Scott Sales

Sales spent three terms in the Montana House of Representatives; his district, State House District 68, covered the northern part of Gallatin County and most of Broadwater County.[9] In his first term, Sales introduced 10 pieces of legislation, only one of which became law.[1] Among the measures introduced by Sales as a freshman legislator was H.B. 281, a bill to eliminate the office of the commissioner of higher education; the bill died.[10]

Sales was elected speaker of the Montana House of Representatives in 2007.[3] At the time Sales became House speaker, he was relatively inexperienced; he assumed leadership of the chamber in just his second term and had never served as a committee chair.[1] As speaker, Sales clashed with Governor Brian Schweitzer, opposing his budget proposal.[1] Sales presided over a House controlled by Republicans by the thinnest of margins: during his term, there were 50 Republican representatives, one Constitution Party representative (Rick Jore) who was mostly allied with Republicans, and 49 Democratic representatives.[1][4] The highly contentious legislative session ended in disarray, as the Legislature failed to pass a state budget, as required by the state constitution. In the ensuing special session, the budget was approved after Governor Schweitzer negotiated a compromise with several moderate House Republicans,[11] effectively circumventing Sales.[4]

Sales was House minority leader in 2009,[7] during a session when the House was evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.[11] During his opening speech in 2009, Sales read out eight quotations and attributed them to Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln in fact never said them. Once the spurious origin of the quotations were brought to light, Sales said that he had "got them off the Internet" and had no intention to mislead. Sales raised a point of personal privilege in the House to apologize.[12]

He was ineligible to run for a fourth House term in 2010 due to term limits.[9] He unsuccessfully ran for Gallatin County Commission in 2010, being defeated by incumbent commissioner Joe Skinner in the Republican primary election.[9]

In 2011 Sales was formerly the Montana state director for Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers-founded advocacy group.[13][14] In an op-ed, Sales criticized U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations to combat climate change (calling them a "power grab") and expressed strong opposition to a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions.[15]

In 2015, Sales successfully introduced legislation, which he co-drafted the year before, to raise the speed limit on highways such as Interstate 90 to 80 mph.[16][17][18]

Also in 2015, Sales voted against privacy legislation introduced by Senator Daniel Zolnikov to restrict the state government's digital collection and use of individuals' data. The bills specifically would have prohibited the state or local governments from using automatic license-plate readers and would have required authorities to obtain a search warrants in order to obtain electronic communications held on electronic devices or by Internet service providers. Sales stated that the bill would "encumber law enforcement from some activities that I don't think are abusive at this time" and were "solutions to problems that don't exist in Montana at this point."[19]

In November 2016, Sales won an internal election among state Senate Republicans to be the president of the Montana Senate in the 2017 election. His opponent was Senator Eric Moore of Miles City. Although the vote was by secret ballot, it was described as a close case. He assumed office in January 2017.[3] Sales broke with tradition in January 2017 by deciding to not sit with the state House in the customary beginning-of-session joint sitting to hear speeches from members of Montana's congressional delegation, the chief justice of the Montana Supreme Court, the Montana Superintendent of Public Instruction, and a Native American leader.[20] Sales' choice to break from tradition was publicly criticized by former State Senate president Jon Tester.[21][22]

After Republican U.S. Representative Ryan Zinke was appointed U.S. Secretary of the Interior in 2017, Sales considered running for the open seat in the special election to fill the vacancy, but decided not to run.[23][24] During his brief exploration of a candidacy, Sales said that if elected he would take a hard line on illegal immigration and would be "certainly more fiscally conservative than Ryan Zinke," saying that he would not vote for continuing resolutions as Zinke did.[25]

As Senate president, Sales took the leading role in supporting legislation to give state lawmakers the right to carry concealed firearms in the state Capitol and on other state property and allowing restaurant customers to carry concealed firearms to restaurants. Both bills were passed by the Senate on mostly party lines, with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed.[26]

As Senate president, Sales opposed legislation to fund infrastructure projects in Montana, saying that he generally opposed bond issues and preferred to spend cash on state building projects.[27]

In March 2017, Sales said that he generally support privatizing the Montana State Fund (a semi-public entity that is the state's largest provider of workers' compensation insurance), but also said that he would consider supporting legislation to eliminate the fund entirely.[28]

In 2017, Sales opposed legislation to require motorists to maintain a distance of 3 feet from bicyclists at 35 mph or less, and 5 feet at faster speeds. In debate, Sales harshly attacked cyclists, calling them "some of the most self-centered, rude people navigating on the highways and county roads I’ve seen" and saying that there were "too many of them" in Montana.[29][30] Sales' remarks prompted Derek Bouchard-Hall, the president and CEO of USA Cycling, to write an open letter to Sales expressing disappointment.[31]