By Karli Johnson and Nicole Rolf, Montana Farm Bureau Federation  

Gears are grinding away in Helena with the tally boards on the House floor showing over 50 days of this legislative session. MFBF again spent much of this week following progressing bills and testified for a second time on HB 560: Establish the Montana hunters and anglers community fund; HB 354: Revise penalties for criminal trespass while fishing, trapping, hunting, or collecting antlers/sheds/horns; HB 130: Revise state wildland and fire policy funding; and HB 212: Limit liability for agricultural vehicles. HB 212 and HB 560 unfortunately died this week, but HB 354 and HB 130 continue their progress to the Governor’s desk.

The water bill of the week was SB 263: Revise state ownership of water rights on state lands sponsored by Sen. Becky Beard (R) SD 38 which MFBF has opposed since its first hearing in the Senate. This week SB 263 had its hearing in House Natural Resources.  MFBF, other ag groups, and the Lt. Governor on behalf of the Governor in his role as chairman of the Land Board, still stood in opposition, even though the bill was amended heavily in the Senate. This bill adds water rights to an existing list of things considered to be “improvements” on state land, when in fact, water rights are appurtenant property rights. Improvements on the other hand, are things you can “touch” like fences, water tanks, pipelines and buildings. Treating water rights as an improvement essentially devalues them and confuses the law. Additionally, the bill seeks to add process for the state to assert ownership on water rights that are on state lands, requiring hearings and Land Board approval before the state asserts ownership claims. It is important to note that in 2019, MFBF, along with other agricultural organizations, crafted HB 286 that limited the state’s ability to obtain ownership on post-1973 water rights associated with school trust lands, to only if a court finds that the state does indeed have a claim. This became necessary when under the previous administration the state added themselves as owners to 141 water rights across the state. HB 286 became law and was successfully defended in court, putting the state and private water right holders back on an even playing field. This was an important win to balance the state’s constitutional responsibility to maximize funds on school trust land and lessee’s private property rights. Since the enactment of HB 286, the Department of Natural Resources removed their claims of ownership from the 141 water rights identified as being impacted and created a website for comments where private landowner water right owners can raise concerns.  Zero responses have been submitted since the site has been active showing that the current process is functioning well. 

This week was the first week that Senate committees began seeing board appointee confirmations in their hearings. MFBF supported all of the confirmations including both the Board of Livestock Appointee, Eric Moore; Livestock Loss Board Appointee, John Sampsel; Veterinary Board Appointees, Dr. Tia Nelson, Dr. Garrett Ryerson, and Joshua Donald; and Hail Board Appointees, Bing VonBergen and Vince Mattson. Out of the seven individuals confirmed in these resolutions, five of them are MFBF members. We are proud to see so many of our members involved in these important boards and appreciate that these folks are willing to commit their time and service to the agriculture industry in this way. 

SB 323: Revise individual income tax rates and earned income credit sponsored by Sen. Josh Kassmier (R) SD 13 was the highlighted tax bill this week. SB 323 lowers taxes by cutting the capital gains tax from 4.1% to 3.9%, lowering income tax top rate from 5.9% to 4.9% and increasing earned income tax credit from 10% to 15%. To ensure our hardworking Montana families keep more of their hard-earned money in their own pockets, especially with the current cost of living, MFBF expressed our support during the SB 323 hearing. MFBF also shared that although many times people think of capital gains with regard to stocks and bonds, for farmers and ranchers it can be sale of land, sale of equipment or even livestock sales.

Montana Farm Bureau’s leadership class, ACE (Advocate, Communicate and Educate), visited the state Capitol as well this week. The ACE class works to develop leaders and strong advocates for agriculture. While in Helena, the 10 class members received updates on hot topic issues both on the state and federal level from MFBF lobbyists, met with Governor Gianforte and leadership from multiple departments as well as legislators, and were immersed in the daily ins and outs of the legislative session.

Nicole Rolf is the Senior Director of Governmental Affairs and a rancher from Miles City, Montana. Nicole works closely with our Congressional delegation on national issues affecting Montana agriculture. Additionally, this is her ninth Montana Legislative Session, lobbying in Helena on behalf of MFBF members. Nicole can be contacted at nicoler@mfbf.org.

Karli Johnson is the State Governmental Affairs Coordinator and a rancher from Choteau, MT. This is Karli’s first session lobbying on behalf of Montana Farm Bureau although she can be known as an old hand at testifying on Grizzly Bear bills before she came onto staff. Karli will focus on water and wildlife issues throughout the legislative session while also serving as the Northwest Regional Manager. Karli can be contacted at karlij@mfbf.org.