Legislation fails to progress


Two evolution-related measures have failed to progress through the Montana legislature and are dead for this session. March 1 was the deadline for bills to pass in their first house. One potential bill, known by its draft number of LC1199, was never formally introduced. Sponsored by Rep. Roger Koopman, the bill had a short title reading: "Allow teaching competing theories of origin". This bill apparently never completed the drafting process.

The second measure, Senate Joint Resolution 8, was referred to the Education committee, but not voted on there. The resolution endorsed "the importance of separation of church and state" and opposed including "theories commonly referred to as creationism, creation science, and intelligent design theory" in science classes.