Lawmakers look at elections, creationism, guns and seat belts

Montana legislators listened to proposed bills that would allow voters to register online, protect teachers who teach creationism in public schools, bar Montana law enforcement officials from enforcing certain federal gun laws, and raise the fine for driving without a seat belt on.

• Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch testified Jan. 28 in support of House Bill 48, her requested legislation to allow electronic voter registration for qualified Montana electors.

Rep. Geraldine Custer, R-Helena, a former elections administrator of more than 30 years, joined McCulloch in the bipartisan effort to introduce HB 48 before the legislative committee.

This will be the third time McCulloch has introduced this bill. She had also proposed House Bill 70, which called for holding all elections other than school elections by mail. That bill was tabled on Jan. 26.

Currently, 21 other states allow eligible citizens to register to vote online with four more states in the process of building online systems. HB 48 would allow online voter registration to Montanans who possess a valid Montana driver’s license or ID card.

“Montanans already file their taxes, pay utility bills, mortgages and car payments online. They can do their banking online, make purchases and sign important documents all through secure electronic systems. Why shouldn’t they be able to register to vote,” McCulloch said. “This is a good bill that in addition to being useful for Montanans, saves our counties and state a considerable amount of time and money.”

McCulloch asked the committee members to keep in mind that in order for someone to receive a Montana driver’s license or ID card, the applicant must prove their identity, Montana residency and authorized presence.

The bill wouldn’t take away the option of using the paper registration form but simply adds an online option for eligible citizens. HB 48 if passed, would allow military voters, specifically those overseas to have year round access to the online voting registration process.

• Rep. Clayton Fiscus, R-Billings, has introduced a bill that would protect teachers who teach creationism in public schools.

His bill that would encourage high school teachers to present evolutionary biology as disputed theory rather than sound science and protect those who teach viewpoints like creationism in the classroom.

House Bill 321 is nearly identical to a bill Fiscus introduced in 2013 to “emphasize critical thinking” with regard to controversial scientific theories on the origin of life. He appeared to express personal skepticism toward accepted science during a hearing for that earlier bill.

“What we want to emphasize is critical thinking,” Fiscus said at the 2013 committee hearing. “It’s no different than being on the farm. When you’re raising animals, you gotta think, you gotta do.”

During his concluding remarks, he said evolutionary history involves “a monumental leap” and that the U.S. suffers from “global warming creep.”

Advocates and educators, however, say the supposed controversy doesn’t exist among scientists. There is nothing controversial about the biology of evolution, said Glenn Branch, deputy director for the National Center for Science Education based in Oakland, Calif.

“There are controversies within biological evolution,” he said. “Fiscus thinks that these whole fields are scientifically controversial, and that’s not true.”

HB 321 does not mention alternative theories by name but states that teachers “must be permitted” to help students review the strengths and weaknesses of existing scientific theories.

But Branch said the “anti-evolution” law would mean teachers who elevate fringe ideas couldn’t be held accountable by principals and superintendents.

“It’s inviting the teachers to go rogue,” he said.

• Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, has introduced a bill that would bar local law enforcement authorities from enforcing federal laws banning semi-automatic weapons.

County attorneys would be required to prosecute those enforcing such laws. For example, a police officer who arrests someone illegally selling a semi-automatic weapon could be arrested and charged with the crime of enforcing federal gun laws.

A similar bill was vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock in 2013. Wittich told the House Judiciary Committee on Jan. 27 that he’d like to expand the scope of the bill.

“What I’d like to see is that the bill be broadened by removing the references to semi-automatic weapons,” Wittich said. “The intent of this was that anything that impairs Montanans’ rights to keep and bear arms by the federal government ... is something that we should not be co-opted into as far as enforcement.”

Opponents said the bill would put the justice system in disarray in an attempt to usurp federal law. Jim Smith, with the Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, told the committee that if passed, the bill would put law enforcement in the position of violating laws they have sworn to uphold.

“I think from the sheriff’s perspective, this is a misguided effort and an ill-advised attempt to send a message to the federal government,” he said.

Smith said sheriffs can stand up to what he called federal government overreach with authority they already possess.

Bill supporter Gary Marbut, of Missoula, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings hold that Congress can’t commandeer the resources of state and local governments. He also said while a ban isn’t currently in place, President Barack Obama’s gun-control proposals include a ban on military-style assault weapons.

“If the Senate were to ratify that then the federal government would be imposing all kinds of new firearms restrictions that are just not consistent with Montana culture,” he said.

Wittich said he believes he has “a kernel of a good bill” and that he looks forward to making it better with the help of the Republican-led committee.

• Sen. Dick Barrett, D-Missoula, argued in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Jan. 27 that the fine for seat belt violators should be increased from $20 to $100. The committee tabled the proposed bill on Jan. 29.

Barrett called the $20 fine “trivial.”

“Even though we are nominally committed to the idea that you should wear your seat belt, we don’t put our money where our mouth is,” he said.

Montana has a deadly combination of long, straight and narrow highways, accidents isolated from medical services, few highway safety laws, and a high rate of drinking and driving, Barrett said.

“Montana has one of the highest death rates on the road of any state in the country,” he told the committee.

His proposed bill would not change existing stipulations that protect violators from increased insurance premiums, license suspension, jail time or being pulled over solely for the seat belt offense.

About 9,700 citations for not wearing a seat belt are recorded every year in Montana. According to a fiscal note attached to the bill, fines are collected on only 30 percent of those tickets. At that rate, the note said, the bill would bring in an additional $233,000 annually, split between the state and counties where the violations take place.

Representatives of Montana’s departments of transportation and public health, and a representative for the state’s sheriffs and police officers spoke in favor of the bill.