Did you know?

Did you know that Montana guarantees its citizens the right to participate in governmental activities? In Montana, our democracy depends entirely on the participation of the people. We’re guaranteed the right to participate directly in our state and local governmental activities – and the right to address our concerns to the government prior to final decisions being made.

Montana’s 1972 Constitution is unique in that it empowers Montana citizens with the most tools and responsibilities of any constitution in the country. In addition to transparency and participation in government, Montanans have several other powers not common in other state constitutions. One of these is the right to propose and adopt laws and constitutional amendments through the voter initiative process. Another is the responsibility of voters to consider the social contract they have adopted as their form of government at the local and state level every ten and twenty years, respectively. No other state offers each generation of citizens the opportunity to reaffirm their commitment to the structure of governance under which they live, or opt to draft a new one to consider instead.

“We the People” is more than the first few words of the Montana Constitution’s Preamble.  These words are emblematic of the power Montana citizens have embedded in the governance structure of Montana’s Constitution. We the people play an important role as citizens in the most civically engaged constitution in the country.