Bridge access bill wins approval

HELENA – The state House gave final approval last week to a bill that would allow anglers, floaters and hikers to gain access to the state's rivers and streams via public bridges on public roads.

House Bill 190, sponsored by Rep. Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, allows recreational access to waterways at bridges while also allowing landowners to connect fences to bridges and abutments to contain their livestock.

Landowners would have to modify those fences to allow access. Such work would be administered and paid for by the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

The measure initially passed the House in January and was recently amended in the Senate. Those amendments included allowing landowners to use wood-rail fences on their property and changing the number of access points along a stream from four to one.

The House accepted the Senate's amendments with a 96-3 vote.

In a press release, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said the bill provides a bipartisan solution to a 20-year dispute between anglers, hunters, environmentalists and landowners.

"This bill will protect our Montana tradition of public access to our world-class blue ribbon trout streams and lets out of state landowners know that in Montana our streams and rivers are not for sale," Schweitzer said.

Governor strips legal protection from horse slaughter bill

If investors want to establish a horse slaughter industry in Montana, they will have to do it without special protection from legal challenges, Gov. Brian Schweitzer said late last week.

Schweitzer used his amendatory veto power to strip special legal protections from House Bill 418, sponsored by Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred.

Butcher and other supporters have argued that Montanans needing to dispose of horses have to go to Mexico or Canada because legal challenges have effectively shut down the horse slaughter industry in the U.S.

Horse slaughterhouses are not currently banned in Montana, but they would almost certainly draw protests from animal lovers who have testified against the bill so far.

In his veto message, Schweitzer said horse owners need "access to a legal method to put their horses down as necessary and appropriate – due to age, infirmity, or other legitimate circumstances."

However, such facilities should not receive "unnecessary and potentially harmful special treatment that would be granted to one particular industry under this bill."

The bill passed the House by a vote of 66-33 and passed the Senate 27-23.

GOP legislators decry failure of anti-abortion bills

Twenty-nine Republican lawmakers gathered in the capitol last week to blast Democrats for the Legislature's failure to revive five anti-abortion bills that remain locked in committee.

"Democrats essentially voted to muzzle the people of Montana on one of the most important issues of our time: abortion," said Rep. Wendy Warburton, R-Havre.

Warburton said most Democrats vote for pro-abortion measures, whereas Republicans are "fighting for life."

Sen. Dan McGee, R-Laurel, sponsored two of the bills, Senate Bill 46 and Senate Bill 406. Both sought to amend the state constitution to set the foundation for future abortion bans. Republicans fell short of the 60 votes necessary to "blast" the bills from committee to the House floor.

McGee said Republicans attempted to work with Democrats on these issues, but it did not seem to take. He also compared abortion with slavery and predicted an upheaval comparable to the Civil War. "You bet there will be," McGee said.

Democratic House Speaker Bob Bergren said these failed "blast" motions are typical fare for the Legislature and his party. "Democrats support the constitutional rights of all women," Bergren said.

Bergren said he found it ironic this same group of legislators opposes "proactive measures' against abortion, such as sex education and contraception for the poor. He also said it was indicative that 23 of the 29 Republicans at the press conference were men.

Allyson Hagen, of the NARAL Pro-Choice Montana Foundation, said despite GOP assertions of civic upheaval, Montanans do not support these measures.

"Montanans are actually grateful that these bills didn't pass," Hagen said. "In Montana, we greatly value the right to keep the government out of our personal, private medical decisions."

House OKs bill to blunt effects of reappraisals

The House passed a bill last week that seeks to prevent the recent statewide property-tax reappraisal from automatically raising many Montanans' taxes.

Property reappraisal in Montana occurs every six years. Since 2002, property values in Montana have risen by an average of 55 percent statewide.

By a 79-20 vote, lawmakers approved House Bill 658, sponsored by Rep. Mike Jopek, D-Whitefish. Jopek's bill would blunt that increase by increasing the major property-tax exemption for residential property called the "homestead" exemption. The exemption would increase gradually from 35.9 percent to 42 percent by 2014. It would also gradually reduce the tax rate for such property.

Supporters called the bill a good starting point, adding that there are additional exemptions and tax credits for elderly homeowners on fixed incomes. They also said they expect the Senate to continue shaping the bill with amendments.

But opponents said the bill will help lower- and middle-class taxpayers because they will be subsidizing the tax exemptions for the rich.

"If you don't live in Lake County, Flathead County or Madison County, this is a bad bill for you," said Rep. Wayne Stahl, R-Saco.

Rep. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to have property taxes based on a "circuit-breaker" system, in which a person's property taxes would be based on their income and ability to pay them.