Braxton Mitchell

In January 2023, Mitchell sponsored successful legislation that would set aside 150 acres of land adjacent to the Montana Veterans Home in Columbia Falls, Montana to create a State Veterans Cemetery in his district. The cemetery will be open to veterans in nine Montana counties: Lincoln, Sanders, Flathead, Lake, Glacier, Toole, Pondera, Teton and Liberty counties. "These veterans deserve everything for their sacrifices," Mitchell said in a statement after the bill passed the House. "It's a great day for Flathead County, Northwest Montana and Montana as a whole."[13]

During the 2023 Legislative session, Mitchell sponsored House Bill 162 which would give Montana hunters the option to electronically validate their hunting tags. Traditionally in Montana, hunter’s receive paper tags that are used to verify their harvest, and Mitchell’s legislation allows for the optional availability for any carcass tag to be electronically validated with a smart phone. Mitchell’s bill was signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte on March 16, 2023.[14]

Mitchell supported a bill in the Montana Legislature that sought to ban transgender athletes from competing on teams that do not align with their sex at birth. He stated that "Someone gender fluid can wake up one morning and say, 'I'm a man today,' or 'I'm a woman today,' as a tactic to win in sports."[15] The bill was signed into law by Republican Governor Greg Gianforte on May 7, 2021.[16]

Mitchell voted in favor of a bill by Representative Brandon Ler that would allow for students to refer to another student by their legal name as long as the behavior did not rise to definition of bullying as provided in Montana statute. The bill passed the Montana House of Representatives on February 16, 2023.[17]

In 2023, Mitchell introduced legislation to legalize Jell-O shots. At the time of the bill’s introduction, Montana was 1 of only 2 states that prohibited the selling and distribution of premade Jell-O shots. In committee which featured no opponents, Mitchell said the proposal was a “freedom bill” and supporters cited that “Jell-O shots are not daily consumables but usually tailored towards events such as weddings, bachelorette parties, concerts, and tailgates.” The measure passed the Montana House of Representatives in February 2023.[18][19]

In September 2022, Mitchell was 1 of 53 Republican Legislators to call for a special session of the Montana Legislature to discuss returning over $1.8 billion in excess tax revenue to resident homeowners who paid property taxes in the past two years, and up to $1,250 to people who paid income taxes during that time.[20] Mitchell stated "This is not a stimulus check or us printing money like we see Biden and the Democrats doing at the federal level — it’s a true returning of funds. I am sure professional politicians and Helena insiders could think of 1.8 billion reasons to spend this money elsewhere but, the fact is, it is yours. It also can help force the hand of the legislature to finally rewrite our tax system we currently have in place which is hurting our citizens and businesses. Things worth doing are hard, and voters expect us to serve them, so I’m calling on my fellow legislators to support a special session."[21]

Mitchell sponsored a measure that would have made it more difficult for a private utility company in Montana to shutter a power plant, a move aimed at blocking the closing of the Colstrip coal-fired power plant in eastern Montana.[22] The measure was tabled in March 2021.[22][23] The Colstrip plant's owners, Puget Sound Energy, closed two of the four units at the plant in January 2021, and announced that the remaining two units would close within five years.[24]

In February 2021, Mitchell introduced a resolution designating antifa as a domestic terrorism group.[25][26] Antifa-affiliated groups are not known to be active in Montana, and there were no riots in Montana during the George Floyd protests of 2020.[25] Mitchell stated "I just don’t want to go into a future where political violence becomes the norm, and I hope as a country, we can start moving away from political violence on both sides."[27]

Mitchell was asked by Montana Democrats to also designate other groups including that which stormed the United States Capitol in January 2021, but Mitchell stated that the resolution was aimed at offenses committed by antifa.[27] The resolution originally had 53 co-sponsors, but following his explanation that additional groups couldn't be added, 31 Republicans removed their names.[27] The resolution did not pass out of the House.[28]