By Rep. Jon Tester D-Big Sandy
The legislative agenda for the upcoming week includes the
Senate's regular floor session and committee schedule on
Monday with all-day floor sessions scheduled for the rest of
the week. The Senate has about 140 bills to be dealt with
this week. The transmittal break will commence on Friday
afternoon, Feb. 23, and we will return on Wednesday
afternoon, Feb. 28.
I have scheduled a public meeting in Chester at Spud's Caf
at 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26 and in Fort Benton at the City
Hall at 7 p.m. on Tuesday night, Feb. 27. I will try to
recap the events of the first half of the 57th legislative
session and answer any of your questions at these meetings.
If you have a meeting you would like me to attend for a
specific group, please contact me at the 444-1444 number in
Helena or after Friday call me at home at 378-3182. I will
do my best to accommodate specific meeting requests, time
permitting.
This last week saw the open range bill pass through the
Senate. HB 246 reverses a Supreme Court decision on the open
range law. During the interim the Supreme Court made a
decision, called the Steiner case, which dramatically
altered the open range law. This bill reinstates the open
range law to its intent before this Supreme Court ruling.
The only addition was that if the livestock owner was
grossly negligent in allowing his/her livestock to roam on
secondary highways, then the liability of an accident still
rests with that livestock owner. Since this was a House
Bill, it now goes to the governor's desk for her signature.
I carried a Senate Joint Resolution (SJ 11) that passed the
Senate this week. This bill requests the DOT to reanalyze
their proposed regulations dealing with over-the-road
trucks. The newly proposed rules creates some problems
including taking away exemptions in agriculture and
emergency vehicle operations. These new rules would also
limit each state's ability to address special transportation
circumstances that may arise within each states' own
borders. The resolution is intended to get the attention of
Montana's Congressional Delegation, the United States
Secretary of Transportation, and the Federal Motor Carriers
Safety Administration to re-evaluate these proposed rules,
revise them, and implement a more realistic set of rules
that will improve road safety and maintain truck commerce.
A bill that could help rural hospitals in Montana by
expanding the pool of nurses available to them also passed
the Senate this week. SB 329 authorizes the temporary
licenser of Canadian and out-of-state RNs and LPNs in
Montana. The board of nursing grants the temporary permit
that is good for 180 days (6 months). The intent of this
bill is obvious in that it should expand the pool of nurses
available for a hospital to hire, particularly in the towns
on our border with Canada.
Committee action on HB 5, which authorizes building
projects using cash on hand (the majority of this money is
made up of federal monies and monies from state special
revenue accounts) will be finalized on Monday. Committee
action on HB 14 (building projects paid for by state general
obligation bonds) will occur also during that Monday morning
session. There are some $74 million worth of projects of
spending requests in HB 5 and some $77 million in bond
requests for building projects in HB 14. Some of the
projects in these two bills will be eliminated, some will be
reduced, and other will remain as presented. The committee
decisions will be based primarily on need.
This week should prove to be interesting in that many of
the energy, education, and human service bills will be
considered. Sen. Johnson's energy bill will be presented
this week and it has been heavily amended in the committee
process. It will be interesting to determine the final
impact of this bill. The Education Committee had some 30
bills awaiting executive action this week. My bill on
allowing local school boards to establish bus depreciation,
transportation, and adult education budgets was passed out
of the education committee last Friday. It should offer some
good floor debate.
As always, feel free to contact me at Box 243 Capitol
Station, Helena, MT 59620 or e-mail me at
jontester@yahoo.com or call me at 444-1444. I hope to see
you during the transmittal break, so un
