Montana Legislature - 1 month until the Show

[Ben Lamb]

Does MT have a limit on the number of bills a member of the legislature can introduce? Seems that would cut a lot of the baloney.

CO:

No.

It's the wild west up in here.

 

[cgasner1]

It's been brought forward before. Generally, it's a statement of concern about feeding elk and how it creates reservoirs of brucellosis and CWD. I doubt it will go far, as one state telling another how to manage wildlife isn't generally well received.

Especially when one state is actually managing and the other is not

 

[Ben Lamb]

Especially when one state is actually managing and the other is not

Wyoming has warts. It's just tough to see them under all that dirt.

 

[Irrelevant]

Wyoming has warts. It's just tough to see them under all that dirt.

elk shit

 

[tjones]

They did tell me the biggest complaint they have gotten is about how complicated our regs are.

Every season there are bucks killed and brought to the check station by guys that claim they did not know the HD was LE or claim they did not understand the difference between a permit and a license.

Most anywhere you go in HD270 you have to drive by these signs.

Maybe we get a bill that requires a written test on the regs that you have to pass before you can buy a license.

 

[Ben Lamb]

This article on the proposed legacy Trust came out yesterday. Some interesting quotes in it:

Hunters group asks for $200 million of surplus funds to go to land stewardship, restoration fund

A hunting organization is asking that $200 million of the state’s budget surplus go toward the creation of a trust to fund stewardship and restoration projects in rural areas.

dailyinterlake.com

Sen. Jeff Welborn, R-Dillon, sees merit in the proposal, saying it could be “ongoing in helping the land and the people in rural Montana that own and manage the land to do good things over the long haul.”

Welborn, though, noted that conversations surrounding the budget surplus are only at a “starting point.” The proposed trust could still benefit from Montana’s fiscal windfall, even if the amount granted is less than the requested $200 million.

“I don’t know if [the proposal] is perfect, but it is definitely worth looking at,” Welborn said. “It helps the land and it helps the people. To me, it's a win-win situation.”

Welborn suspects that, if draft legislation was drawn up, the state House of Representatives would take it up first. Still, he said he would welcome supporting the measure in the state Senate.

Kyle Schmauch, the communications and policy manager for the Senate GOP, said that Republican legislators are committed to finding solutions on elk management, conservation and habitat. He said they planned on reviewing the proposal, especially as more details are released.

 

[Nameless Range]

Easy to get overwhelmed. I am not gonna let some of these seemingly already terrible proposals get me down.

Over the last few years, I feel I developed a mildly good rapport with my representative. She disagrees with me on many things, but also seems open minded and surprised me a couple times last legislative session. In MT, your representatives are accessible. You likely know many of the same folks, hunt the same country, went to the same schools, etc. If one is polite and sympathetic, I am holding out hope that many legislators will think for themselves and regular Montanans can influence that thought. We just gotta be careful not become internet dicks. There's a lot of em out there and they get absolutely nothing done outside of their minds.

 

[cgasner1]

Every season there are bucks killed and brought to the check station by guys that claim they did not know the HD was LE or claim they did not understand the difference between a permit and a license.

Most anywhere you go in HD270 you have to drive by these signs.

Maybe we get a bill that requires a written test on the regs that you have to pass before you can buy a license.


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Over the years I’ve been into 3 different draw units for bucks and they have all had signs all over warning of it on the roads the bma boxes anyone who kills a animal without knowing the law should face a very heavy consequence

 

[Straight Arrow]

Over the years I’ve been into 3 different draw units for bucks and they have all had signs all over warning of it on the roads the bma boxes anyone who kills a animal without knowing the law should face a very heavy consequence

And this is related to the Legislature starting next month HOW?

 

[cgasner1]

And this is related to the Legislature starting next month HOW?

Well if people aren’t willing to read the regulations for the current laws we have what do you think the odds are they read these 114 items? Or actually go to fwp and sit thru the 3.5 hour meeting I did last night to hear fwp talk about the 14 they are bringing to the table that all make sense

 

[MThuntr]

Lots of junk already on the list.

Can someone in the know give an estimate on how much it costs MT taxpayers per bill introduced? I seem to think it exceeds $1000 just to have it on the docket.

A cap would prevent all the junk bills

 

[Straight Arrow]

One other factor related to the anticipated craziness of the upcoming session is regarding the open-carry or freedom to bring firearms into the Capitol. Wednesday in Helena I spoke with a friend who is a Sergeant-at-Arms and he expressed concern about what he fears will be a large number of legislators who will be armed in the Capitol. His worst fear is that some other knot heads will come in packing long guns. He and his colleagues, even some who are former law enforcement, have decided they don't want to go through requirements to bear firearms or face the responsibility of even having to make a decision about using them. He is seriously concerned about the potential for issues related to firearms in the Capitol.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Lots of junk already on the list.

Can someone in the know give an estimate on how much it costs MT taxpayers per bill introduced? I seem to think it exceeds $1000 just to have it on the docket.

A cap would prevent all the junk bills

Last I knew it was between $6 & $10K to run a bill from start to finish depending on the hours worked by Legislative Services, etc. Not sure what it is with inflation these days. That doesn't account for the time of advocates, lobbyists and agency people working on it either.

 

[Nameless Range]

Though not necessarily about hunting and fishing issues, I thought this was an interesting podcast episode on what to expect. The guest ran and lost in the Republican primary for the Attorney General Office, is a resident of Clancy, MT, and a good guy.

Montana Politics – with Jon Bennion - Voices of Montana

The 2023 Montana legislative session will be unique in a number of ways. For one, there’s a large budget surplus, and two, there’s a super-majority of GOP members guiding the 90-day session. Given those two scenarios, is there anything in our past that could possibly tell us what to expect...

voicesofmontana.com

 

[Straight Arrow]

Though not necessarily about hunting and fishing issues, I thought this was an interesting podcast episode on what to expect. The guest ran and lost in the Republican primary for the Attorney General Office, is a resident of Clancy, MT, and a good guy.

Montana Politics – with Jon Bennion - Voices of Montana

The 2023 Montana legislative session will be unique in a number of ways. For one, there’s a large budget surplus, and two, there’s a super-majority of GOP members guiding the 90-day session. Given those two scenarios, is there anything in our past that could possibly tell us what to expect...

voicesofmontana.com

Please recap, as I'm not interesting in yet another subscription.

Don't know if he discussed this, but I am seriously concerned about Caleb Hinkle and other far right wing legislators desiring to revise the Montana Constitution, and in particular scratch the right to a clean and healthful environment!

 

[Nameless Range]

Please recap, as I'm not interesting in yet another subscription.

Don't know if he discussed this, but I am seriously concerned about Caleb Hinkle and other far right wing legislators desiring to revise the Montana Constitution, and in particular scratch the right to a clean and healthful environment!

Things are likely not as clean republicans have a supermajority, therefore the wacky shit will make it across the finish line. Most of the Constitutional amendments will not make it across the finish line. Redistricting that will be applied in 2024 will likely give democrats better positioning, so in the near future the most powerful republicans will likely be is right now. This is one of their chief motivations to push a "conservative" agenda this session as hard as they can. The last time we had this large of a budget surplus was 2007, and it was one of the most contentious sessions in history. He also spoke about those democrats in the minority needing to form relationships to get anything done.

There was more, but Jon knows what he is talking about, and you don't have to subscribe to listen.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Though not necessarily about hunting and fishing issues, I thought this was an interesting podcast episode on what to expect. The guest ran and lost in the Republican primary for the Attorney General Office, is a resident of Clancy, MT, and a good guy.

Montana Politics – with Jon Bennion - Voices of Montana

The 2023 Montana legislative session will be unique in a number of ways. For one, there’s a large budget surplus, and two, there’s a super-majority of GOP members guiding the 90-day session. Given those two scenarios, is there anything in our past that could possibly tell us what to expect...

voicesofmontana.com

Jon is an outstanding individual. Thanks for posting this.

 

[SAJ-99]

Anyone have an idea how this will affect permit availability (HB 146)? I can't find how many landowner permits were issued. It also looks like these are not limited to the landowner's property.

 

[Ben Lamb]

It's 15% of permits. Anything that's unsubscribed by this would go back to the general pool.

I think there's likely to be changes to this based on some conversations I've seen relative to concerns on how these are being utilized on the elk side.

 

[SAJ-99]

It's 15% of permits. Anything that's unsubscribed by this would go back to the general pool.

I think there's likely to be changes to this based on some conversations I've seen relative to concerns on how these are being utilized on the elk side.

I found the draw stats page, here https://myfwp.mt.gov/fwpPub/drawingStatistics

I struggle to find what the change is, although I can't really make sense of the numbers. If I follow the columns looking at QTA, Successful, and Total Success, it looks like MT gives out more than the Quota. For example, 338- 100 Quota, 15 Res LO success, 10 NR LO success. WTF, that's 25%?
I'm not exactly sure why the law was drawn up. I would like a law that says all Montana public employees have to take a 3rd grade math class.