Vincent's anti-AIS funding bill passes Finance Committee
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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 in the Senate Natural Resources Committee, which Vincent chairs, by an 8-4 vote on March 24 and 17-1 in the Senate Finance and Claims Committee on Wednesday, March 29.
As it currently stands, the bill would require out-of-state boat owners to pay $50 a year to use Montana water bodies. In-state boat owners would pay $25 a year.
The bill would also require users of hydroelectricity to pay an increased user fee, while irrigators would be charged $25 a year.
Vincent was unsuccessful at getting the in-state boat decal and irrigators’ fees removed from the bill on March 29, but he has hopes to do it on the Senate floor on Thursday or Friday. Along with that, he would like to increase out-of-state fishing licenses by $10 and sunset the funding for two years so the Legislature could 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, he said.
“Everyone will feel the pain with a mussel infestation and will see an increase in utility rates,” he said.
The cost to the effected 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 fees would raise some $4.5 million over two years, while boat decals would bring in about $8 million, 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.
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.
He plans to add an amendment 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 also raise the cap on the trust fund, which was never funded. The cap currently sits at $10 million.
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 both houses and be signed into law by the governor.
