Anti-AIS bill passes Senate, heads to House
Bill would fund $11M effort to fight mussels
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State Sen. Chas Vincent, R-Libby, is doing his best to prevent mussels from infesting the Columbia River Basin.
Vincent filed a bill, SB 363, at the “11th hour” in order to fund mussel prevention efforts in the state.
Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks earlier this year requested $10.2 million in funding for the next two years for their plan to prevent mussels from spreading after larvae were found in one or two eastern Montana lakes last year.
Vincent’s bill aims to fund $11 million for the mussel- prevention program. The bill was approved by the Senate 32-18 on March 31 and now goes to the House.
As it currently stands, the bill would require out-ofstaters to pay $15 more a year for a fishing license, while in-state residents would pay an extra $2.
The bill would also require users of hydroelectricity to pay a user fee.
Requirements that in-state and out-of-state residents pay $25 and $50, respectively, for boat decals and irrigators $25 a year, were removed from the bill on March 30. Vincent said via email that the “decals were going to be an administrative nightmare for FWP, so we worked with them to remedy this problem” by increasing fishing license fees.
An amendment requested by Sen. President Scott Sales, R-Bozeman, was approved 26-24 to require out-of-state residents pay $25 a year to register their bicycles in the state.
The bill would “sunset” in two years so the Legislature can revisit the issue.
“I’ve never carried a fee-increase bill,” said Vincent, noting he’s been in the Legislature since 2007. But he believes such funding would be for something that he called “the proper role of government.”
If the state doesn’t fight mussels now, it could end up costing $50 million during the next legislative session in two years, he said.
“This is a fiscally conservative response to do this now,” he said.
He noted the work on fighting mussels began late last year when Gov. Steve Bullock created an emergency task force that began working on a plan to fight aquatic invasive species.
“The inter-agency cooperation has been incredible,” Vincent said. “I’m proud to be helping them implement what they put together.”
Vincent said he would have preferred to use the state’s General Fund to fight mussels, but that’s not feasible since it’s a tight budget year.
“Everyone will feel the pain with a mussel infestation and will see an increase in utility rates,” he said.
The cost to the affected electric cooperatives would be $611,000 per year, which on a per member basis would be $3.43 a year for a customer who uses 1,000 kilowatts a month. “It would be a bit lower for the regulated utilities because they have a larger consumer base,” he said.
Hydroelectric power users “stand to lose the most from zebra mussels spreading,” he said, rationalizing that they should pay to help prevent an infestation.
The mussel-infestation plan calls for adding 17 inspection stations to the 17 used last year. In addition, four decontamination stations would be set up for watercraft at Canyon Ferry and Tiber reservoirs on the east side of the state.
The plan would require out-of-state watercraft to be inspected prior to launch in Montana, along with those crossing from east to west inside the state. The plan has been peer-reviewed by other states already affected by mussels and was given five stars, Vincent said.
An amendment was approved on March 30 that would put any federal anti- mussel funding the state receives into an AIS trust fund created two years ago by a bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Noland, R-Bigfork. The amendment would raise the cap on the trust fund to $100 million from $10 million. The trust fund has not been funded to date. The amendment requires approval of three-quarters of the Legislature to use any principal in the fund.
Vincent’s bill is the funding side of the anti-AIS legislation. Rep. Mike Cuffe, R-Eureka, is sponsoring a bill dealing with the policy side, Vincent said.
He’s very confident that the bill, which he called “a good bipartisan educational process,” will pass the House and be signed into law by the governor.
