Viewpoint: Lawmakers face important choice for Montana’s future

Tim Aldrich

Lawmakers in Helena face an important choice during the last month of the legislative session. The Senate and House have each passed bills that represent different visions for our state.

On one side, we have Representative Mercer’s House Bill 669. This bill fleeces Montanans of funding intended to support our way of life.

House Bill 669 takes benefits away from Montana veterans. It robs state parks and would leave our public trails infrastructure crumbling. It steals money from landowners and hunters who wish to protect wildlife resources and habitat. It means fewer opportunities to hunt and fish. It’s a bill that rejects our rural value system and way of life.

On the other side is Senator Lang’s Senate Bill 442, which invests in rural Montana and the wildlife and people who call it home. Senate Bill 442 helps fund rural county roads and our access to public lands. It expands funding for our veterans and heroes of foreign wars. It supports behavioral health and treatment programs called for by Governor Gianforte. It invests in the health of rural Montana’s land and our legacy of small-scale agriculture.

It’s no surprise that a coalition of Montanans are supporting Senator Lang’s Senate Bill 442 instead of Rep. Mercer’s House Bill 669. That coalition includes agriculture people, conservation people, trails and recreation people, energy producers and Montana veterans.

I hope that lawmakers will side with this growing coalition of Montanans, our agricultural communities and the next generation of hunters and anglers. Time will tell.