Montana Farm Bureau legislative review: Week 11
The second half of the legislative session kicked off the week with St. Patrick’s Day, a festive way to get back to the hustle and bustle of the 69th Legislative Session. Irish eyes were no doubt smiling on Monday when Governor Gianforte signed SB 320: Create Montana-Ireland trade commission sponsored by Sen. Mike Cuffe (R) SD 1 into law. MFBF supported this bill and saw this discussion as the perfect platform to share the importance of trade to Montana agriculture. The signing of SB 320 is a great example of how our state can help us market products abroad, even when trading looks bleak on the federal level.
In the spirit of the holiday, MFBF and our friends from the Montana Ag Business, Montana Stockgrowers, and the Montana Grain Growers Associations hosted our recurring St. Patrick’s Day themed Legislative Reception, complete with corned beef and cabbage, Irish music, and plenty of interactions between legislators, agency officials, and members of our organizations. We even had the Governor in attendance!
On Tuesday, National Agriculture Day followed the St. Paddy’s Day festivities and the Capitol’s Rotunda was packed with agricultural organizations and supporters. A lunch hosted by the Department of Agriculture and sponsoring organizations, along with the helping hands of East Helena FFA, was held in honor of Montana’s #1 economy. Governor Gianforte held a roundtable discussion that afternoon to discuss hot topic issues with multiple agriculture organization leaders, including MFBF’s President Cyndi Johnson.
National Ag Day was one of celebration for MFBF to reminisce on the bills seen in the first half of the session and to look ahead to those coming in the second half. By transmittal, MFBF has already taken a position on more than fifty bills. Some of these bills grab the headlines, but many go unnoticed outside the Halls of the Capitol.
MFBF worked hard to protect our herd health by fighting vaccine bills that could limit our livestock vaccine availability; stopped three Right to Repair bills by sharing the success of American Farm Bureau’s Memorandums of Understanding (MOU’s) with major equipment manufacturers; protected landowners both in the water world and on the private lands side.
Twelve of the bills that MFBF opposed lie dead after the transmittal break because they did not pass their original chamber before the deadline. On the successful side of the story, currently three bills supported by MFBF have been signed into law by the Governor. These bills include SB 320 that we discussed previously, SB 55 and SB 76 that were water rights cleanup bills.
Much of the current week after the break has been spent tracking bills that MFBF already holds a position on.HB 70: Study of wildland firefighting, HB 119: Establish the Montana Cattle Committee, HB 504: Expand livestock loss eligibility to include domestic bison, HB 357: Provide funding for middle school career and technical education and HB 676: Generally revise state land and water laws all had their Senate hearing this week. SB 357: Extend perfection deadline for certain Missouri River water reservations continued its progress to the House.
HJ 20: Joint resolution regarding funding for Montana Canada customs ports of entry sponsored by Rep. Paul Tuss (D) HD 27 was heard in House Energy, Technology, and Federal Relations on Wednesday. MFBF was the only organization present to share their support on the resolution. HJ 20 would increase the hours of operation at points of entry to Canada at Northern border of Montana. Representative Tuss explained that over the 13 points of entry on Montana and Canada’s 445 miles of border, 1.2 billion dollars flow annually from our state to our neighbors to the North. Post COVID, ports of entry on the US side did not resume the hours that they had used for decades before the pandemic, causing confusion for travelers and trouble for the free flow of goods and services. MFBF shared that Canada is a critical partner for Montana farmers and ranchers for things like fertilizer and our beef cattle that are shipped to Canada to fed out before coming back for slaughter. We have been a persistent advocate for extending these operating hours on the federal level and believe that this resolution helps in continuing that advocacy.
–Montana Farm Bureau Federation
