2019 Legislative Session

HELENA — Montana’s House of Representatives passed a controversial resolution last week that would urge the federal government to deny a bison grazing permit for a Bozeman-based conservation organization.

The resolution led to a last-minute meeting of the House Rules Committee before lawmakers voted on it during a floor session.

House Joint Resolution 28 is carried by Rep. Dan Bartel, R-Lewistown. It asks the federal Bureau of Land Management to deny a grazing permit requested by American Prairie Reserve (APR), a private organization that, according to its website, buys land in Montana to implement land and wildlife conservation measures.

APR is requesting the bison grazing permit for land in in Chouteau, Fergus, Petroleum, Phillips, and Valley Counties.

Bartel said in the resolution’s hearing that denying the grazing permit is critical to “Montana’s livestock and wildlife wellbeing.” He said allowing free-range bison to graze would disrupt neighboring ranches and the work that’s been done to protect the land and its soil.

“We believe the undoing of these best practices that ranchers, the (Montana Department of Natural Resources), the (Bureau of Land Management) and the state have done over the years is counterproductive to the land,” Bartel said.

Chuck Denowh, policy director for the United Property Owners of Montana, spoke in support of the resolution. He said bison grazing could damage the land and infect cattle with brucellosis, a disease that often leads to aborted calves or lowered milk production.

“Our members are very concerned with what American Prairie Reserve has planned for eastern Montana,” Denowh said.

The Montana Stockgrowers Association, the Rocky Mountain Stockgrowers Association and the Montana Farm Bureau Federation also testified in support with similar concerns. Chelcie Cargill with the Farm Bureau also said granting the grazing permit would be special treatment for APR, and that should be prevented.

Brucellosis has cost farmers billions of dollars over the last century, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. And while bison are carriers of brucellosis, and have been found to transmit the disease to domestic cattle in controlled studies, the department reports it’s difficult to document instances of transmission in the wild. Reports show transmission of the disease likely occurs between domestic bison and cattle.

Managing Director of APR, Pete Geddes, testified against the resolution aimed at his organization. He said APR has obtained more than 400,000 acres of land in Montana through private sale and leases from the state with a mission to create the largest nature reserve in the country.

Geddes said 20 percent of the land will remain in private ownership, and the rest will be open for public use. He said the resolution is mean-spirited and contains inaccurate information.

“It is ironic this committee is hearing a resolution promulgated by the United Property Owners of Montana, a special interest group, purporting to support property rights and limited government,” Geddes said. “It is surely not lost on members of this committee that this resolution seeks to use the power of the state to attack the property rights and grazing privileges of a private entity doing business in Montana.”

Geddes also said it is untrue that the bison would be free-roaming. He said they will be fenced in.

The Montana Wildlife Federation, The National Wildlife Federation, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the National Parks Conservation Association all opposed the resolution. Ben Lamb, a representative for all four groups, said it was inappropriate for the Legislature to try to inhibit a private entity’s property right.

Rep. Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, spoke during the rules committee hearing.

“We’re establishing bad precedent by inserting names of businesses into a bill,” Morigeau said.

The resolution gained bipartisan support in the House. Rep. Zach Brown, D-Bozeman, spoke on the floor to say he would reluctantly support the legislation because he knew it was important to ranchers in eastern Montana.

HJ 28 passed third reading in the House 59-40 and will move to the Senate.

Legislature marks halfway point in session

The 66th Montana Legislature is at its halfway mark and that means that any general bills that did not make it through their first house before the transmittal deadline are effectively killed.

About 60 bills have passed both houses and have reached the governor’s desk. Gov. Steve Bullock said one of the most impactful laws he’s signed is House Bill 159, which will add about $77 million in funding for K-12 education.

“I’m glad that the education committee got that to me early on,” Bullock said.

Speaker of the House Greg Hertz, R-Polson, said he’s proud of passing bills like House Bill 553, sponsored by Rep. Eric Moore, R-Miles City, which is the infrastructure payment bill that mixes borrowed money and cash to pay for public works projects.

Hertz also said he intends to keep stopping bills that would increase taxes as the session moves forward.

“It’s not just about passing bills too, it’s about killing bad legislation for the state and Montana taxpayers,” Hertz said.

About 200 bills will die at the transmittal deadline. That is roughly a fourth of all bills introduced.

Shaylee Ragar and Tim Pierce are reporters with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Newspaper Association, the Montana Broadcasters Association and the Greater Montana Foundation. Shaylee can be reached at [email protected]. Tim can be reached at [email protected].