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Montana AG: Proposed Ballot Initiative 24 legally insufficient Proposed measure sought stringent protections for Gallatin, Madison rivers BY BELLA BUTLER
“will likely cause significant material harm to one or more business interests in Montana.”
HELENA – A ballot initiative proposed by a Bozeman-based law center that would have granted sweeping protections to parts of the Gallatin and Madison rivers was found legally insufficient in a memorandum filed on Jan. 28 by the Montana attorney general. Several Big Sky organizations filed comments in opposition to the measure, expressing concern for how it would impact development opportunity in Big Sky.
“The legal sufficiency review process is required under state law to determine if the petition complies with statutory and constitutional requirements governing submission of the proposed issue to the electors, the substantive legality of the proposed issue if approved by the voters, and whether the proposed issue constitutes an appropriation,” Emilee Cantrell, Attorney General Knudsen’s press secretary, wrote in an email to EBS. “In this instance, the proposed ballot measure does not meet the legal sufficiency requirements.”
Ballot Initiative 24, proposed by Cottonwood Environmental Law Center along with Montana Rivers and the Gallatin Wildlife Association, proposed outstanding resource water designation for the section of the Madison River between Hebgen and Ennis lakes and the section of the Gallatin River between the Yellowstone National Park boundary and the Spanish Creek confluence. An ORW designation provides the greatest protection feasible under state law, according to Montana Code Annotated. State law enacted in 1995 afforded ORW designation to state surface waters located wholly within the boundaries of national parks and wilderness areas and established a process for other state waters to be granted the same designation if they qualify based on several criteria. The petition for the ballot initiative was submitted to Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen in December. Jacobsen then referred the initiative to Attorney General Austin Knudsen on Dec. 29 for legal sufficiency review. Knudsen issued a memorandum on Jan. 28 finding the proposed ballot measure legally insufficient on the grounds that it “could cause a regulatory taking” and
The Gallatin River. PHOTO BY MATT/ADOBE STOCK
During the legal review process, the attorney general’s office received dozens of comments on the proposed initiative, and according to Cantrell none of the comments from interested parties were in support of the measure. Several comments were sent from Big Sky organizations, notably including the Big Sky County and the Gallatin Canyon water and sewer districts, the Big Sky Community Housing Trust, and the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce. Others in opposition included the Madison County Commission, Gallatin County Commissioner Joe Skinner, the Bozeman Chamber of Commerce and the towns of Manhattan and West Yellowstone, among others. Brad Niva, CEO of the Big Sky Chamber of Commerce, said the proposed ballot measure spurred an emergency chamber board meeting as the organization worked to understand the impact that the measure would have on the business community in Big Sky. Niva said there were two main considerations that led the chamber to submit an oppositional letter and to make a plea to its member businesses to do the same: potential negative impacts to the Big Sky business community and a limitation
