Friday March 10 (Week 10)
Back to Helena after just finishing Transmittal Break … when all the Senate Bills move to the House and all the House Bills move to the Senate. I was home for a few days and did a couple of important things when I was there. I stopped in to see our new Sherriff, Brandon Kelm, and had a great visit. There is always a lot of legislation that affects his office. I don’t know why I was surprised, but Sherriff Kelm was well aware of what’s going on in Helena. He spoke of a bill that allows more compensation for state inmates that are being held in local jails. It looks like Sherriff Kelm has adjusted well to his new job and gets an a+ for doing his homework.
I also thought it was important to visit our County Commissioners, Jason Strouf, Jeff Faycoch, and Kevin Krausz. We had a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 8th at 8am and had the best visit. My first question was … are we being recorded or videoed? LOL!! They assured me the answer was “no”. I told them we can really visit now, totally kidding!! All of us are aware that in Helena they have cameras and microphones everyplace. Our conversation that day centered around legislation that they either favored or did not favor, and I shared how I try very hard to pay attention to the people who put me here. I asked for their opinions on how they wanted the votes to go, and usually agreed with them. Occasionally, we sided with the minority party on a few issues. In my opinion, that’s what local representation should look like. Below are some press releases by my good friend, Representative Ed Butcher. I have used these with his permission. Hands down, the best thing about my job as a Representative is the people I’ve met and work with on a daily basis. It’s been a great experience for both Alice and I. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be over here, representing all of you, in this great state of Montana!!
FROM THE DESK—Sen. Ed Butcher (Ret)—462-5615—2-27-2023
The State of the Montana Legislature
I was totally surprised when Governor Gianforte sent his chief aid and his Fish and Game top administrators to fervently testify in opposition to bills supporting trapping and snaring wolves and the use of dogs to hunt lions and black bears in Western Montana where the wolf numbers are more than “endangered species” recognized recovery numbers. A major campaign issue during his gubernatorial campaign was emphasizing his support for hunters with pictures of him and his wife hunting. The long lists of opponents were comprised largely of arrogant radical environmentalist anti-hunting opponents who kept the committee in session until 8:30 pm.
Hunters from Western Montana testified to the destruction of elk herds from these large numbers of wolves (there weren’t ranchers testifying on domestic livestock losses). What made the discussion interesting is that the sponsor of these three bills is Rep. Paul Fielder, who is a retired wildlife biologist living and working in the target area for years, and who is as qualified an expert as Governor Gianforte’s Fish and Game Biologists.
The biggest argument by Fish and Game biologists was that snares were dangerous for the endangered Grizzly bears, but when I questioned the F & G biologist how many bears have been caught in snares, he had to admit that no bears have been caught (in snares) where they are used.
HB 548 would increase penalties for repeat trespassing and added shed horn hunting as a trespass violation since a shed elk horn can be worth as much as $300. Alan Weaver, from the Bear Paw Mountains, detailed the problems he must deal with in written testimony, calling for a strong deterrent.
HB 419 requires judges to require a bond to be posted for a minimum of at least $50,000 when political activists file a court injunction to stop a legal activity or business operation. If the defendant faces losses greater than $50,000, this would be used to cover damages if the plaintive is not successful in his legal action.
The House voted to ban the use of “rank choice voting”, a confusing voting system that is used in several states. Alaska uses this system, and the least popular senate candidate eventually was declared the winner.
The fines for passing a stopped school bus loading children has been raised to $500-$1,000 first offense (plus community service), second offense fine $1,000 to $2,000, and third offense fines increased from $3,000 to $5,000 plus imprisonment for not less than 30 days. This is a serious situation which needs to be addressed.
Sen. Ed Butcher (Ret) is a Central Montana rancher/businessman and former college political history professor who served for 10 years in the Montana legislature in leadership positions and has been currently appointed to represent HD 29.
FROM THE DESK—Sen. Ed Butcher (Ret)—462-5615—3-6-2023
The State of the Montana Legislature
A highly discussed Legislation to require all elections, including school bond issues and city elections, to be held on either primary or general election dates, has come before the Montana Legislature. It is considered important for increasing voter turnout for those local elections which are generally held at odd times when many voters do not participate. Predictively this election reform has generated opposition from special interest groups. The opposition is led by the state association of Clerks and Recorders who have claimed it would create extra work and difficulties. (I want to emphasize I am not criticizing our local Clerk and Recorder and she has not publicly expressed concerns with aspects of the proposal!)
Combining elections has always been strongly opposed by the educational bureaucracy, which has been able, through the present election process, to continue driving up taxes on local property owners. Through an election process, which often has small voter turnouts, the people who pay most of the property tax are outvoted by those special interest groups with “little skin in the game!” Property taxes, technically, are to support local government, although the majority of our property taxes go for education.
Combining elections would require the Secretary of State (in charge of elections) to consult with and assist the county Clerk and Recorders, in the different sized counties, to structure this proposed new election system. Based on my historian and political scientist background, I do not believe there are fundamental difficulties in combining the different elections every two years. There would need to be two ballots—one for state and national elections and a second one for county, city, schools, and local special elections—generally for various bond issues. I would begin with structuring the special election districts (such as fire districts, etc.) within high school districts, which probably would require some boundary changes. The elected positions that currently have 1- or 3-year terms, would all need to be changed to 2-year, 4-year, or 6-year terms to fit the election cycle—no big deal.
Keep in mind that all local government bodies (including county and city governing bodies), are created by the State government and state legislatures establish their rules of operation in all states under our Federal Constitution. Ensuring that our election process is free of fraud and manipulation, with the greatest voter participation, is the obligation of the state government.
Sen. Ed Butcher (Ret) is a Central Montana rancher/businessman and former college political history professor who served for 10 years in the Montana legislature in leadership positions.
9 am and Madam Chair gavels the Judiciary Committee into the “start” mode after a few days off. We hear 2 Senate Bills and the 1st one stated that if a city or county files a suit, but it is a local code violation, (not a state code violation), the state will no longer pay the public defender bill. It was very strange to me that there was no data available on how much this costs the state. I personally would never carry a bill like this because you don’t know if it would affect one person or a hundred. It looks like a huge disconnect, to this freshman legislator.
2nd bill would allow law enforcement to purchase mouth swabs to detect THC, the chemical in marijuana. An easy “yes” for me on this bill.
House floor action at 1pm. I don’t know if all of the legislators feel like this, but I love to watch the action on the floor. There is a lot at stake and many times, emotions run high and the debate is usually lively. For example, today we debated HB380 on the floor, a grant program to help the homeless. Representative Jane Gillette rose to speak. She always does her homework and said, “we already spend millions and millions on this segment of our society. How about an item-by-item assessment”? Representative Neil Duram pressed his “speak” button and commented that as a Highway Patrolman, he has had a lot of dealings with the “homeless” and likened the spending to the movie “Field of Dreams” … Build it and they will come. Representative Duram recommended that we do not build it, so to speak. Representative Tanner Smith then made what I think was the best remark, “Let’s use the money to buy bus tickets.” After all that lively debate, the bill still passed. I pushed the red button but to no avail … 57 “yes”, 33 “no”. I wish I could articulate myself better, but perhaps, right now, it’s OK to be the quiet guy in the corner and vote as right as I can.
HB355 creates an infrastructure partnership. Our County Commissioners wanted support on this, so it was a “yes” vote for me. They are a text away and answers are easy to get, so I try hard to represent the folks in Miles City. That is my job and I work for you.
HB 352 is an education bill to target 3rd graders that can’t read well. Representative Brad Barker, out of Red Lodge, did a great bill presentation. “Kids learn to read till grade 3, then they read to learn”. A great quote. The average reading level in the State Penitentiary is 4th grade. In spite of the great bill presentation, I will still vote “no” on 3rd reading, as this would be almost $16,000 per student! They don’t need more! My grandson goes to Sacred Heart Catholic School in Miles City, after a not so great public school experience. He is absolutely flourishing under the tutelage of Mrs. Stanley, who the public school would have forced to retire, let’s just say, a while ago. It is exciting for me to see my Grandson absolutely LOVE school. It’s hard to put into words, but what a difference a teacher can make.
We passed 2 Charter School bills last week that were of interest to me. Competition absolutely makes you perform better, in everything. I will keep an eye on these 2 bills as they move through the Senate. My idea of a charter school bill should include the following: dollars that follow the student, an independent school board, a free choice of school curriculum, and allow noncertified teachers to teach. During the floor debate Representative Terry Falk told how his kids all graduated from a private school in Kalispell with mostly non-certified teachers. The music teacher was a concert pianist, math teacher an engineer and so on. SAT scores and ACT scores were much higher than the public-school average. What is wrong with that??
Saturday March 11 (Week 10)
8 am floor session and we adjourned at 9:30. It was a very short day with everything we need to get done, but it seems we are still in the wait mode. Many of the bills are buried in appropriations and they have to organize the Senate Bills that are headed for the House Committees, so it is a slow start after transmittal, but the pace will pick up fast. Because of the short day for us here,the railroad invited the whole Capitol workforce and all legislators on a train ride. I went and it was way fun. We went west, almost to Avon, over 2 long trestles and thru a long tunnel. So beautiful with the huge dump of spring snow the last few days.
****If any are interested, you can go to MTFP (Montana Free Press) and read the House and Senate Transmittal Packets … very informative. They also have a 2023 Capitol Tracker that follows all the bills and voting.
