Montana Lawmakers Defy The Governor, Marijuana Tax Revenue For Habitat Improvement Programs At Stake

Montana legislators continue to push to allocate cannabis tax revenue to a habitat improvement program, despite Gov. Greg Gianforte's (R) opposition.

Lawmakers overruled a veto issued by the governor on an appropriations measure (House Bill 868) that seeks to direct marijuana tax money to a habitat improvement program through another vetoed legislation (Senate Bill 442), reported Daily Montanan.

The poll on the override gathered 72 endorsements in the House and 35 in the Senate, thus satisfying the two-thirds requirement in both chambers, resulting in the overriding of Gianforte's veto.

Representatives for the Montana Association of Counties, Wild Montana, and the Montana Wildlife, who filed two separate lawsuits earlier this month against Gianforte and Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen related to the dismissal of Senate Bill 442, praised the latest efforts by the state lawmakers.

"This is an important step, as the governor stated he vetoed SB 442 in part because there was no appropriation," MACO executive director Eric Bryson said. "Then he vetoed the appropriation when he vetoed HB 868. Those were the governor's decisions, in contradiction to the will of the Legislature, and we are thankful for the Legislature's ability to overturn that action."

In his SB 442 veto letter, Gianforte emphasized that the measure is "failing to fund itself" due to omitting an appropriation. Paradoxically, HB 868, which the governor also vetoed, contained language that included the funding for SB 442.

To back up Gianforte's decision, the governor's Office of Budget and Program Planning acknowledged the existence of an appropriation for the measure from Sen. Mike Lang (R) in a fiscal analysis of the bill, but it stressed that having it included in HB 868 alongside accompanying language "appears to be outside the title of the bill…and therefore the amendments to SB 442 and the statutory appropriation appear to be invalid."

Background

Senate Bill 442 sought to regulate how $50 million of recreational cannabis taxes would have been distributed statewide.

It would have addressed the state's wildlife and the people who call Montana home "from our strongest to our weakest," said the bill's sponsor earlier.

An association of the state's counties has also recently voiced against the governor's decision.

"His veto ignores 132 legislators from both parties who voted for Senate Bill 442," the association said. "It ignores 56 county commissions and numerous local governments who support the bill because it supported needed county road maintenance, enabling farmers and ranchers to get their products to market and EMTs to respond to emergencies."

Photo: Courtesy of geralt and Kindel Media by Pixabay