working families. His contributions to the state will not be forgotten and we will continue to honor his memory," the two said in a joint statement.
"His family, and the state of Montana, should feel eternally grateful and proud that Pat brought his hard-working Butte, Montana, values all the way to Washington, D.C., and applied them to create better lives for all Americans."
Montana Democratic Party interim executive director Justin Ailport called Williams a "great public servant and leader" who dedicated his life to Montana.
"A Butte native, Pat began his political career representing Butte-Silver Bow County in the Montana Legislature. He went on to serve eighteen years in the U.S. House, leaving a legacy of championing labor rights, Montana's wilderness areas, education, and the arts," Ailport said in a statement. "Pat was known for his joyful spirit and his deep commitment to improving the lives of Montanans. He was a true statesman who was dedicated to his family, friends, and constituents throughout his entire life."
Missoula County Commissioners Juanita Vero, Dave Strohmaier and Josh Slotnick said in a statement Williams's impact will be felt for generations to come.
"We're deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and former Congressman Pat Williams," they said in a statement. "He devoted his life to public service, championing causes Montanans continue to hold dearly, including public lands remaining in public hands. He also played a critical role in passing the Family and Medical Leave Act, ensuring our employees right here at Missoula County and across the country can take the time they need to care for family members and themselves without the risk of losing their employment."
Memorials can be made to the Pat Williams Scholarship for Artists at the University of Montana or The Williams Family Fund at the Montana Community Foundation.
The contentious small-town tax dispute that forced Montana to confront its growing pains
June 27th, 2025
https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/article
Nestled in the southwest corner of Montana are two towns that sit at the base of either side of a mountain range, but in recent years what has divided them has gone far beyond the 11,000-foot peaks of the Madison Range.
To the west of the Madisons is Ennis, a modest town known for its fly fishing. To the east is Big Sky, home to one of the largest ski resorts in the nation and the Yellowstone Club, where the ultra-wealthy and celebrities like Justin Timberlake and Tom Brady own multi-million dollar homes and have their own separate private ski resort.
The median sale price of a home in the greater Big Sky Area — not including the Yellowstone Club — is $5.7 million, nine times that of in the Ennis area, which is $620,000, according to internal data from the Bozeman Real Estate Group.
Big Sky sprawls across two counties — Gallatin County, and to the west, Madison County, where Ennis is located. The Ennis hospital district and the K-12 school district share a boundary with the Madison-Gallatin county line, so those districts split the ski town as well. This means that residents of the Big Sky portion of Madison County pay taxes that fund schools and a hospital in Ennis — an arrangement that has been in place decades.
There is an available hospital on the Big Sky side, and children in the part of Big Sky that is in Madison County can go to schools in a separate part of their town that is in Gallatin County.
But in recent years, Big Sky residents moved to stop paying taxes to Ennis to fund their own town instead. They said the Madison Range makes Ennis’s schools and hospital inaccessible — an excursion around the mountains would take three hours round-trip by car — and so they shouldn’t have to pay for them.
One road connects Big Sky and Ennis through the mountains, but its infamously poor condition has earned its own Facebook page. It’s a private road owned by one of the luxury communities in Big Sky and often takes as long to drive as it would using the paved roads that circumvent the mountains instead.
Ending the Big Sky tax payments to Ennis would have been a financial hit to the hospital and forced Ennis residents to pay a lot more in property taxes, while residents of Big Sky say their town has significant needs that taxes can help meet, and it should not be seen only as a playground for the rich that is trying to grab more money.
After years of fighting, the towns reached a compromise during this year’s legislative session through two bills which became law in May.
House Bill 846 increases Ennis’s financial obligation to Big Sky to fund the students who live in the Ennis school district but attend school in the Big Sky School District. Senate Bill 260 weans the Ennis-based hospital district off the property tax money that comes from Big Sky over multiple years, instead of all at once.
Prior to this legislation, the approach being discussed to solve the tax imbalance would have raised many Ennis residents’ property taxes tenfold, according to one estimate. And the Madison Valley Medical Center would have lost $2.9 million of the $3.4 million it receives in property tax funding. The Madison County portion of Big Sky alone accounts for 18% of the hospital's overall budget.
Together, the bills serve as a “remarkable” compromise between the two towns, said one lobbyist who was central to how the legislation was crafted. But the road to achieving the final product appeared impassable at points, and bitterness from the disputes remains, highlighting how the rush of riches and people into the Treasure State has upset arrangements Montanans had lived with for years.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. This is the test case of what money can do to our state,” said Amy Kelley, co-owner of the Gravel Bar on Main Street in Ennis. “This is a bellwether.”
As the tensions linger, some see the legislation as an example of how consensus can be struck even as Montana grapples with the economic distortions convulsing the state.
“There's so few examples of success stories of counties working together or districts across counties working together well,” said Kristin Smith, a Bozeman-based researcher with a focus on rural economic development.
Still, the battle over taxes created deep divisions between community members, even leading to severed friendships for some.
Kevin Germain is one of those people who has lost friends over the dispute. He is the chairman of Big Sky’s Resort Tax Board, which acts as the community’s de-facto government because the area is unincorporated.
He lived in Ennis for a decade and his three children attended school there, but he has since moved to Big Sky and has been one of many looking for a way to recapture those tax dollars in the ski town.
“It’s been rough,” Germain said. He declined to elaborate strained friendships further, saying the situation is “so sensitive.”
Those on the Big Sky side are imploring people to see that their community is more than the multi-million dollar homes and billionaire residents. For one, they say they need to recapture the tax revenue that goes to Ennis to build out a better mental health system for the full-time residents.
While the factors that created this conundrum — the high concentration of multi-million dollar homes, the mountain range and rapid population growth — are unique to Ennis and Big Sky, they hold statewide relevance.
“It's a microcosm of what's happening in Montana,” said Democratic Sen. Cora Neumann, whose district includes Big Sky. “The resentment between all of the new growth and the money that has come into Montana is playing out in this scenario.”
What follows is the story of how the battle began, how it was fought, and how a compromise was eventually forged, based on interviews with residents and county officials in Ennis and Big Sky and state politicians in Helena.
Increasing population, wealth creates tension in Southwest Montana
More than a century before Big Sky was even a concept, the county lines were drawn.
“The very underlying issue was that that county line was misplaced,” said David O’Connor, executive director of the Big Sky Community Housing Trust who moved to the town in 1990. “That should have probably been rectified in the early ‘70s when Big Sky was first conceived. … That Madison County line presents a lot of challenges. But you know, kind of the biggest one is that sort of tax equity challenge.”
But the origins of the modern dispute began in earnest in 2023, when Big Sky released a strategic plan that expressed the desire to capture more of its tax revenue and the increase in residents in the Madison County portion of Big Sky reached a “critical mass” and helped force the conversation, according to nearly every person interviewed by the Montana State News Bureau.
Over the last few years, Montana’s population has ballooned and huge amounts of money have been infused into the state — southwest Montana in particular has seen explosive growth. That trend has played a role in unattainable housing costs, displaced the workers these communities need to function and has created animosity across the region.
Big Sky’s population increased by 54% from 2010 to 2020 and currently hovers around 3,800 people. And the wealth of the area has grown as well: The taxable value of property in the Big Sky portion of Madison County has increased 94% from 2021 to 2024.
This past school year, 26 Big Sky students who live in Madison County went to school in Big Sky despite the fact that they’re geographically in the Ennis School District and their parents pay property taxes to that district. Because of how state law functioned prior to the new bills, those students were only being funded by a fraction of the money that it takes to educate a student in Big Sky. As for the hospital, a Madison County-Big Sky resident who has a medical emergency will in all likelihood go to the Big Sky hospital despite paying taxes to the hospital based in Ennis.
Big Sky residents and its leaders were frustrated that their tax dollars were funding services that were ostensibly unavailable to them, so they wanted to incorporate those tax dollars back into Big Sky.
Nicole Howard, who owns a condo at the base of Big Sky Resort and works in the town, shattered her tibia and broke her fibula while skiing this past season, leaving her in need of emergency surgery, she explained. Her property taxes go to the Ennis hospital, but she received all her care from the Big Sky Medical Center.
“The purpose of this bill is if you're paying taxes for a district — whether it's educational or a hospital-type district — you should have access to those services,” said Polson Republican Sen. Greg Hertz, who sponsored SB 260. He added that the piece of legislation was the “most difficult” of his legislative career, which has spanned more than a decade.
A resident’s property taxes largely fund the county they live in, their local schools and other local taxing jurisdictions like the hospital district.
How much a resident pays is based on the value of their home, so someone with a higher-value home like those on the Madison County side of Big Sky account for a larger portion of the money the district receives from property taxes.
So in Madison County, the Ennis School District and the Madison Valley Hospital District, most of the property tax burden falls onto the multi-million-dollar homeowners on the other side of the mountains in Big Sky because those homes alone account for 83% of Madison County's entire value that’s subject to property taxation.
“We’re the welfare portion of this,” Kelley said. “We’re propped up by Big Sky, so why not go to the table?”
If the Madison Valley Medical Center in Ennis, a small critical-access and independently owned facility with four full-time physicians that mainly provides primary care services, lost the Big Sky property tax funding immediately, it would have had to cut services and lay off staff, hospital CEO Allen Rohrback explained.
“We got complacent … thinking that money from Big Sky would always be there,” Kelley said.
The financial threat to Ennis led some residents to fling accusations of greed at Big Sky, but many on the eastern side of the mountains are adamant that this is about “fairness” and providing necessary resources, like mental health care, for their own.
“We don't want to pay taxes on something we don't receive services for,” Germain said. “Rich or poor, we all feel the same on that point.”
How Montana's new laws work
After years of white-hot county commission meetings, lawsuits and constantly increasing tensions, the debate reached a boiling point at the state Legislature this year.
The original version of SB 260 was less friendly to Ennis, and on a cold February morning, an Ennis Mustangs school bus carted dozens of Ennis residents to the state Capitol to vehemently testify against it in a hearing that dragged on for hours.
Some of the state's lawmakers who are savviest at steering state policy and and a handful of big-league lobbyists held multiple meetings with officials from Big Sky and Ennis that weren’t open to the public where they ultimately hashed out the final version of the bills that both sides agreed to.
SB 260 gradually steps down Ennis’s hospital off the Big Sky payments entirely over an eight-year period. Currently, 85% of the funding the hospital receives from property taxes comes from Big Sky.
Rohrback said he’s confident the property tax base in Madison County with Big Sky carved out will be lucrative enough in eight years to help sustain the hospital. He believes home values will continue to appreciate and growth in the area will remain steady, which will help make up for the loss of the Big Sky property tax dollars years from now.
“The amount of time that we get, it really does allow us to make some good long-term plans,” Rohrback said. “We don't anticipate any reduction in our services. In fact, we're going to continue to grow with the community.”
When asked if it was a gamble, Rohrback said “potentially,” but pushed back.
“I think operating a small hospital in southwest Montana is challenging,” he added. “I'm not going to call it [a] gamble. We have a good long-term plan.”
On the school side, HB 846 will put in place non-voted property tax increases to help fund the children who go out of district, which will cause property taxes to rise for Madison County residents. But most of that increase will fall onto the Big Sky-Madison County homeowners because they make up the lion’s share of the tax base. The bill includes a formula that adjusts that amount if the student population decreases, or under what Big Sky School District’s superintendent Dustin Shipman sees as a more likely scenario: a continued steady increase in student numbers from that pocket of Madison County.
If the Big Sky-Madison County tax dollars stopped coming in entirely, property taxes would have ballooned, which would have also made it harder to pass future voted levies to fund school improvements. That would have “pitted property taxpayers against the district and harmed education and students,” explained Lance Melton, CEO of the Montana School Board Association.
“Both sides feel like they took it on the chin a little bit and I think that means it's probably a fair compromise,” said Danny Bierschwale, executive director of the Big Sky Resort Tax Board. Nearly every person interviewed for this story invoked some version of that adage.
Big Sky officials told the Montana State News Bureau they would have liked to see a faster phaseout.
Jared Moretti, the superintendent of Ennis Schools, said he is displeased with the slight bump in property taxes Ennis residents will see as a result of the permissive mill levies that will help fund the Madison County students’ education in Big Sky, but even so, he took ownership over the children on the other side of the mountains.
“No matter where they come from, or, you know, I guess what their level of wealth or whatever is … they’re our kids, and we need to take care of them,” Moretti said. “No different than a student that lives, you know, just right down here, across the street from the school. They're still our kids.”
‘How the rest of the state thinks about Big Sky’
Oftentimes when a ski resort like Big Sky Resort is established, there is a preexisting community with infrastructure to sustain its residents. Aspen, Telluride and Park City, for instance, were mining towns before people started flying in from far-flung places to ski. In Big Sky, that was not the case; it was “all sheep farms and sage brush,” Bierschwale said.
Bierschwale explained that part of the push for more tax revenues is an effort to build a community that functions properly for its increasing number of full-time residents.
“Education and health care are like cornerstones to a community. That's kind of, for many communities, how you would judge your success: the quality of the school and the quality of the health care,” he said.
The community’s leaders say they’re going to use these tax dollars to build out their mental health and counseling services in town. Residents of ski towns face unique mental health challenges, something referred to as the “paradise paradox.” Suicide rates are significantly higher in ski towns than the national average.
“From my perspective, it's more about, like, the eight suicides we had last year than it is about the [Yellowstone Club],” Bierschwale said. “ YC – it certainly overshadows many people's perspectives.”
Many Montanans wince at the mention of Big Sky and don’t claim it as their own; the town is often referenced for its unabashed wealth and used as an example when talking about how the state has changed. Neumann, the Democratic state senator who grew up in Bozeman, said she also used to see Big Sky as “only for people with money.”
“As I’ve learned more about the community, and how hard it is for working families to make ends meet, I'm more and more frustrated with how the rest of the state thinks about Big Sky,” she said in a text message.
The towns that surround Big Sky — which includes Bozeman, the state’s fourth-largest city — are rife with disdain for the Yellowstone Club, and Big Sky as a whole. Dive bars and cars across the region are littered with cheeky stickers ragging on the wealthy enclave.
There is a sentiment not only in the Madison Valley and in Montana, but throughout the Mountain West, that newcomers who were not born and raised in the mountain town they move to are harming their adopted home. O’Connor arrived in Big Sky more than three decades ago when the population was well below 1,000 residents.
“People were pissed when I got here," he said.
Given the inescapable bitterness over the growth in wealth and population, many see SB 260 and HB 846 as a novel way of responding to the drastic changes in these communities. Still, despite assurances of fairness from both sides and congratulatory handshakes having been traded at the Legislature, some continue to view this as the ultra-wealthy grabbing more money.
“It’s complete greed. Bottom line,” said Scott Kelley, Amy Kelley’s husband who co-owns their Ennis bar. “That place upstairs is a monstrosity,” he said of the Yellowstone Club.
“You bought it. You knew where the f— you were,” he added in reference to the Big Sky-Madison County homes. “There’s gotta be a price to pay for exploiting rural Montana.”
Smith said that sentiment is “not unexpected” in Montana’s communities.
“The perpetual problem in rural [areas] is that your community is changing in ways that you can't control," Smith said. "That’s been true in Montana since its beginning.”
In the final days of the legislative session, it was clear the two sides had finally arrived at a mutual agreement on both the hospital and school districts. But in the bill’s final public hearing in a stuffy room at the state Capitol, those who came to testify from the two Montana towns kept their distance before the meeting convened, sat on opposite sides of the committee room and barely made eye contact, even as the finish line was in sight.