Bills to fight invasive mussels get preliminary OK

HELENA­ — Both chambers of the Montana Legislature on Tuesday gave preliminary approval to a pair of bills that would create a more than $6 million-per-year program to expand the state’s fight against invasive mussels.

The bipartisan legislation has been a major policy initiative this session — particularly among several Northwest Montana legislators — following the first-ever detections of the destructive mollusks in the state’s waters last fall. Either quagga or zebra mussels were confirmed in water samples taken from Tiber Reservoir and detections indicate they may also be present in Canyon Ferry Reservoir.

“We have been through a torturous route,” Rep. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, noted in an interview Tuesday, referring to the myriad proposals that have been adopted or rejected during the session. “We were in a crisis situation. The governor declared an invasive species state of emergency in November.”

Through deliberations that began well before the session kicked off in January, Cuffe said they arrived at “a very good, aggressive program that’s really aimed at continuing to protect the state, and we put in some additional protection for the Continental Divide, trying to keep it east of the divide.”

House Bill 622, sponsored by Cuffe, creates the policy framework for the state’s enhanced aquatic invasive species program, while creating a pair of advisory councils to oversee its enactment. The Senate passed it 100-0 on second reading Tuesday, setting up a third and final vote Wednesday before it heads to the governor’s desk.

The measure includes some of the proposals developed by the response team established last year, after the confirmation of invasive mussel larvae in state waters.

Watercraft entering the state would be subject to mandatory inspections for aquatic invasive species, and the legislation would give the state’s natural-resource departments the authority to require mandatory inspections within the state. The state would also be able to ban felt-soled waders, which can act as a vector for invasive mussel larvae.

The bill also establishes the “Upper Columbia River Pilot Program,” to be administered by the Flathead Basin Commission. The program allows the commission to recommend regulations within the river basin to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission, which would have authority to enact mandatory inspections of all vessels prior to launching within the basin, and to close water bodies in the event of a mussel detection.

A new Invasive Species Council, comprising 22 members from throughout state government and natural-resource agencies and organizations would be created under the legislation. The council would be responsible for working with federal agencies and advising the executive branch on a statewide plan to prevent and mitigate the spread of aquatic invasive species.

The council would also maintain an independent scientific advisory council to monitor emerging technology and trends to help the state combat AIS.

The bill would also establish a new, nine-member Upper Columbia Conservation within DNRC. It would share some of the council’s duties, as well as providing annual reports that account for money spent and received under the new programs and provide policy recommendations to the state.

WHILE THE policy portion of the state’s expanded AIS program received unanimous support on Tuesday, figuring out a funding strategy has been more complicated.

Sponsored by Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, Senate Bill 363 received a preliminary 89-11 vote in the House on Tuesday after running into opposition from some lawmakers over its proposal to increase fees assessed on hydroelectric producers and utility companies.

While the budget and infrastructure have taken center stage this session, lawmakers have largely agreed that beefing up the state’s aquatic invasive species programs is a priority.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks has asked for more than $11 million over the next two years for AIS programs — a significant bump from the roughly $1 million the state currently spends each year on the issue.

With new spending initiatives shadowed by lawmakers’ concerns over possible revenue declines, a wide-ranging array of funding sources have been proposed: boat stickers, soda taxes, upping the state’s bed tax and even a now-defunct proposal to charge a fee on out-of-state bicycles.

The funding bill would increase the per-megawatt fee the state charges large hydroelectricity providers, a funding source justified by the substantial economic destruction that mussel infestations have wreaked on dams elsewhere in the country.

The last fiscal analysis of the bill estimated those fees would generate about $3.8 million over each of the next two years, although that amount will be lower following an amendment last week that reduced the per-megawatt amount owed to the state. Utilities getting a majority of their electricity from hydropower would also pay a higher fee to the state, adding on about $700,000 per year.

Those hydropower sources of funding will sunset in two years, meaning the next Legislature would have to reauthorize them to maintain the revenue source.

The bill also tacks a new fee on to fishing licenses purchased in the state — $2 for residents and $15 for non-residents. The state estimates that would generate about $3.2 million in each of the next two years.

Rep. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, objected to the increases during Tuesday’s floor debate, equating them with new taxes on electricity consumers.

“This is more money on consumers, and we have some of the most expensive electricity, at least within the surrounding states,” Zolnikov said.

Rep. Zach Brown, D-Bozeman, responded that the estimated impact on the average power bill would be about 28 cents per month.

“To be perfectly honest I think it’s imperative that we pass this bill,” Brown said. “If we wait and we fall on our ideological sword … we’ll be behind the eight-ball and we’ll be paying out the ears for the rest of our lives.”

Before passing the bill, the House amended it to remove a proposed 2-cent fee on bottled water sold in the state, which would have also provided money to the AIS program.

Following the vote, Senate Bill 363 headed to the House Appropriations Committee, which approved it 9-3. Following a final vote by the House, it will head back to the Senate to consider the new amendments.

Reporter Sam Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com.