House District 95: Diane Sands

Editor’s note: The following story was written by a student in John B. Saul’s graduate reporting class at he University of Montana. You are free to share or publish this story, provided you retain the reporter’s byline.

House District 95: Diane Sands BY MELISSA JENSEN Diane Sands has been working in politics for three decades and says there is no shortage of work left to do. She’s the representative for House District 95 in Missoula and is running for that office again. Sands defines her job as dealing with “your money, your issues, your life.” Sands first served as a state legislator in 1997. She was elected to her current seat for the 2007-2008 term. Much of her work over the past 30 years has covered issues that affect women and families. As chief lobbyist and executive director of the Montana Women’s Lobby for 12 years, Sands worked towards reproductive rights, childcare and pay equity. As she goes door to door campaigning, she also asks voters to support a measure on the ballot this fall requiring the state of Montana to match more federal funds to expand the children’s health insurance program, SCHIP. Sands said there are still too many children who do not have health-insurance coverage. When it comes to education, she can see the progress made in the recent fight to get more state funding for schools. According to Sands, that funding has increased by 27 percent since the last legislative session. She said the addition of full-day kindergarten

and work with “Indian Education for All” have boosted Montana’s education system. This November, Montanans will also vote on the 6-mill levy that provides money for higher education in the state. Sands hopes voters take into account that it’s not just the state’s largest schools that benefit from that levy, but also tribal colleges and community colleges. Sands calls the levy an ongoing commitment to education, which she feels is the economic driver of the state. If elected, Sands plans to continue her work with ethics reform. She wants to continue working on bills held over from the last session. One deals with general revisions to election law. It would review the state’s election laws and how they work together and possibly get rid of any out-dated material. The second bill deals with voting by mail. If passed, it would set up a pilot project in several counties to look at the effectiveness of strictly mail-in ballot elections. Sands feels strongly that Montana has an election system free of “fraud and corruption,” led by the men and women whom she calls heroes. She’s just as passionate that voters take the time to cast their ballot and take part in the process. “I could care less about who they vote for, just that they do it,” she said.