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.
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.
Marijuana implementation passes Legislature, heads to gov's desk
The marijuana bill had died twice on the House side, once on its first vote in the House Taxation Committee and again Monday.
helenair.com