Flathead Electric and the Montana Electric Cooperatives Association have been busy working on your behalf during the 2025 Montana Legislative Session.
As Montana’s biannual 90-day legislative session unfolded, your member-owned Cooperative actively advocated for policies that keep the lights on and rates affordable for members.
“Public power and public policy are intersecting like never before,” said Flathead Electric Cooperative CEO and General Manager Mark Johnson. “That’s why it’s vitally important that Flathead Electric, as Montana’s largest electric cooperative, has an active presence in Helena.”
Along with our partners at the Montana Electric Cooperatives Association (MECA), utility industry allies, and business groups like the Montana Chamber of Commerce, Flathead Electric worked with legislators on issues such as forestry and wildfire policy, resource adequacy and economic development, protection of critical infrastructure, and tax legislation. The Co-op also held a Legislative Dinner in Helena and participated in events such as Business Days at the Capitol and Co-op Days.
The legislature overwhelmingly passed HB 490, your Co-op’s priority wildfire liability bill, carried by Rep. Amy Regier. Advocacy efforts also brought about the passage of HB 257, carried by Rep. Greg Kmetz, which clarifies that utility transmission and distribution lines qualify as “critical infrastructure” and provides enhanced penalties for willful destruction of that infrastructure. Flathead Electric has seen a recent uptick in infrastructure attacks, particularly with people using junction cans and regulatory banks as target practice. These events not only cause power outages but can also result in explosions, wildfires, and electrocution. HB 257 was signed by the Governor and is now law.
Flathead Electric Cooperative and MECA also successfully advocated for three bills (HB 270, HB 285, and SB 221) to reform the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) in response to the Montana Supreme Court’s landmark Held decision. The bills create a workable framework for MEPA so that the law can continue to protect the environment while allowing responsible economic development. This is especially important for utilities as we seek to build new electrical generation and transmission in Montana in the coming years.
Data centers were another frequent discussion in the 2025 legislative session, with several bills being introduced on the topic. While data centers may offer economic opportunity for Montana, they also require a tremendous amount of electricity to operate, and many questions remain about how to best serve these large loads with the state’s limited energy resources. This is why Flathead Electric supported HJ 46, brought by Rep. Tom Millett (R-Marion), to create an interim study of data center impacts. Your Co-op also supports Governor Gianforte’s creation of a “Data Center Task Force” to better assess these issues.
MECA Director of Government Affairs Mark Lambrecht reflected, “Montana’s co-ops stand on the front lines of so many important public policy issues. That’s why we appreciate the work done by Flathead and all 25 of our co-ops in advocating for their members.”
