The Capital City and surrounding areas will be represented in the 2009 Montana House with a mix of leadership, big-ticket spending bills and a wide range of policy initiatives both broad and precise.

Seasoned veterans and newcomers alike, the area's representatives take their seats on the House floor with at least one common goal: to make the next 90 days everything the 2007 session wasn't in terms of decorum, respect and efficiency, a task crucial in a House divided 50-50 between the parties.

While Helena's and East Helena's House representation is overwhelmingly Democratic, the four surrounding seats are filled with conservatives, including House Republican Leader Scott Sales of Bozeman, whose district includes Broadwater County, and House Republican Floor Leader Scott Mendenhall of Clancy, who represents most of Jefferson County and some south Helena neighborhoods.

Mendenhall said House Republican leaders visited with House Speaker Bob Bergren, D-Havre, within two hours of party elections.

"We sat down and said, 'How can we work together?' " said Mendenhall, who's worked with Bergren all of his four terms. "We've kept that dialogue going the whole time.

"Not a monologue, but a dialogue. I'm committed to that," he added. "I know Scott Sales is committed to that, and the rest of the leadership team. We'll find ways that we can cooperate and work together."

They've also initiated regular, formal communication with Senate leaders and plan to do the same with Gov. Brian Schweitzer's office.

"It's not going to be daily drama, we're not going to have a highly contentious session. Of course this is an exchange ... of course there's going to be conflicting ideas, but that's how the Legislature works," Mendenhall added. "But you don't have to be disagreeable when you disagree, and that's what we're going to strive for.

"I'm interested in us conducting ourselves with decorum," he said. "I think people in Montana are tired of partisanship and attacks."

Mendenhall said he and House Republicans are interested in "regular, systematic" talks with Democratic legislators and Schweitzer about Montana's budget and how to balance it, given the uncertain economic times in the coming biennium.

He's also looking to find common ground on meaningful energy development and potential jump-starters for Montana's economy.

Second-term Democrat Galen Hollenbaugh of Helena earned a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, and will chair a subcommittee dealing with natural resources and transportation funding issues. He's also looking forward to a fair, respectful session, and he's particularly interested in a potential federal stimulus package that could spur infrastructure spending across the Treasure State.

Montana's U.S. senators have called for quick action on the possible funding, and Hollenbaugh said the state could receive several billion dollars to use for pavement, pipes and other priorities.

"That money would start hitting in Montana right about the time we'd be looking to adjourn, so we need to be flexible in our actions, so we can apply money to Montana projects quickly," he said.

Hollenbaugh also will carry House Bill 9, an $809,000 appropriation funding Montana Arts Council grants across the state for the coming two years.

The bill includes more than $75,000 for Helena area organizations, including the Myrna Loy Center, Grandstreet Theatre, the Archie Bray Foundation and the Holter Museum of Art.

Hollenbaugh also collaborated with Helena City Commissioner and SAVE Foundation Director Matt Elsaesser to develop a bill that would require the Montana Department of Transportation to use recycled glass cullet in highway projects whenever the glass meets specifications and costs less than or as much as other materials. MDT has used the crushed glass in some pilot projects.

"Anything we can do, I think, to reduce not only Montana's but our country's dependence on foreign oil, and if this is something we can do to reduce costs, it's absolutely something we should look at," Hollenbaugh said.

Helena Democrat Chuck Hunter, a newcomer to the House, is carrying HB 13, which puts the state-negotiated employee pay plan into law. Officials have agreed to a pay freeze for the coming biennium, though the state will increase contributions to health care and give additional lump checks to some employees.

Hunter, who retired in 2005 after 22 years as a state employee, said that while the pay-freeze agreement may be criticized by some, it allows for renegotiation in the next two years if the state's revenues exceed current projections.

"If the economy turns around, the ability to renegotiate the pay comes into play," Hunter said. "I tend to think of it as good bill for bad times."

After years working as an administrator for the state Department of Labor and Industry and DPHHS, Hunter will put his experience to use on the Business and Labor Committee and the Human Services Committee.

He's also sponsoring a bill that would provide $1.3 million over two years to create new community health centers across the state and support a recently added facility in Kalispell, and Hunter will bring legislation to implement the Healthy Montana Kids initiative approved by voters this fall.

Hunter also seeks to remove a prohibition in the state's Children's Health Insurance Program that excludes coverage for contraceptives. He said Montana is one of only two states with CHIP that don't include birth-control coverage.

"I really came to this conclusion when I was with the Department of Public Health," Hunter said. "We pay for pregnancies, but we did not ... provide a contraceptive benefit, and that makes no sense to me."

For East Helena Democrat Jill Cohenour, entering her fourth House term, addressing an issue that developed in her backyard this summer -- and also sprung up near other Montana cities -- will be one of her key charges this year, though she hasn't forgotten long-held interest in education, veterans and outdoors legislation.

Cohenour spent much of the year rallying around some of her neighbors in HD 78, where Helena Sand & Gravel ultimately won approval for a 111-acre pit surrounded on three sides by homes and schools.

She's introduced some legislation and will be supporting other bills with a general aim of refining the permit process to provide more information, access, and time for public review and comment on opencut mining proposals.

Cohenour is sponsoring legislation to allow school districts to keep cash on-hand from year to year in certain funds. She also has a bill that would give the fuel-tax break provided to schools that run their own transportation to districts that contract busing services.

Committee work, she said, will be paramount this year as always, and she echoed other lawmakers' calls for respect and civility.

"This is going to be an interesting session," she said. "I'm hopeful that the treatment of the members of the Legislature is taken up a notch. I hope the treatment of the public ... is also taken up a notch. They deserve to be a part of this system and be treated with respect."

Helena Rep. Mary Caferro has requested several bills, including a measure that would create a new chargeable offense in Montana's crime laws: assault on a health care provider or emergency responder. The offense would be punishable with a $20,000 fine or up to a year in jail.

Caferro also has requested bills be drafted to enhance agricultural development, revise methamphetamine cleanup laws and amend income tax codes, but the legislation wasn't yet available. Caferro couldn't be reached for comment for this story.

Newcomer Mike Miller, R-Helmville, has introduced legislation requiring additional landowner notification when state agencies move or reintroduce certain large animals into new areas.

Miller is also proposing a tax deduction for unreimbursed medical costs, along with an income tax credit for long-term care insurance and revisions to mortgage licensing laws. Those drafts weren't available and Miller couldn't be reached for comment.

Helena Democrat Mike Menahan enters the session with a number of proposed changes to criminal law -- his background as a Lewis and Clark County prosecutor has funneled many of the requests for such bills his way -- but he's looking at other legislation, and has proposed a significant shift in state water policy.

He asking legislators to remove the exemption allowing 35-gallon-per-minute wells in closed basins in Montana's most populated counties.

Menahan is carrying legislation that would allow prior conviction information to be brought to trials in cases of sexual assault, sexual abuse of children and driving under the influence of alcohol. He also wants to increase felony DUI sentences from a maximum of 13 months to three years, giving men and women more time to complete in-house treatment programs. After completing treatment, the remainder of their sentence would be suspended.

He's also looking to pass a joint resolution pushing for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution recognizing a personal right to privacy. That right has been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court but hasn't been fully defined, he said.

Reporter Larry Kline: 447-4075 or larry.kline@helenair.com