MBA at the Legislature
The 2001 legislative session seemed to have fewer hunting and wildlife related bills than the session two years ago but there were still several pieces of important legislation that the MBA took an active interest in. Members of the MBA legislative committee testified at several of the House and Senate committee hearings to make known the MBA's support or opposition of various bills. Thanks to all who provided direct inputs to the individual legislators in support of the MBA's position on proposed legislation. Those members on the MBA e-mail list who made inputs are especially appreciated as communicating via the internet provided the ability to effectively respond to rapidly changing legislative events.
The MBA interacted with the following bills during the 2001 legislative session:
HB 264 - Hunting heritage bill. MBA SUPPORTED. This was a constitutional amendment recognizing and preserving the heritage of Montana citizens to harvest wild fish and game. If passed this legislation would go to the voters of the state in November 2002. Unfortunately this bill was tabled by the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee. This is not to say that the House FWP Committee did not like the bill because they definitely supported the intent. But because it was a constitutional amendment the wording of the proposed legislation caused a great deal of concern for possible negative implications later on. The committee invested a large amount of time and effort into trying to amend the legislation to insure that it would accomplish what was intended but the bill was ultimately tabled.
HB 258 - Shooting range development grants. MBA OPPOSED. When the bill was first introduced. This legislation initially proposed to set aside 5 bighorn sheep, 5 mountain goat, 10 moose and 30 non-resident big game licenses to be auctioned off with the monies going to enhance shooting ranges. The MBA opposed this bill as any set aside tags takes away the public's ability to obtain those tags. Other funding sources are available for shooting ranges. The House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee amended the bill and removed all mention of auctioning the tags. The funds will be obtained from a reserve FWP account to fund shooting ranges. In light of the amendment the MBA was no longer opposed to the bill. HB 264 with the amendments was passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Martz.
HB 305 - Alternative livestock bonding. MBA SUPPORTED. This would require game farmers to be liable for the expenses incurred by game farm operations that are presently being paid by Fish, Wildlife and Parks (sportsman's dollars). The proposed legislation would have required bonding for game farms on a per animal and acreage basis - $325 per animal and $325 per acre. This was the amount spent on the Kessler game farm (divided by the number of animals and acres on the ranch) where Chronic Wasting Disease was discovered and where 80 game farm elk had to be destroyed and disposed of. This bill was ultimately tabled by the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks Committee. It was felt that the proposed bonding would have resulted in an excessive financial burden on the game farm industry.
HB 185 - Removes the sunset clause or termination date of the $25 youth combination big game conservation license, i.e. it provides for continuation as is currently in effect. MBA SUPPORTED. There was widespread support for this bill and it passed easily.
SB 285 - Hunting access enhancement. MBA SUPPORTED. This legislation was brought forth by the Private Land/Public Wildlife Advisory Council and created a hunting access fee of $2 for residents and $10 for non-residents. The new revenue (estimated at approximately $800,000 annually) will be set aside for hunting access enhancement initiatives including the Block Management Program. The bill also increases from $8,000 to $12,000 the maximum incentive amount that may be paid to individual landowners participating in the Block Management Program. SB 285 was passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor.
HB 554 - Increase non-resident hunting and fishing license fees. MBA SUPPORTED. This bill was brought forth at FWP's request to bring non-resident fees closer to what the average of the western states charge for similar licenses. The legislation is expected to generate approximately $4 million in additional revenue annually. The $478 currently charged for non-resident moose, sheep and goat licenses is well below the average of other western states as those averages are $1,210 for moose, $1,264 for goat, and $1,393 for sheep. No state charges less than $1,000 for those licenses. HB 554 originally proposed $1,000 for each of those license fees but, as amended, the Legislature passed the bill with non-resident moose, sheep and goat licenses to sell for $750 each. Other non-resident license fees affected by the bill include: antelope $150 to $200, black bear $120 to $350, turkey $13 to $105, Deer A $125 to $250, Deer combo $245 to $325, and deer/elk combo $475 to $625. HB 554 was passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Martz.
SB 353 - Non-resident licenses to landowners to sell. MBA OPPOSED. This piece of proposed legislation is a good example of why it is important for sporstmens' groups such as the MBA to actively participate in the legislative process so our hunting and fishing can be protected from ill-conceived bills such as SB 353. This legislation would have provided for landowners to purchase a certain number of big game and upland bird licenses from FWP at 25 percent of market value and then sell them to whoever they chose, presumably to the highest bidder. This would have cost FWP well over $1 million annually in lost revenue due to the discount priced licenses going to landowners to sell as private license agents. Several provisions of this bill were totally contrary to proven wildlife management principles and would have basically instituted a European style of hunting where only the wealthy have access to private land. This bill saw extremely heavy opposition at its Senate Fish and Game Committee hearing and it was tabled by that committee.
