State Lands Legislation Coming Your Way
The 2007 legislative session will see a host of bills that will affect the future management of Montana's more than 5 million acres of publicly-owned state lands. The bills run the gamut from weed control to how and when state lands may be sold.
The debate is likely to be hot and we certainly urge all our readers who are interested in the future of these lands to keep abreast of legislative developments, and use your opportunities to let your voice be heard in this important debate, by following the bills on the state legislative website. Simply go to http://leg.mt.gov/css/sessions/60th/,where you will find simple instructions to help you find bills, track their progress through the legislative process, see recorded votes, and get emails, phone numbers, and mail addresses for all legislators individually or by committee. You can even set up your own personal bill tracking system that will automatically keep track of all the bills you enter with up-to-date information.
The Bills
As we go to print, there are nearly 30 bill draft requests for legislation pertaining to state lands. Not all the bills have been drafted yet, so we have given the fullest information available for each bill at this time. Readers with specific interests are urged to use the legislative tracking system for the latest status of bills in which they have interest because they change on a daily basis.
Following are introduced bills as well as legislators’ bill
draft requests that are in various stages of drafting. These draft requests, since they have not yet been introduced, do not have bill numbers but instead have LC numbers which can be used to track the bills. Bills that have been drafted or whose content is known are shown in bold. All bill drafts that have not been cancelled at the time of publication are included here, including bills that are “on hold” because the legislator has not yet provided enough information to legislative bill drafters to complete the draft.
Funding administrative costs/trust land management
HB 19 - Walter McNutt (R-Sidney)
Prohibit diversion of Morrill Act land revenue for
administrative costs.
The University system has long contended that diversion of Morrill Act trust land revenue for the administrative costs of Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) is illegal (see Focus on Montana State Lands, Fall 2006). HB 19 prohibits use of these revenues for administrative costs and instead sets up a statutory appropriation of $80,000 per year to DNRC with provisions for any carryover funds.
LC 1755 - Rick Laible (R-Victor)
Repay land trusts for prior diversions – ready for
introduction
This bill, by request of the Legislative Finance Committee, would appropriate over one million dollars from the state general fund to repay land trusts and trust beneficiaries (such as units of the University System and the public school fund) for past diversions of funds for administrative costs.
Other bill drafts which focus on revising school trust land management, administration or accountability include LC 116 – Dan Weinberg (D-Whitefish); LC 167 – Jim Shockley (R-Victor); LC 199 – Bob Hawks (D-Bozeman); LC 880 – Janna Taylor (R-Dayton); LC 1934 – Rick Laible; and LC 1273 and 1274 – Mike Jopek (D-Whitefish).
State land sales, transfers and exchanges/Land banking
SB 8 - Jim Shockley
Independent staff for Board of Land Commissioners
This bill would require the Land Board to contract with a qualified land appraiser and an attorney to provide
independent information and analysis on the sale, exchange or transfer of land. The expenses for the contracted services would come from the trust land administration account.
SB 75 - Bob Hawks
Revise administrative costs for trust land management
An omnibus bill requested by DNRC, SB 75 significantly changes the way trust lands are managed and how trust land administration is funded, an issue that was the subject of a recent study by the Montana Environmental Quality Council (see Focus on Montana State Lands, Fall 2006). Among other things, it provides that the Board of Regents has the authority to determine how timber proceeds are distributed from University trust lands; allows up to 25 percent of annual gross distributable revenue to be deposited in the Trust Land Administration account; eliminates the resource development account; eliminates the recreational use account and the requirement to withhold $2 from each license fee for that purpose; uses the Trust Land Administration account for weed control for recreational activities; requires damages from recreational use to be paid from the Trust Lands Administration account; removes the requirement to retain 10 percent of gross receipts from agreements with Fish, Wildlife & Parks for recreational use of state lands as well as the 10 percent DNRC could previously retain from commercial leasing for administration; does the same with the 10 percent the agency could retain for Land Banking administration; and transfers leftover balances to the Trust Land Administration account.
LC 417 - John Cobb (R-Augusta)
Revise land banking laws - ready for introduction
This bill, at the request of the Land Board, proposes changes to the state’s land banking program: it extends the termination date for the sale of trust lands and purchase of replacement property through the land banking program from 2008 to 2011; decreases the time prior to sale when a bid bond must be posted and reduces the percentage of the bond from 50 percent of minimum sale price to 20 percent while shortening the sale withdrawal time from 30 days to 10 days prior to the day of the auction; requires lessees to remit estimated costs for preparation of sale such as surveying, appraisals, environmental reviews, etc., to DNRC within 10 days after the Board has given preliminary approval for the sale, and requires those same funds to be applied to the actual closing costs or remitted to the lessee if another purchaser buys the land.
LC 1258 – Mike Jopek
Unanimous vote on sale of state lands - ready for introduction
This bill would place a proposed amendment to the state constitution requiring a unanimous vote of all five members of the state Land Board for the sale of state trust lands on the November 2008 ballot.
Other bill drafts affecting state land sales, trades, exchanges or leases include LC 167, Jim Shockley; LC 598, Don Ryan (D-Great Falls); LC 980, Ralph Heinert (R-Libby); and LC 1094, John Cobb.
Weed control on state lands
HB 37 - Michelle Reinhart (D-Missoula)
Weed control on state land
Several years ago an investigation by the Legislative Audit office found serious non-compliance with weed control on leased state lands (see Focus on Montana State Lands, Spring 2003). HB 37 makes it mandatory to control noxious weeds on state lands and provides DNRC the legal authority to control weeds if the lessee/ permit holder does not. DNRC may then charge the lessee/permit holder for costs of the weed control plus a penalty not to exceed 50 percent of the costs of the control action. It also provides that a lessee may request an administrative hearing prior to DNRC taking weed control action.
State land leases
HB 55 - Kevin Furey (D-Missoula)
Carbon sequestration-ecosystem services leasing or licensing
Sequestering carbon, most commonly as carbon dioxide from industrial coal facilities, is a necessary step to reduce additional loading of the atmosphere with what are commonly called "greenhouse gases" responsible for global climate change. HB 55 authorizes the "licensing or leasing of state trust lands for carbon sequestration" as well as "other ecosystem services" such as "open space, air and water filtration, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, soil stabilization, and aesthetics." Under its provisions, the Land Board may lease state trust lands for up to 99 years for these purposes. The Board is also authorized to develop and adopt administrative rules necessary to set standards for these activities and provide for application fees, bonds, and lease amounts for the issuance of licenses to do so.
LC 670 - Bill Tash (R-Dillon)
Require cash leasing on all state agricultural leases – ready for introduction
This bill would convert state agricultural leases from crop share arrangements to straight cash payments (see Focus on Montana State Lands, Sept. 2005). All state lands leased for agricultural purposes, except those enrolled in the conservation reserve program, would have to be on a cash rental basis, use a competitive bid process, and set minimal rent amounts per acre based on soil productivity, average commodity prices, farm program payments, and typical landlord shares.
A separate bill draft requested by Mike Jopek, LC 1275, would revise state land cabin site leases.
Timber harvesting on state lands
SB 25 – Lane Larson (D-Billings)
Revise contract timber harvest laws
In addition to the current practice of leasing forested state lands for timber harvesting, this measure will allow the use of contract logging to improve forest health by allowing the state to contract for logging, sorting, and processing of trees into merchantable forest products such as saw logs, pulp wood, and house logs, which it then sells through a competitive bidding process. The bill limits the use of contract logging to no more than 10 percent of the annual sustained yield, establishes a contract harvest account, and requires an initial deposit of $500,000 from the timber sales account into the contract harvest account.
Another bill draft, LC 1139, requested by Gordon Hendrick (R-Superior), would require a bond for state timber challenges. The bill draft is currently on hold.
Conservation easements on state lands
There are two bill drafts in the pipeline allowing conservation easements on state lands: LC 1221, requested by Sen. Dan Weinberg, and LC 1710, requested by Rep. Christine Kaufmann (D-Helena).
Coal development – Otter Creek tracts
Sen. Jim Shockley has submitted a bill draft request, currently on hold, to facilitate the development of the Otter Creek coal tracts (LC 203).
Other state lands topics
Sen. Joe Blayeat (R-Bozeman) requested a bill draft regarding intermittent parcels (LC 1075), and Rep. Mike Jopek made two additional requests, one proposing to expand state land classifications (LC 1272) and another to require corner posts of state trust lands to be uniquely identified by being painted blue so the public can discern public lands from private lands (LC 1974).
