LEGISLATIVE REPORT 

 by 

 Peter V. Jackson, MASWCD Legislative Chairman 



m\ 



It is with pleasure and pride that I wish 

 to report the success of our work on updating 

 our District Law. The legislation under the 

 title of HB 179 passed the House of Represen- 

 tatives 83 to 6. The Senate saw fit to make 

 a few amendments and then passed it 52 to 0. 



I will endeavor to give a short explana- 

 tion of the amendments that were necessary: 



The only actual part of the bill that 

 was rejected was all reference to the power 

 of eminent domain. Some say it can be in- 

 terpreted that it is written in our law 

 without being named. This I personally be- 

 lieve is true, but it would have been better 

 spelled out. 



In order to satisfy the tax conscious 

 legislature, we limited our taxing power to 

 14 mills regular assessment, and 3 mills 

 special; and as now, cities which are in 

 Districts will not pay the regular assess- 

 ment. Here again I believe we can live 

 with this for a couple of years while we are 

 getting Into action. 



The only additions that were made con- 

 cerned our project areas. Here the Super- 

 visors must outline the benefited area in 

 a project, and if 50% of the land affected 



objects, then the project must wait. This 

 was 0. K. , and I'm sure will not be objec- 

 tional to anyone. 



Well those were the only changes, and 

 when you write them down, they really weren't 

 too much. I feel that we came out with the 

 fast majority of our changes and additions. 

 But what is far, far more important, we es- 

 tablished a reputation of being sensible and 

 trustworthy. It made me feel very proud to 

 have our judgement sought after, and used. 

 Let's guard this position very carefully; Its 

 worth much more than gold. 



In conclusion we worked on several other 

 bills, where we testified both for and against. 

 There were 3 water bills that are of great 

 interest to Districts; they are SB 45 — HB 450 

 which conerned recreation benefits in our 

 streams. These bills have both been amended, 

 until if they pass, I personally think we 

 could live with them. Finally, HB 337 which 

 was to rewrite the water rights in Montana 

 was defeated. This job will have to be done 

 someday, but a major study will have to pro-/^^ 

 ceed such a sweeping change. v^p 



If anyone has any questions in regard to 

 our legislation, please write. Thanks a 

 whole lot for the work you all did. — PETE 



Montana Association ol So\l and 

 Water Conservation Districts 

 (Return pwstage guaranteed) 



He^teA^yax 



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