On February 26, the Montana House passed HB 229, which relaxes contribution limits. Current law says individuals may not give more than $130 to a legislative candidate, or more than $250 to a candidate for state statewide office other than Governor, or more than $500 to a gubernatorial candidate. The bill raises these limits to $500, $1,000, and $2,500 (the existing law allows the limits to rise with inflation, so the actual current limits are slightly higher than the dollar amounts in the statute).

The bill also eliminates the cap on political party contributions to the party’s own nominees, although that part of the bill only applies to parties that were on the ballot in the last gubernatorial election, so that part of the bill discriminates against newly-qualifying parties.

If the bill is signed into law, that would moot the lawsuit now pending in the 9th circuit over whether the limits are too low. That case is Lair v Bullock, 12-35809. The U.S. District Court had declared the limits unconstitutionally low, but the 9th circuit had stayed the decision a few days later. The 9th circuit has suspended the lawsuit until June 2013, at the request of both sides; presumably this is so everyone can see what the legislature and the Governor do.