Attorney General Austin Knudsen blocked the proposal from a Bozeman attorney and former state legislator to cap property taxes through a constitutional amendment. A similar initiative failed to gain enough signatures to appear on the 2022 ballot.

The state’s top attorney said the latest proposal doesn’t pass legal muster to even start gathering those signatures. In a statement, a spokesperson for Knudsen said the proposal is ambiguous and addresses two constitutional issues that require two separate initiatives.

But attorney Matthew Monforton said that assessment is wrong and that Knudsen has overstepped his authority by blocking the initiative.