Montana Legislature - 2019

[Schaaf]

And now “small government” legislators introduce bills increasing the amount of bureaucratic oversight on Habitat Montana funding. One being a neighbor to the Horse Creek Easement.

https://helenair.com/news/state-and...ampaign=LEEDCC#tracking-source=home-top-story

 

[Ben Lamb]

Folks,

We've heard from several committee members that they've recieved upwards of 1000 emails & phone calls per legislator on HB 161.

Two things.

1.) that's a fantastic turnout - you guys are awesome!

2.) Let's pull back on the throttle and give the committee a little time to process that much information. We should see executive action on the bill next week. If it does come out of committee, then we can go full throttle again.

Thanks - Hunt Talk always produces big results.

On to other bad bills, and some good ones.

 

[HSi-ESi]

The big unifier.

https://missoulian.com/news/local/bill-limiting-fwp-to-science-crashes-against-public-opinion/article_5f806b71-e7eb-5e7c-9062-4faba4dcd3a4.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2

Ben Lamb with the quotes as well.

 

[Ben Lamb]

HB 161 is still sitting in committee. The chair wants some more information and discussion on the bill before they take executive action.

Some wolf bills up tomorrow. HB 279 would allow for reimbursement of expenses for wolf trapping (I'm not a fan of this, as it's close to a bounty on wolves) and HB 280 would allow for a free wolf license on the sportsmen package. There will be an amendment on this to eliminate the free part, as it would blow a maasive hole in FWP's wolf management account. The amendment will add wolf to sportsmen's for $10. I think this one is a pretty good bill.

Senate Fish & Game is finally back on track after not meeting for 2 weeks. SB 127 would prohibit the sale of wildlife information (GPS coordinates, etc), SB 44 makes the conservation license a stand alone license, and SB144 moves the date of sale for the 2,000 sponsored NR combo licenses to April 1 rather than March 15.

 

[TheTone]

Ben, would 279 allow for citizens or sportsmans group to offer the reimbursement or FWP? I'm guessing its to allow for similar reimbursement as an Idaho group is doing. Based on my experience its kind of a non issue but does help out a few guys with lots of time to run trap lines.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Ben, would 279 allow for citizens or sportsmans group to offer the reimbursement or FWP? I'm guessing its to allow for similar reimbursement as an Idaho group is doing. Based on my experience its kind of a non issue but does help out a few guys with lots of time to run trap lines.

It's the same group trying to do it in MT. The bill language is problematic as it tries to insert a poorly defined version of ethics into statute, and there is a concern from many that this is just an end run around bounties. If this group wanted to give grants to trappers up front to purchase equipment, etc, then I'd have no problems with it, but requiring the carcass or hide of a wolf is being paid to kill wildlife, and that's not really sticking to the North American model.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Update from the Capitol:

Big day on action for bills yesterday with some good ones moving forward, and some bad ones as well.

1.) SB 127 was passed out of Senate Fish & Game last night. This bill prohibits the selling of coordinates for wildlife.

2.) SB 174, the crossbow during archery season bill passed out of committee as well.

3.) HB 161, the very contentious bill that would have allowed you to comment on FWP decisions, but not allowed for the comment to matter, died in committee on a 9-9 vote, with Rep. Joel Krautter of Sidney as the only Republican voting against the bill.

4.) HB 265, the anti-Habitat Montana bill by Rep. Kerry White, passed out of committee last night as well. This bill was opposed by over 12 sportsmen's organizations as well as the Stensons from Wibaux, who were held hostage by the land board for almost a year before Governor Bullock took action to pass the easement and reduce the political shenanigans that were being played on conservation easements.

5.) SB 24, which would add $3 to the state parks opt-out fee, passed second reading in the Senate yesterday as well. This bill would increase funding for state parks, fishing access sites, motorized trails and quiet use trails. Senator Terry Gauthier (R-Helena) is sponsoring this bill, which has had a rocky road. It was tabled in Senate Fish & Game and then blasted to the floor on Friday, to pass second reading 3-19.

Big day on Thursday with woofs and grizzlies and bison all having big hearings. Lots of wolf bills moving forward as well, with three of them being decent, while the rest, not so much. HB 280, 281 & 407 are all decent bills that would increase license sales by lowering the cost of the wolf license, adding them for a discount to the sportsmen's license, and the B-10 & B-11 Nonresident combo's for 1/2 price. HB 279 sets up a bounty program and HB 291 would allow you to give money to FWP or DOL who would then turn around and give it to Wildlife Services - so if you want to hand over your dollars to the fed, rather than buy a wolf tag, here's your chance.

SJ6 would send a message that the Legislature doesn't understand the ESA and, if enacted by the USFWS, would result in perpetual listing until we fill the Cabinet-Yaak and Bitterroot with griz, while at the same time, asking a democratic House to violate the ESA.

Never a dull moment in Montana's Legislature.

 

[Ben Lamb]

The session is winding down, and sportsmen's issues are dwindling down to the final few bills.

The Good:

HB2: The budget includes significant investments in FWP's ability to manage wildlife, update old & worn out equipment as well as increase personnel in key areas such as grizzly bear conflict managers, wolf specialists, elk/deer planners and other FTE's. The budget also restores better warden funding that the past budget, which cratered enforcement and made our wardens do a lot of fence fixing & bird counts rather than focus on enforcing game law. New construction projects in Glasgow, Lewistown, Missoula and a few other places will occur to improve meeting facilities across Montana, and Fisheries had their budget restored. Parks fared well as well.

DNRC gets a lot of increased personnel for the Good Neighbor Authority, which will help improve forest health on public lands. DNRC's access specialist is moving from a temporary position to a permanent one which is fantastic. We've been trying to do this for a couple of years, and finally were able to get an amendment on the budget to do so. This amendment was stripped in the House, but added back again by the Senate, and we expect it to stay.

HB 5: This bill contains Habitat Montana, Governor's Tags funding, Future Fisheries, Upland Game Bird Enhancement Program and a few other habitat programs, as well as other capitol expenditures. It just cleared Senate Finance and Claims, and should be approved by the full senate this week or early next week.

HB 10: This bill contains $10 million for a new ALS website. The current ALS site is 20 years old and is need of scrapping. The new site should be mobile friendly, much better interface, and easier to use as well as not crashing every-time there is a draw. That bill is still in Senate Finance and Claims, but looks good right now.

SB 341: This bill sets up a new program to try and increase access to landlocked public land through short -term agreements between landowners and FWP. The agreements are capped at $15K, just like Block Management and will be negotiated between FWP/DNRC's Access Specialist and the landowner, with PL/PW looking over the agreements and the final decision resting with the Director of FWP.

The Bad:

HB 550: This would have made it harder to prove what roads had been using gas tax monies to maintenance, which help establish provenance on what roads are public and what roads are not. We were able to kill it on the Senate Floor after massive action from a number of groups (MWF, BHA, MSA, EMWH, PLWA, etc). The bill cleared the House easily, and it looked like it was destined for passage. The sheer volume of folks speaking up was impressive, and led to it's ultimate demise.

HB 265: Passed the Legislature, headed to the Governor's office. This bill re-injects politics back in to Habitat Montana Conservation easements after the Governor went to the Supreme Court to decrease the amount of politics going on with the program. Every sporting organization in the state opposed this bil, including RMEF, MWF, MTWSF, MDF, DU, PF, NWTF, TRCP, MTBHA, WSF, MBA, MSA, MTTU, and a bunch more I'm sure I'm forgetting.

HJ 18: This is the shoulder season resolution that calls for a war on elk for 6 months out of the year regardless of where they are, or what the population objective or trend looks like. It was amended to be slightly better, but then that doesn't mean it was worth supporting. Amendments stripped out part hunting and added a directive to have fwp publish a list of landowners who are participating, as well as an amendment calling to open shoulder seasons to public land. The Legislature's inability to listen to sportsmen was quite evident with this bill, as the public record shows.

HB 132: The bill that would turn all bison into livestock, even YNP bison, cleared the legislature and is headed to the Governor's desk. This bill was brought by the Montana Association of Counties, in the hopes that they could keep wild bison from ever being established anywhere in the state.

HB 332: This bill would give county commissioners veto authority on bison translocation, upending over 100 years of wildlife management policies and programs in favor of the black-helicopter approach to wildlife conservation. This bill has been vetoed three times before. In 2011, Governor Schweitzer gave it the branding iron, and then in 2013 & 2015, Governor Bullock vetoed the bill.

HB 161: This bill would have taken the public out of public wildlife by disallowing FWP from using public comment on a variety of management decisions related to elk, deer, pronghorn, bear, wolves, etc. The bill died in committee, barely.

SB 174: Crossbows! This would have allowed crossbows to be used by people over 70 or who were disabled. It was killed on the Senate floor.

HB 752: This bill would have forced FWP to spend millions on predator eradication programs to try and save sage grouse rather than invest in habitat conservation, which actually helps keep the bird off of the ESA. It was tabled quickly.


The Ugly:

SB 301: This is a bill that MWF has been trying to get passed for a decade or more. It would have made it much more difficult to illegally gate county roads and would have given county attorneys and commissions much better tools to ensure roads that are public stay open. The bill sailed through the Senate with a 45-5 vote, but was tabled in House Judiciary - a kill committee.

SB 224: This bill would have increased the fine for illegally gating a county road from $10 per day to $80, based on inflationary rates. The bill was widely supported by County Attorneys, County Commissioners and the MT Association of Counties, but was sent to House Judiciary in order to die as well.

SB 127 - a great bill to make it illegal to sell wildlife GPS data for specific animals cleared the senate, only to be killed in the House FWP committee.

SB 349 - This was a companion bill to SB 127 and it too was summarily killed in House FWP.

HB 760: This study bill would have set up an interim discussion about modernizing travel on State Trust Lands by focusing on how to make the GIS/CADASTRAL overlay for state trust roads match other road designations/closures. The bill was supported by Ag, Motorized users, quiet recreation & sporting organizations. It was heard, then executed in House Natural Resources.


There is a lot more of the session to go. While we're winding down and expect to be out in 2 weeks or so, it's important to note that there are still a lot of games being played with the access bills, the budget and other priorities for hunters, anglers and conservationists. Fish & Wildlife Commission appointments happen tomorrow, as well as action on about 1 dozen bills that need to move or will end up dying.

 

[Ben Lamb]

If folks want to ask the Governor to veto HB 265, the anti-Habitat Montana bill, you can do so through this link: https://secure.everyaction.com/0rOe...4_SU_D_iOHM4CnvbpHxxz9DumLDErrKiXyKtGk-qgTHBI

 

[Irrelevant]

WTF is wrong with Montanans. Ben, how many, if any, are you expecting the governor to veto?

 

[bigsky2]

Thanks for the update.

 

[MTGomer]

WTF is wrong with Montanans. Ben, how many, if any, are you expecting the governor to veto?

I often wonder that. Most of the republican reps are f’ing nuts. Or just not very intelligent.
The democrats for a long time have been a voice of reason, (Schweitzer and Bullock for example) but as Missoula and Bozeman turns into little Portland they are slowly turning from the blue collar union worker from Butte type of Democrat my parents used to be to Socialist, anti gun, race baiting social justice warrior California democrats, just like national democrats.
These people win primaries and lose elections, not surprisingly. That leaves us with what we have.

The next governor will hopefully be the current AG Tim Fox - R and he’s a pretty good guy.
Democrats will probably select a socialist 27 year old or a burnt out hippy musician that is tax delinquent and can’t put together a coherent sentence, or maybe just a California transplant running on gun control, then spend 6 years trying to figure out how they lost to the moderate, well liked, highly accomplished attorney general.

 

[Straight Arrow]

"WTF is wrong with Montanans?" Neffa, that is a dang good question. Last century my dad and uncles, as well as most ranchers, were conservative Republican businessmen, but also hunters, fishermen, wildlife advocates, and supporters of Montana's outdoors. I question the upbringing and backgrounds of the Republican leadership in Montana, but it seems their ideology has no support for the sportsmen & women, wildlife, and special wild places ... UNLESS it means gaining the almighty dollar and following policies lockstep with the party.
The ideology was reflected by Sen Fred Thomas, Montana Senate majority leader, when he responded to my message to the senate opposing HB 265. Sen Thomas strongly asserted that the bill is not partisan and his semantics seemed to me more of an attempt to convince himself than to answer to me as a citizen. It makes me sick to witness either political party become so entrenched and partisan self serving, void of the greater pride and love of Montana and it's special people, wildlife and places.

 

[Nameless Range]

The next governor will hopefully be the current AG Tim Fox - R and he’s a pretty good guy.
Democrats will probably select a socialist 27 year old or a burnt out hippy musician that is tax delinquent and can’t put together a coherent sentence, or maybe just a California transplant running on gun control, then spend 6 years trying to figure out how they lost to the moderate, well liked, highly accomplished attorney general.

I agree that Tim Fox is moderate and a good man, but how many of those terrible bills that Schweitzer and Bullock have vetoed over that past 14 years do you think Tim Fox would have vetoed? That's a rhetorical question I don't have the answer to. The legislature will always be republican for the forseeable future, and that is why the firewall of a democratic governor is so necessary. Even if they are wacky, they will be balanced out and will never get their way in MT. On a side note, I already see the right side of the republican party in Montana trying to paint Fox as a RINO, unable to pass their extreme purity test.

Ben, I very much appreciate your updates. They have been more informative than the local news coverage on a lot of these issues..

 

[Ben Lamb]

WTF is wrong with Montanans. Ben, how many, if any, are you expecting the governor to veto?

We have requests in on three bills:

HB 132: Makes all bison, in using YNP & National Bison range buffalo domestics.

HB332: Gives county.commissioners the authority to veto bison translocation.

HB 265: Anti-Habitat Montana.

We've been able to kill a lot of the bad bills and we've been able to work enough of them to get them to a better place.

It does bear everyone's attention that after 16 years of having the governor's office as a backstop, that is likely to be gone next session.

 

[Irrelevant]

So the elk situation (HB 18) population is only headed further down?

 

[Sytes]

Ben, I very much appreciate your updates. They have been more informative than the local news coverage on a lot of these issues..

Ditto.
On occasions, we're not eye to eye though I very much appreciate your time taken to express your thoughts on needed issues. AND for your discussion capable of other opinions.

The most destructive position are those with info that are so damn condescending that it turns off people from further interest in what they share.

Cheers Ben. Thanks. Always a value via public posts, pm or messenger. Thanks for your time.

 

[Ben Lamb]

So the elk situation (HB 18) population is only headed further down?

It's passed both Chambers. Resolutions don't go to the governor.

 

[Straight Arrow]

It's passed both Chambers. Resolutions don't go to the governor.

My concern is that HR 18, a joint resolution being considered then passed by both chambers, will end up at FWP as an agency, then Fish & Game Commission as a board under legislative oversight, not as "ideas" for elk management as couched by Wylie Galt ... but as legislative MANDATES which require FWP policy changes and aggressive actions, in my opinion, not in the best interests of elk management.

 

[Schaaf]

My concern is that HR 18, a joint resolution being considered then passed by both chambers, will end up at FWP as an agency, then Fish & Game Commission as a board under legislative oversight, not as "ideas" for elk management as couched by Wylie Galt ... but as legislative MANDATES which require FWP policy changes and aggressive actions, in my opinion, not in the best interests of elk management.

Yep. This is intimidation from the Legislature to FWP and I can't name a time that FWP has stood up to the Legislature.