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Two bills seeking to reallocate the recreational marijuana taxes the state collects are bound for Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte’s desk. Senate Bill 537, described by its sponsor as a “cops and conservation bill,” cleared its final legislative vote Tuesday, garnering support from three-quarters of state lawmakers. The following day, House Bill 932, which addresses only the conservation and water side of the marijuana-supported funding equation, also passed out of the Legislature.
Coordination instructions written into SB 537 specify that if both it and HB 932 are signed by Gianforte, HB 932 becomes void.
Both bills establish a habitat legacy account, which seeks to allow Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to put conservation dollars toward wildlife habitat improvement and restoration projects on private land.
Most of the habitat legacy account funding — 75% — would initially be funneled toward the land and wildlife stewardship account, a new fund to be managed by FWP. Another 20% would go toward the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project account, or WHIP, an existing program with an emphasis on noxious weed mitigation. Finally, 5% would go toward an account dedicated to wildlife crossings and accommodations that lawmakers recently endorsed with passage of House Bill 855.
In addition to supporting private-land conservation projects, the habitat legacy account would allow FWP to continue to use marijuana revenue to support Habitat Montana, the FWP-administered program lawmakers established in 1987 to support the open spaces wildlife need to thrive and to create public access to some of that land. Habitat Montana has helped FWP acquire and manage the Big Snowy Wildlife Management Area, the Montana Great Outdoors Conservation Easement for working forestland in northwestern Montana and a handful of 40-year conservation leases the department has recently started securing in central and eastern Montana.
If the habitat legacy account is established, private landowners, conservation districts, conservation nonprofits, tribal government and noxious weed control districts could apply for funding to support a variety of projects, ranging from invasive species control, riparian restoration and conifer removal to water storage and fence modification or removal.
An assortment of nonprofits including the Montana Wildlife Federation, the Teddy Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, The Nature Conservancy, Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, the Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation threw their support behind the habitat legacy fund, saying it establishes flexibility and long-term sustainability for conservation efforts.
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In the agreements, tribes and the governor’s office can negotiate things like tax revenue deals for the state and tribes, whether a dispensary can operate on a reservation and how much cannabis tribes can grow and sell, among other things.
“It increases the pace and scale of habitat stewardship and restoration treatments across rural Montana to improve our land, wildlife and water resources in the face of drought, wildfire, invasive species and other deteriorating wildlife habitat conditions,” Wild Montana lobbyist Jake Brown told lawmakers during public testimony on SB 537 on April 17.
In addition to creating the habitat legacy account, SB 537 establishes statutory allocations for the nearly $30 million of tax collections that are currently directed to the General Fund, the catch-all state government piggybank lawmakers divvy up every other year.
Substance use disorder treatment, police department operations, homelessness support and sexual assault examination kits would see new or increased allocations under SB 537, to name a few things the bill funds. Those allocations garnered the endorsement of the Montana Coalition to Solve Homelessness and the Montana Department of Justice.
SB 537 sponsor Sen. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, emphasized the law enforcement component of his bill, which provides $50,000 to each law enforcement department in the state, including tribal police, and divides up remaining dedicated funding on a per-capita basis so that departments with larger payrolls receive larger disbursements.
“I worked very hard to keep that at 31%,” he recently told Montana Free Press, referencing the percentage of the tens of millions of dollars in marijuana tax collections that would be dedicated to law enforcement under his bill. “A lot of departments are running on very tight budgets, and this helps [with] that.”
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Both Senate Bill 537 and House Bill 932 seek to establish a habitat legacy account, which could be used to fund habitat improvement projects on private land as well as acquire new Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks-administered wildlife management areas.
In the final days of the 69th Legislature, lawmakers also endorsed HB 932, which also creates a habitat legacy account. HB 932 differs from its competitor in that it creates a $4 million water-storage-specific expenditure to be coordinated with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation but leaves untouched other marijuana tax- supported allocations.
HB 932 passed both chambers of the Legislature on April 30, with 84% of lawmakers supporting it.
Like Zolnikov, HB 932 sponsor Rep. Ken Walsh, R-Twin Bridges, wondered aloud whether Gianforte will oppose HB 537 given its impact on the General Fund.
“We’ll have to wait to see what happens,” Walsh said. “I think [HB 537] still has a journey to go.”
Gianforte has generally been critical of efforts to allocate tax revenues in statute.
“Anytime you encumber specific revenue streams for certain purposes, it really ties the hands of future Legislatures and administrations,” he said during an April 24 press conference. “These times, they are changing, and we have to be ready for what the future brings.”
En route to Gianforte’s desk, SB 537 cleared 10 rounds of committee and floor votes. The measure, which entered the legislative fray relatively late in the session, also encountered several amendments — some successful, others not — along the way.
HB 932 underwent a similar gauntlet, surviving eight votes and two rounds of amendments.
After bills are transmitted to Gianforte’s desk, he has 10 days to sign or veto them. Bills that are neither signed nor vetoed become law.
“}]] Senate Bill 537, a proposal reallocating the approximately $100 million of taxes the state collects on recreational marijuana per year, will be transmitted to Gov. Gianforte’s desk after it garnered support from three-quarters of Montana’s legislators. A similar bill, House Bill 932, also passed the Legislature with broad support. Read More
