A hearty ‘well done’ to those faithful who were able to make the journey to Helena yesterday for the Sportsman’s Rally for Stream Access.
Media outlets are reporting this morning that HB 309’s hearing yesterday drew the largest crowd to date for this legislative session.
Accounts we’ve heard and read put our numbers at well over 340. Here’s a few news outlet and blog reports from the Rally and hearing yesterday….
Big Crowd Opposes Bill That Addresses Access to Ditches (Billings Gazette)
Montanans Rally Ahead of Stream Access Hearing (Missoulian)
Opponents Fill Capital Hearing Room Against “Ditch” Bill (NBC Montana) / with vid
Headhunters spin – Good Showing for Our Team….the Stream Access Fans.
From multiple tweets this morning – HB 309 likely killed in committee by Thursday, Sen. Kendall Van Dyk said.
Wayne at Will Fish for Work (as is typical) chimes in with great insights in Montana HB 309 Post Rally / Senate Hearing Report. Read the entire post for some great quotes, but here’s what caught our eye….
This has kind of an interesting twist to it. Sen. Shockely (R) Victor, is practically neighbors with Huey L. and Charles S. down there along the Bitteroot river and Mitchell Slough, the infamous birthing ground of this whole “ditch” fiasco. Could this be the beginning of a crack in the bulwarks? Let’s hope so. My hats off to Sen. Shockely for climbing out on our side of the “ditch” and getting the hackles up on Sen. Steinbeisser. That must have been priceless.
We’re digging for information as fast as we can this morning. Emails and calls have been sent and placed. Stuck in the office for most of the day today so we’ll post as soon as information drifts in.
It ain’t over yet, and obviously the committee’s doing a little hand wringing over the bill. We’d suggest an aggressive campaign contacting the committee members – they’re listed on the committee link below.
It would be great to stop this bill in committee and let it die then and there.
That said, we’re still betting the committee doesn’t want to take the heat for killing the bill themselves and will punt it on to the floor for a full senate vote. We’d love to be wrong about that.
Links and contacts to follow the action:
HB 309 Tracking Page. Next actions, vote history, etc.
HB 309 in all it’s glory, the bill itself. This link is a ‘working copy’ of the bill, showing struck off / modified sections.
MT Senate Ag, Livestock and Irrigation Committee page. Schedules and members – will be needed if the bill ‘gets stuck’ in committee for a time.
Montana Senate Floor Agenda. The ‘Advanced’ agenda link shows the bills up for each day’s debate and vote (with a vote tally).
Find a Montana Senator. Nifty interactive map (look at all the pretty colors) to find your state senator, or for our friends out of state – find one to write / email / call.
Contact the Guv – Brian D. Schweitzer. Just in case we need that veto campaign in a few days / weeks.
Just in from Mark Aagenes, Montana TU’s go to guy in Helena:
Thanks, what an awesome day! There was NO vote. Nothing of particular interest happened afterwords. Keep bugging me… I will keep you posted!
Tags: Access
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