Some important bills in the legislature

Hearings in committees are ramping up with changes recommended to almost every law book in Montana. Some of them heard this week include:

• Senate Bill 75, sponsored by Sen. Jason Priest, R-Red Lodge, would reauthorize the donation of hunting licenses to disabled veterans and disabled members of the Armed Forces. This bill could have a positive impact on the Operation Second Chance project and others coming into our state to hunt. There are no guarantees on some of the licenses for out-of-state hunters but the opportunity for a donation would benefit this and other organizations in a positive way.

• Senate Bill 96, sponsored by Sen. Bruce Tutvedt, R-Kalispell, would lower the business equipment tax on Class 8 property by allowing a $10 million cap rather than $3 million. The manufacturers in the Flathead often have expensive equipment for their particular work. More equipment purchased means more people to operate them-a real win for our future workforce.

• House Bill 247, sponsored by Rep. Steve Lavin, R-Kalispell, would provide the opportunity to salvage certain game animals accidentally killed by vehicles. An officer could issue a permit to take road kill off Montana highways. The Department of Transportation now loads up the dead deer and other critters to throw in the landfill. We all remember a time when a game animal had been hit and could be salvaged for food. This seems like a good option to the rotting carcass on the landscape.

• Senate Bill 145, sponsored by Sen. Eric Moore, R- Miles City, calls for making information in the application for a concealed weapon permit to remain confidential. The increase of applications after the federal discussions on gun control have made people realize that this information could be shared, just as it was back east a month ago. Upon passage, this bill would require the sheriffs to treat it as confidential information.

• Senate Bill 139, sponsored by Sen. Ed Walker, R-Billings, would require state agencies to consider the impacts their rules will have on businesses across Montana, both negatively and positively. This will alert us that a particular rule made by a department, oftentimes far removed from Helena, can have a consequence. I believe strongly in this piece of legislation and co-sponsored it. President Obama made this law under executive order two years ago.

• Senate Bill 135, sponsored by Sen. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, would require that executive agencies and all units in the university system report the amount of federal funds they receive each year and submit them to the legislature. As state programs get squeezed with less federal money coming to us, it is appropriate for legislators to know all amounts coming to Montana. The federal government has always been a source of start-up funding for programs then bows out a few years down the road, leaving Montanans picking up the tab.

• Senate Bill 111, Sen. Matt Rosendale, R-Glendive, mirrors federal law that growing cities in Montana (Hamilton, Columbia Falls and Glendive) receive a share of urban highway funds. Census indicates that these three towns should be receiving part of the federal highway pie, just as Kalispell and Whitefish already do.

Sen. Dee Brown is the Republican senator from Coram.