2009 Legislative Session: Week 4 (Part II)

January 28, 2009 in 2009 Legislative Session, Montana

by jhwygirl

Only 75 hearings between Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, folks! /snark

First off, on Thursday the House Fish, Wildlife & Parks committee will hear HB253, the Wild Buffalo Recovery and Conservation Act, propose by Rep. Mike Phillips and Rep. Ted Washburn, both of Bozeman.

Please take the time to read this post and contact the committee members, whether by email or phone call. Contact information is in that post.

Also on Thursday – Sen. Christine Kaufman has HB259 which would institute a state earned income credit equal to the federal earned income credit. Me likes. This is in Senate Taxation – Lee Heiman the staffer lheiman@mt.gov

On Friday: Can you believe we’ve got a law that forbids liquor stores from being adjacent to grocery stores? What if the liquor store was there first? Lord, the ridiculous laws we’ve got…Rep. Cheryl Steenson has HB352 that would change that. In House Business & Labor, Bart Campbell the staffer, bcampbell@mt.gov

Rep. Michele Reinhart has HB279 that would prohibit MDOT from recovering indirect costs from local governments for certain programs financed by federal funds through MDOT. Local goverments think this one is important, folks – and so should you as a taxpayer. Why should MDOT charge local governments for services that they get from federal programs? Ludicrous. This one in House Transportation – Rachel Weiss the staffer, rweiss@mt.gov

Rep. Edie McClaferty is looking for funding for Head Start in HB369. This bill would provide for administrative oversight of state supplemental funding. Its in House Education, Jeremy Gersovitz the staffer, jgersovitz@mt.gov

Rep. Chuck Hunter has sponsored HB280 which would provide limited funding to nonfederally funded community health centers. This one is in House Appropriations, Jon Moe the staffer, jmoe@mt.gov

In the Senate on Friday we’ve got SB180 proposed by Sen. Ron Erickson. It established emission standards for vehicles. Now – consider that California is the 5th largest economy in the world and they have emission standards, and you’ll see that setting these would have no effect on the cost of vehicles. Let’s hope it can get some support, hint, hint. It’s in House Natural Resources, Joe Kolman the staffer jkolman@mt.gov

There you go folks…there’s plenty more, check it out. Write a letter, send an email – make a call. It’s your government.

usiness

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