Interim Updates

The Water Policy Interim Committee takes to the road in June to gather public comment on proposals dealing with water wells exempt from permitting.

The State-Tribal Relations Committee of the Montana Legislature met with the Executive Board of the Fort Peck Sioux and Assiniboine tribes April 4 and 5 in the Greet the Dawn Building on the Fort Peck Community College campus in Poplar.

The State Administration and Veterans' Affairs Interim Committee met April 19 in Helena. Budget Director Dan Villa presented Gov. Brian Schweitzer's pension proposals for the Teachers' Retirement System and the Public Employees' Retirement System.

The Select Committee on Efficiency in Government met April 9-10 on the Montana Tech campus in Butte. The committee focused on ways to implement or enhance government efficiency and effectiveness in health care, including Medicaid; technology; and natural resources.

During the week of April 9, five staff members of the Legislative Fiscal Division and six legislators, including members of the Legislative Finance Committee, toured Roosevelt, Richland, Dawson, Fallon, Custer, and Big Horn counties and a bit of North Dakota. Several local legislators joined the group throughout the tour. The small groups of staff and legislators visited with representatives of school districts, county governments, city governments, community colleges and with industry experts and others in the area to better understand the impacts of natural resource development.

The Law and Justice Interim Committee is developing preliminary recommendations for the legislative session.

The Energy and Telecommunications Interim Committee meets May 17-18 in Butte and will tour a geothermal site, an electrical systems operating center, and a natural gas plant.

The Education and Local Government Interim Committee met on March 22 and 23, handling a wide variety of K-12 and postsecondary education matters, as well as continuing to monitor developing options for amending the subdivision for lease or rent exemption statutes.

The Districting and Apportionment Commission continues to travel the state to take public comment about the five proposed redistricting plans. In late March and early April, the commissioners heard from people in Butte, Helena, Lewistown, and Bozeman. Attendance at each hearing was exceptional, with most meetings being standing room only.

The Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee will continue its study of childhood trauma in May, with a focus on learning more about how child abuse and neglect cases are handled in Montana.

Attention MACo Members:  The Children, Families, Health & Human Services Interim Committee is requesting public comment.  They are reviewing Advisory councils and agency reports to determine if they should be retained, eliminated or revised.  Counties are involved and/or affected by these councils/boards. Click the "readmore" link below to view the entities and reports being analyzed.

The Children, Families, Health, and Human Services Interim Committee is seeking public comment on several councils created in law to serve in an advisory role to the Department of Public Health and Human Services. The committee will review the work of the advisory groups at its May 14 meeting.

A new report series is available to help the public determine how their county might be affected by several proposed redistricting plans for redrawn state House districts. The reports combine maps and basic population data to highlight the options being considered by the Districting Commission. Each report includes the county's population as of the 2010 Census, maps of the county under each proposed redistricting plan, and various statistics about the makeup and population of each proposed district in the county.

Weed Management Plan Memo  |  Weed List

As per the Montana Local County Weed Act, 7-22-2120 Funding - Reporting Requirements - Emergency Exemption, Section 1 - Subsection (a) (b) and (c), each county is required to provide an update of their County Weed Management Plan to the Montana Department of Agriculture.  If a county has recently updated their plan, and have the current state weed list included, that county is asked to please send a letter stating that they are operating under their current plan for 2012 through 2014.  If a county is in the process of updating their management plan, that county is asked to please be sure to include the current state list.

The Water Policy Interim Committee will be traveling to Bozeman, Kalispell, and Hamilton in June to gather public comment on legislative proposals regarding exempt wells.