At a "Fighting the New Right" conference, held in Missoula in the Spring of 1982, a small group of women introduced an idea to form a lobbying coalition focusing on women's issues. The group was not to be a political action committee, or aligned strictly with any political party. Instead the coalition would pool its resources to hire a professional lobbyist to work on issues determined by the membership. The response was strong and within a few months the Montana Women's Lobby was formed. It's first board meeting was held in Helena in September 1982. The first officers included Kathy Van Hook, president; Sid Clack, vice president; and Connie Erickson, treasurer. Early organizational support can from Planned Parenthood, Montanans for Progressive Policy (MAPP), and Montana Committee for an Effective Legislature (MontCEL). In many cases the leadership for the Montana Women's Lobby came from the leadership of these groups. Drawing from considerable organizational and political talents, charter MWL members Kathy Van Hook, Paula Petrik and Diane Sands pulled together a large and diverse membership, including abortion rights activists, labor leaders, environmentalists, feminists, gay and lesbian organizations, human rights groups, and advocates for children and handicapped. By the end of the first year the fund had gathered over $20,000 from supporters across the state, and across party lines. By the mid 1980s the WLF was an established political force. Their activities included testifying before legislative committees; sponsoring "town meetings" to educate the public; providing leadership training for women; and giving technical and monetary support to local political groups around the state. To reflect their expanding activities and goals the WLF changed its name to the Montana Women's Lobby. Over the years the areas of major concern for the Montana Women's Lobby have included abortion rights; affirmative action; AIDS awareness and prevention; childcare; child and spousal abuse; comparable worth in the work place; human rights; non-gender based insurance rates; promoting women to public office; reforming Veterans Preference laws; sexual harassment at work and in the classroom; and welfare reform. The main office for the Montana Women's Lobby, is in Helena, Montana.