House District 92

Ballots will be mailed Oct. 9. Return ballots by mail, vote in person Oct. 20 at the Missoula County Satellite Office or drop off ballots at various drop off locations including Seeley Lake Elementary on Election Day, Nov. 3. For more information visit https://www.missoulacounty.us/government/administration/elections-office

Mike Hopkins (R) - Incumbent Biography

• Where do you live? Missoula

• How long have you lived in Montana? Born in Helena, 36 years old

• Education: Political Science, Public Administration, Public Law, American Government - University of Montana

• Experience that makes you suitable for the position: Representing House District 92 since 2016, serving on the House Appropriations Committee, chairing the State Infrastructure Committee, serving on the Legislative Finance Committee and the Consumer Counsel Committee in the Legislature.

• Family or anything else you want voters to know: Fourth Generation Montanan. Entire family graduated from University of Montana - Go Griz!

• Website and contact information: Cell: (406) 531-1775; MikeforMontana@gmail.com; https://twitter.com/Mike__Hopkins; https://www.facebook.com/MikeHopkinshd92

What are the top three issues you see facing the state during this upcoming session? Taxes, jobs and the state budget

How do those things impact House District 92? Even before the pandemic, folks in Missoula County were being hit hard by local government tax policy. Democrats in Helena have already proposed over $350 million dollars in tax increases which include a four percent statewide sales tax and a local option tax for counties. Can you imagine if in addition to all the other nonsense you have had to deal with this year, if you also had to deal with $350 million in additional taxes including both a statewide sales tax and a local option sales tax?

The pandemic hit Montana's economy pretty darn hard. And for whatever reason (haven't been able to get anything that resembles a coherent answer from the Governor's office) the Governor's office decided to slow walk getting Federal pandemic aid to Montana businesses as soon as we were feeling the impacts of the shutdown. We need to start rebuilding our economy in the District and across Montana.

The shutdown from the pandemic has placed extreme strains on our economy and on Montana businesses, which means less revenue to the state. Our budget and fiscal policy reforms over the last four years means that we haven't had to deal with the revenue loss during this budget period. But next session, when we put together the budget for 2022/2023, we are going to start feeling the impacts from that lost economic activity. That could mean impacts to our Education and Health and Human Services budgets which House District 92 depends on more than other districts in Missoula County.

If you were elected, how would you work to solve them? If re-elected to continue representing House District 92, I plan to fight against all of the tax increase proposals from Democrats in Helena including making sure that neither the statewide sales tax proposal from Democrats or the local option sales tax proposal passes through the Legislature.

I plan to work with the Republican majority to get more aid out to Montana businesses to help them bridge over the rest of the impact from the shutdown so we can start getting our economy up and running again.

Serving on the House Appropriations Committee where we build the State Budget. I plan to make sure that we come up with a budget that funds all of our essential services without necessitating any tax increases, and as a third term member of the majority on Appropriations, we will have a lot of influence to make sure we get exactly that.

 Is there any legislation you would like to introduce?  Please explain including why you feel it is important: If re-elected to continue serving the people of House District 92 in the next session, I plan to stay on House Appropriations and continue Chairing the States Infrastructure Committee. I plan to propose most of if not all of the infrastructure bills for the session.

I also plan to introduce bills to change funding within the State Budget, bills to lower property taxes on Montana senior citizens, bills to reform tax increment financing and bills to reform the way Montana approaches wildfire management so we can get resources on fires quicker without dealing with the bureaucracy.

Do you see a gap in the policies made across the state between the urban and rural communities? If yes, how would you bridge that? If no, why not? I think that it has gotten a lot better in the last four years as we now have more rural representatives in positions of power, whether that is in leadership or chairing committees. The influence that we have has increased substantially. In the end its all about having representatives with influence in the Legislature that can explain the importance of rural Montana's issues to the Representatives from the more Urban areas.

Anything else? I just want to thank the people of House District 92 for entrusting me to represent you for the last four years. We have governed the way we campaigned, always open to a good idea regardless of whom comes up with it, always opposed bad ideas regardless of whom came up with them and we have an excellent record of real results to show for it.

Tom Browder (D) Biography

• Where do you live? Seeley Lake, Montana

• How long have you lived in Montana? I grew up in Missoula and graduated from Missoula County High School in 1965. I worked six summers at the Seeley Lake Ranger District and made many trips back to Montana over the years (both my family and my in-laws were Missoula residents). In 2002, my wife Carolyn and I purchased land in the Double Arrow Ranch and we finished building our home in 2006. We live full time in Seeley Lake.

• Education: B.A. (Columbia University) and M.A. (Indiana University)

• Experience that makes you suitable for the position: I am a military veteran (US Army, 1969-1972) and a former small business owner. In addition, I have many years of experience in financial and educational technology, and have managed global customer service teams. This background has given me the skills to work with different points of view and different agendas. I work very hard to reach cooperative solutions to difficult problems - sometimes with difficult people! I would welcome the chance to put this approach to work for ALL residents of House District 92.

• Family or anything else you want voters to know: Married for 48 years to Carolyn Lewis, a Missoula native and Hellgate High School class of 1967.

• Website and contact information: Mobile: 406-303-0770; Email: browderforhd92@gmail.com; Website: https://www.browderforhd92.com; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/browderforhd92; Twitter: https://twitter.com/browderforhd92

What are the top three issues you see facing the state during this upcoming session?

1. Taxes and funding will be a big issue due to the impact of the pandemic on revenues. I will pursue any opportunity to make sure that the taxes we pay are used efficiently, effectively, and to the benefit of all residents of HD 92. While interest rates are low now, there could be strains in the municipal funding market that could affect state revenues. Flexibility and understanding of how finance works will be important.

2. Finding ways to develop more affordable housing should be a key issue for the legislature. The rise in housing prices in many areas of our state impacts the ability of our small businesses to hire and retain the staff they need to operate. We need to develop housing that works for our workers and their families. At the same time, we need to make sure that landowners are properly compensated and that developers and builders get the support they need.

3. We need to attract well-paying jobs to our state and to our district. Maintaining a high quality education system, from pre-K to our colleges and universities, is important to developing the skills and talents that people will need. We must also focus on our community colleges, technical education and the trades to take advantage of the many job opportunities in this area. This will require intelligent decisions on funding and program delivery, including virtual training.

How do those things impact House District 92? We have many seniors on fixed income in HD92, so we must keep a tax structure that does not penalize them. If we can improve the supply of affordable housing, this will keep our businesses healthier and able to maximize their revenues, especially during the tourist season. Finally, if we can continue to provide high-quality education for our young people, they will be competitive in the very demanding job market of the 21st century.

If you were elected, how would you work to solve them? With so many unknowns facing the upcoming legislature, I believe the key to finding solutions is a willingness to work on bipartisan solutions. We won't know how permanent some of the workforce changes created by the pandemic will be, but the legislature needs to make efficient use of technology in areas such as health care and education. While this may require investment in areas such as rural broadband, the net result could be a more efficient use of state funds and benefit to more people.

Is there any legislation you would like to introduce? Please explain including why you feel it is important. I plan to introduce and support effective laws that improve our tax structure and use of funding, education, health care and housing.

Do you see a gap in the policies made across the state between the urban and rural communities? If yes, how would you bridge that? If no, why not? When looking at our rural versus urban communities (HD92 is made up of both), I think the important distinction is not the policies, but rather their implementation. There are instances in the Land Resources and Use (Title 76) of the Montana Code that define clear and comprehensive rules for development and subdivisions. Since oversight and implementation falls to the counties, this is where we need to adapt to our rural versus urban areas. Subdividing a lot in our smaller towns is very different from urban infill in the city of Missoula, so our regulations need to acknowledge this. 

Anything else? Current pandemic related programs, such as The Big Sky Economic Development Trust Fund Workforce Recovery program, have been vital to many of our small businesses. I would support continuation of such programs as long as COVID-19 is a major problem in the state. The state legislature also needs to find ways to help individuals, businesses and nonprofits recover from these difficult times!