Taxes Raised on Hotels

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The Montana Senate passed bills to raise taxes on hotel rooms, rental cars and marijuana sales ahead of Monday’s deadline to send revenue bills to the House, where they face an uncertain fate among Republican representatives who oppose tax hikes.

Senators and representatives closed a busy stretch of the 90-day session in which they spent hours hearing and voting on money bills that packed their agendas and would have died if they had not passed.

Besides the tax and marijuana measures, lawmakers kept alive bills dealing with prescription drug pricing, retaliation complaints against Child and Family Services, ongoing child support for children with disabilities and a long-running effort to expand the Montana Historical Society’s museum.