“This allocated available dollars to important Montana industries, agriculture and the outdoor economy. It’s a good bill for these businesses.”
By Micah Drew, Daily Montanan
Lawmakers in each chamber of the Montana Legislature have advanced bills that shift marijuana tax revenue but preserve conservation funding.
A previous bill that would have stopped the flow of marijuana revenue to a group of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks programs, drawing opposition from many conservation groups, was tabled in a Senate committee on April 1.
The two new bills each passed their respective house of origin with significantly more bipartisan support—Senate Bill 537 passed on Saturday 45–0, while House Bill 932 passed the same day 71–27.
SB 537, introduced by Sen. Daniel Zolnikov (R-Billings), keeps the existing amount of funding for conservation initiatives in place but expands how the funds can be used. The bill also increases distributions to the Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) account and adds funding for the Department of Justice, including substantial investments in law enforcement.
“I would call this the Cops and Conservation Act,” Zolnikov said on the Senate floor on April 4. “Because one thing we hear about from my side of the aisle is we need more law enforcement, there’s more problems coming on, how do we help those guys. And I’ll tell you what was awesome about this bill, working with the other side of the aisle, they were very supportive of this side of the aisle’s priorities. Working with this side of the aisle, they seemed to be very comfortable clarifying the buckets on this side of the aisle’s priorities and helping on the conservation side. And in the end, we’re trying to fill gaps.”
Zolnikov’s bill emerged as a compromise piece of legislation following the pushback to Senate Bill 307, brought by Senate Majority Leader Tom McGillvray (R-Billings), which would have shifted marijuana revenue from conservation to law enforcement.
McGillvray said his bill gave lawmakers a choice, whether they thought people, who may be harmed by the effects of marijuana, or trails and wildlife were more important issues to fund.
By contrast, Zolnikov sought to eliminate the choice and instead give all stakeholders a little bit of what they wanted by allocating the roughly $33 million of tax revenue that currently goes into the state’s general fund.
Under the new structure, the current 4 percent revenue allocated each for state parks, trails and recreation and nongame wildlife remains as is. The 20 percent of funds currently earmarked for FWP’s Habitat Montana fund instead goes to a new Habitat Legacy Account, which Zolnikov said broadens the use of the funds.
According to the bill, 75 percent of funds in the account must be used solely to fund wildlife habitat projects, while the rest may be used for various conservation-related projects including noxious weed programs, grants for conservation districts, big game and wildlife highway crossings and land and water acquisitions or easement purchases.
“It’s all types of buckets in there that the conservation folks worked on and supported,” Zolnikov said. “If you were in the hearing, it was the most fun group of people you could ever see all supporting it.”
The HEART fund, which currently receives a set $6 million of marijuana revenue, would be boosted to a 20 percent allocation, which will allow the account to grow with tax revenue.
The other additions, which target needs identified by McGillvray such as boosting law enforcement include: 2.5 percent for DOJ canine training, 1.5 percent for DOJ sexual assault exams and kits, 0.25 percent for the Board of Crime Control to fund crisis intervention training; 14 percent to the behavioral health system for future generations funds; 6.5 percent for drug and alcohol use prevention and 31 percent for DOJ law enforcement grants.
Those grants would include distributing $50,000 to each police department, sheriff’s office and tribal police department, plus proportional distributions based on department size.
“It’s a pretty thorough bill. I’d say, working on it, I had to learn about a lot of problems that I think there’s some gaps that we’re not filling, and this really helped fills them in the future,” Zolnikov said.
McGillvray told reporters on Tuesday that he felt many of the things in Zolnikov’s bill, such as letting the HEART fund grow with tax revenue, were smart, but he still had some concerns about using the funds for conservation.
“The nexus between marijuana revenue and marijuana harms is just smart tax policy. And unfortunately, it all got started on the wrong foot, and it was a tough sell to get it back on the right foot,” he said.
McGillvray added that removing revenue from the state’s general fund for law enforcement is a “big bite that could have a struggle” with the governor’s office.
On the House side, Rep. Ken Walsh (R-Twin Bridges) brought HB 932, which targets just the current 30 percent of conservation funding allocated to Habitat Montana.
It functions in roughly the same way as SB 537, moving those funds to a new Habitat Legacy Account.
Under HB 932, that account would funnel 75 percent into a separate Land and Wildlife Stewardship account that would be used solely for habitat conservation projects, while the remaining funds would be split between wildlife crossings, and the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program (WHIP) account.
WHIP funds can currently only be used for noxious weed treatment, but Walsh’s bill would greatly expand their use.
“What this bill will do is expand that bucket for private land owners, and conservation groups and fish, wildlife and parks to work together,” Walsh said
He listed off some possible applications—irrigation infrastructure, forest management, prescribed fire, fish passage, soil enhancement and wetland protection.
“Maybe even wildlife crossings, so we don’t hit as many elk and deer on the road,” he said.
The bill drew some opposition for continuing to fund conservation-related programs.
“This bill is going to lock up marijuana revenue in wildlife management kinds of things. And I know that’s important to this body. But we have been listening all session about what’s going on in our correctional system—we don’t have enough space, don’t have enough space,” Rep. Fiona Nave (R-Columbus) said. “That’s drug driven. We need the marijuana funding…to be available for drug treatment and law enforcement.”
But lawmakers overwhelmingly backed the bill under its expanded scope.
“This allocated available dollars to important Montana industries, agriculture and the outdoor economy. It’s a good bill for these businesses,” said Rep. Ed Buttrey (R-Great Falls).
HB 932 is awaiting a hearing before the Senate Fish and Game Committee while SB 537 will be heard in the House Taxation Committee later this month.
This story was first published by Daily Montanan.
Photo courtesy of Mike Latimer.
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