Legislative Briefs - Week 15

Lawmakers Hear Testimony on a Bill that Would Increase Firefighters' Hazard Pay

Lawmakers are considering a bill to increase hazard pay for firefighters working on wildland fires for the Department of Natural Resources

Sen. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula, is sponsoring Senate Bill 402, which would increase firefighters' pay by 25 percent when actively working in dangerous environments and uncontrolled wildfires.

"Fighting wildland fires is an occupation that requires work in dangerous conditions. While fighting uncontrolled fires, firefighters are subjected to working in very hot conditions and can encounter situations that are of high risk. A quick change in weather or fuel conditions can cause significant changes in fire conditions," Curdy said. "This pay is just similar to overtime pay."

The bill passed the Senate 33-15 on March 30 with a 17-15 split vote between the Republican party and every Democratic senator voting in favor of it.

Curdy said the bill does not affect local fire department pay, and would not cause any additional funding to come out of local governments' pockets.

The bill would take $585,000 a year from 2024-2027 out of the state's fire fund to pay for the hazard pay.

Curdy said the bill does not require any extra appropriation because $100 million dollars is already allocated to the fire fund every two years.

SB 402 also gives the additional 25 percent pay to anyone working on helicopters during an active wildfire.

Rod Bullis, a former wildland firefighter, was one of two supporters of the bill at a public hearing in the House Natural Resources and Conservation last week, and said wildland firefighting is a profession that's more dangerous than people even realize, and no one is trying to "milk the pay."

"The word 'hazard' means something to us firefighters. It means that you all say our work is hazardous, and it's more so today with all the standing snags in the forest than it was when I started my career in '68," Bullis said. "Getting 25 percent more when it's not controlled and working on heli-bases, I'm asking you to support this. These firefighters are worth it."

Bullis said part of his job when fighting fires was deciding when a fire was hazardous or contained. He said he took that job very seriously and had to be able to show proof constantly when a fire was deemed hazardous, and said there is no real way to cheat the system in scenarios like these.

There was no opposition testimony at the bill's hearing. The committee didn't take immediate action on the bill.

Lawmakers Kill Bill that Would Allow Homeowners to Use Primary Residences as Short-Term Rentals

The Montana House of Representatives killed a bill last week that would have allowed a homeowners' primary residence to be used as short-term rentals unless they go against a homeowners association bylaws.

Sen. Greg Hertz, R-Polson, sponsored Senate Bill 268, which would have classified short-term rentals as a residential use of property in state law.

"There are times when our towns and cities have a once-a-year event, as we do in Great Falls. We have a big huge auction, and it's just an opportunity for that one time a year for someone to open up their home or a small piece of their property to use that weekend to help with the demand of housing that comes in from people all over the world," Rep. Lola Sheldon-Galloway, R-Great Falls, who was carrying the bill in the House, said. "I'm sure every town in Montana has some special day like that, that will bring tourism."

The bill passed the Senate with a nearly party-line vote of 31-19 on March 2, and then pushed through the House Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote of 13-6 on April 6. SB 268 couldn't escape the House as 41 Republicans joined all 32 Democrats on the floor to vote the bill down during second reading 27-73 on April 12.

There were no representatives who spoke in favor of the bill during the floor discussion.

Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda, spoke against the bill during the floor discussion, and said short-term rentals can cause immense problems for residents. He said even though he understands the value of short-term rentals to pay a homeowner's mortgages or bills, the problems they can cause other residents is not worth the price tag for communities.

"I live right in the dead center of a cross, in which all points of the compass are short-term rentals. There's one immediately next door, there's one to the West of me that skips a lot. One to the East, one to the West. Most of the time they don't cause any problem whatsoever, but it's the 2-100 rule: 2 percent of the people cause 100 percent of the problems and sometimes the problems are immense," Fitzpatrick said. "We have the hunters who like to party until three o'clock in the morning, and we have the wedding receptions that you can hear five miles away."

Fitzpatrick said the main problem with the bill is that it makes short-term rentals the dominant land use in a residential area, and there would be no legal capacity to restrict these except through zoning regulations.

Senate Passes Bill that Aims to Create Infant Safety and Care Act

The Montana Senate amended and then passed a bill last week that seeks to create the Infant Safety and Care Act, which would protect born-alive infants who have developed enough to survive, and provide comfort care for those who are not likely to survive.

"Infants who survive abortions deserve medically appropriate care and treatment. House Bill 625 does not prevent parents from holding their baby when death is imminent. Parents deserve to share those precious moments with their child," Sen. Keith Regier, R-Kalispell, who is carrying the bill in the Senate, said.

Regier said the bill prohibits children from being taken away from parents unless medical care is absolutely necessary to save the life of the baby. He said that clause was added to clear up concerns from LR-131 that was on the ballot during the last election cycle that was nearly identical to HB 625. That initiative was voted down by 53 percent of voters.

"Every physician, medical provider has taken the oath to do no harm. This bill holds medical providers accountable to that oath by requiring them to provide life-saving care to a born-alive infant, as they would provide to the mother," Regier said.

The bill passed the House on a party-line vote of 66-32 on March 3, and was transferred over to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill passed a third reading vote in the Senate 30-18, but was transferred back to the House due to an amendment added in the committee. The House must accept or decline the amendment before the bill can move any further in the legislative process.

The amendment added the additional clause Regier spoke about to clear up concerns voters and medical professionals previously had about prior legislation that aimed to tackle the same issue.

No Senators spoke in support of the bill during the floor discussion.

Sen. Susan Webber, D-Browning, spoke against the bill during the Senate debate. She shared the history of Indigenous peoples' rights in Montana, citing 1924 when Native Americans got the right to vote. In 1962 they got the right to vote in the state, and in 2015 Indigenous women were classified as people. She said now in 2023 people are trying to take away their rights to control their bodies.

"Today is abortion day, no matter how you package it. It's still an attack on the freedom of women to control their bodies," Webber said.

Sen. Denise Hayman, D-Bozeman, also spoke in "strong" opposition to the bill and said 23,000 Montanans were opposed to this policy in the last election cycle.

"Anti-abortion activists are trying to enact by statute what Montanans already rejected through voting. The people of Montana have already spoken. We already have state and federal laws that require exactly what House Bill 625 is trying to triplicate," Hayman said.

The bill will have to be confirmed by the House again before being sent to the governor's desk.

House Confirms Bill that Establishes Guidelines to Begin Delisting the Grizzly Bear

A bill that sets up rules and guidelines Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks must follow to establish the state's viability of managing grizzly bears following removal from the endangered species list is on its way to the governor's desk.

Sen. Bruce Gillespie, R-Ethridge, is sponsoring Senate Bill 295, which sets up several guidelines and rules for FWP, from monitoring mortality rates of grizzly bears to allowing livestock owners or authorized personnel to use nonlethal preventive measures when bears are attacking livestock.

"It will be better for the grizzly bears and better for Montana. It takes into account some of the ranchers' needs and concerns, but it also deals with those wanting to protect the grizzly bears. It takes in some rules on how you can manage a problem grizzly bear," Denley Loge, R-St. Regis, who is carrying the bill in the House, said. "The bill does a lot. It's quite controversial, but it's one of the good things for Montana to take over that management and also takes into account the management for the ranchers."

Loge said the bill offers the ability for grizzly bears to be moved away from properties and livestock if they are causing concerns within an area.

SB 295 was passed by the Senate on a party-line vote 35-15 on Feb. 28, and later passed by the House 73-27 on April 13.

The bill makes it so the Fish and Wildlife Commission has to set up a mortality quota for the grizzly bear before delisting, to make sure numbers don't fall into endangered species territory again.

Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred, spoke in support of the bill during the floor discussion, and said it's time the state consider ranchers and how their livelihood is being affected by rogue grizzly bears. He said something needs to be done about this problem now before it affects any more Montana ranchers in the state.

"This isn't a debating session on how cute the bear is. The bear is a problem, and they go transfer bears and they travel hundreds of miles and they come back to their original range. So, the rest of this is a bunch of happy talk from people who don't have any stake in the game. The people that are out there raising their livelihood, it's their livelihood that we're talking about," Butcher said.

Rep. Tom France, D-Missoula, spoke against the bill during the floor discussion, and said while the bill is a solid foundation, and several efforts were made to get opponents of the bill in-line with management, FWP was not willing to budge on managing grizzly bears with their priorities in mind instead of taking into consideration conservation groups' ideas for management following delisting.

"I sat down with those groups (opposing conservation groups), with the senator, to try and see whether we could bridge those differences of opinion, honest differences of opinion, and for the most part we were able to get there. The odd part of the equation that was outside of that discussion was the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and they continue to want to retain their autonomy to make decisions that are based on, really I think, their priorities, less the priorities of conservationists like hunters and farmers," France said.

France said there is more work to be done and the finished product isn't ready yet to become law.

Marijuana Revenue Might Have Found its First Home in the State

The House Taxation Committee listened to testimony Saturday on a bill that would allocate the marijuana tax revenue money to six different areas.

Sen. Mike Lang, R-Malta, is sponsoring Senate Bill 442, which would allocate $50 million of marijuana tax revenue to six different state accounts per year, and includes the creation and maintenance of more county roads to provide greater access to public lands across Montana.

"This is kind of a once-in-a-generation bill. In my tenure as a legislator I've always tried to bridge a gap between things, and agriculture and hunting and access. This bill does that. This bill began as an access to get more access," Lang said.

The bill also creates a new fund in the state called the Habitat Legacy Account. The account sets up a flow of money that would send 75 percent to the Habitat Montana program, and the remaining 25 percent to Habitat Montana projects and legacy wildlife habitat improvement projects.

The six allocations include:

● 4 percent to parks, trails and nongame wildlife efforts.

● 20 percent to county road maintenance and creation.

● 20 percent to the newly established habitat legacy account.

● 5 percent funds tax relief for veterans and surviving spouses.

● 11 percent goes to the Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) fund.

● The remaining 38 percent goes to Montanas general fund, which essentially is the state's checkbook.

The bill passed the Senate 49-1 on April 4 and was transferred to the House for consideration.

Alan Olson, executive director of the Montana Petroleum Association, was one of 45 supporters of the bill at the hearing. He said the association stands in strong support of the bill because it would help maintain habitats for migrating animals, which has been a big concern.

"I suppose all of you are wondering why I'm getting up here on two green clean bills in a row, but we have been long-time supporters of the Montana sage-grouse program. That is very important to our industry. County road health is very important to our industry as we use those county roads all the time," Olson said. "This bill will go a long way to restore some of this habitat, and then that's one less thing that we have to worry about."

Sen. Russ Tempel, R-Chester, also testified in support of the bill, and shared a story of how he was able to go home for Easter and make it back to the Legislature because of county roads. He said it's critical to put money into maintaining roads so residents can traverse across the state freely.

All 45 supporters echoed sentiments that this is a way to keep public access open to all Montanans, and said it helps create a solid foundation for maintaining all of the state's heritages from agriculture and hunting, to the conservation of wildlife.

Dustin Temple, the director of Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, was the single opponent to SB 442. He said the department has one issue with the bill, and that comes from a line that states "the department shall adopt rules, and the changes as proposed by the council."

"This would represent a loss of control to the department. Anytime we see a piece of legislation that could impact the department's ability to receive federal funding, you will see us at the podium in opposition to that," Temple said.

Temple said the department works very closely with federal oversight, and only receives a single appropriation from the state legislature. He said that most of their funding comes federally, and this bill would cause major concerns and possible defunding if enacted.

Caven Wade is a student reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association, the Montana Newspaper Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. He can be reached at [email protected].