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Big Conservation Win in MT

Ben Lamb

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When the voters of MT passed the legalization of recreational marijuana in 2020, a large component of the funding from the tax was supposed to go to Habitat Montana, Trails work, nongame funding and state parks. Flks were rightly worried about how the legislature would enact the initiative, since you can't allocate funding anyway other than through the legislature. The "suggestions" in the ballot initiative were in danger.

Flash forward to the last week of the session: This week. After a roller coaster ride, HB 701 passed the legislature. With the first $6 million in tax revenue each year slated for drug addiction issues, the remaining funds will be split in a variety of ways, but ultimately, 20% will go to Habitat Montana, 2 percent for trails work and 2 percent for nongame funding.

This is likely to be around $5 to $7 million per year in new conservation funding. This is a huge win, and we can thank legislators like Tom Jacobson (D Great Falls) and Mike Hopkins (R-Missoula) for their stalwart advocacy for this speding.

We talk alot about the bad stuff that happens during the legislature, and rarely get to celebrate big wins, but overall, the HB 701 is going to add significant resources towards enacting new conservation easements & habita acquisition, while providing funding for species that desperately need better revenue streams. Nongame funding may not sound exciting, but those species are the likeliest candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act simply because the information on their current status is so often incomplete.

Huge kudos to the Legislature for passing something that profoundly changes the game for how we fund conservation in Montana, along with a much better outcome than we had thought heading in to the session. Governor Gianforte is expected to sign the bill.

There may still be some shenanigans relative to HB 5 in conference today, but if the current version of funding in HB 5 stands, along with HB 701, then access won big this session.

 
Great news. It seems in general, a lot of potentially bad outcomes that this legislature proposed have been avoided.

Stupid Civics 101 question. What happens if Gianforte doesn't sign it, being this was sparked from an initiative, does that change things?

I really hope that Montana puts this money to good use with land conservation opportunities. I was talking to someone the other day about about changing ownership in Montana, and the passing of a generation. I think as boomers retire from working ag lands and a flood of new kinds of landowners come to the state, we are in a window of opportunity where many of those whose families have worked chunks of land for a long time will have an interest in those places staying as they are as a piece of their legacy. It could be a window that will shrink over time, and this money could be used to strike while the iron is hot.
 
Great news. It seems in general, a lot of potentially bad outcomes that this legislature proposed have been avoided.

Stupid Civics 101 question. What happens if Gianforte doesn't sign it, being this was sparked from an initiative, does that change things?

I really hope that Montana puts this money to good use with land conservation opportunities. I was talking to someone the other day about about changing ownership in Montana, and the passing of a generation. I think as boomers retire from working ag lands and a flood of new kinds of landowners come to the state, we are in a window of opportunity where many of those whose families have worked chunks of land for a long time will have an interest in those places staying as they are as a piece of their legacy. It could be a window that will shrink over time, and this money could be used to strike while the iron is hot.

If the Governor doesn't sign the bill within 10 days, it becomes law.

He can still veto the bill entirely, or provide line item vetoes on the bill. If he does that then the legislature will either vote to override those vetoes (unlikely given the House vote total) or concur with the changes.

Edited: IF the Gov vetoes the bill, and the Legislature fails to override it, then the bill is dead, and implementation will fall back to the original voter initiative, which funds conversation at even higher levels, and is a bit more relaxed on regulations, as I understand it.

Who sits in the Governor's office does matter on a lot of issues, but we tend to forget that the legislature is a co-equal branch of gov't, and outcomes in that body are never foregone conclusions, regardless of what legislators, lobbyists or others want us to believe. Next session will be just as raucous as this one, but now we know that there exists the will to do good things, so that will needs to be cultivated & encouraged between now and 2023.
 
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IMO, recreation pot taxes should have full funding towards MT society health issues. It's been gutted six ways to Sunday over the past years.

Mental health, etc will burden MT tax dollars. Far from a legislator... Seems everything intent for one purpose is sliced and diced until... With that said, good to hear some funding was set for conservation.
 
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