Reflecting on another state legislative season in Greater Yellowstone
It’s late May and the Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming state legislatures have all drawn to a close. Which means the GYC advocacy team is taking a deep breath, assessing the outcomes, and channeling our energy into planning for 2024.
For the duration of the three state sessions, GYC’s advocacy team monitored proposed legislation and met regularly to discuss how the bills on our radar were evolving. Throughout the legislative calendar, we kept our eye on bills that fell within the scope of our mission and conservation priorities. This year, our focus was on protecting Greater Yellowstone wildlife.
Monitoring the sessions is hard work, and lots of it.
GYC’s Wyoming Conservation Coordinator Jared Baecker (left) and Senior Wildlife Conservation Associate Matt Cuzzocreo at the Wyoming State Capitol.
As we anticipated, the way we ultimately engaged with legislation was varied. At times our role was to monitor proposed legislation and feed information to partners who were well positioned to take the lead on fighting for or against a particular bill. At other times, we worked closely with our Tribal and NGO partners to take a coordinated approach to engagement. And a few times throughout the session, we called on our in-region supporters to take action by contacting their state senators and state representatives to support or oppose a specific bill.
In Idaho, it was a somewhat typical legislative session, with issues GYC works on largely flying under the radar. But Idaho did take a customary swing at grizzlies before the session closed with House Joint Memorial 5, which urges the U.S. government to remove endangered species protections from all grizzlies in the Lower 48. As a seasoned Idaho lobbyist once said, "the Legislature can paper the walls with these memorials."
In Wyoming, we focused on introducing our new staff to decision makers, agency personnel, and other leaders in Cheyenne, and monitored bills throughout the session.
GYC’s Montana legislative strategy focused primarily on proposed wildlife and climate bills. As anticipated, state lawmakers put forward a slate of regressive and unscientific bills aimed at bears, wolves, bison, and more. We worked closely with partners on our legislative advocacy by coordinating strategies on providing testimony, writing letters to the governor, taking a supportive research role when most useful, and asking our Montana-based supporters to contact their state senators and representatives on a number of specific bills.
Here’s where some of the bills we were monitoring landed:
SB 295, which pertains to grizzly bear management, passed through the legislature despite strong opposition from GYC and a number of our key partners – including the many GYC Montana supporters who called their state senators and representatives to voice their concerns. The bill was signed into law by Montana’s governor on May 19. This bill, which will go into effect if grizzly bears are removed from federal protections under the Endangered Species Act, allows citizen take of grizzly bears in the act of threatening livestock or personal safety due to their presence near dwellings. The way the bill is written, it contains far too much ambiguity that could lead to increased grizzly bear mortality across Montana.
HB 971, which pertains to climate change considerations within the Montana Environmental Policy Act, made its way through the legislature and onto the governor’s desk despite vocal oppositional testimony that has far outweighed the support of a handful of industry proponents favoring the legislation. HB 971 revises the Montana Environmental Policy Act and bans state agencies from taking climate impacts into consideration as they review the environmental impacts of large projects, such as power plants or mines. It was signed into law on May 10.
HB 627, HB 628, and HB 630, a series of bad bills that would change hunting regulations for wolves and black bears, such as allowing the use of snares to hunt wolves and allowing the use of hounds to hunt black bears, thankfully failed to progress through the legislature and died on the house floor in March.
SB 442, which reallocated revenue from taxes on marijuana to support a broad array of projects and services — including conservation projects, county road maintenance, veteran's services, and support for first responders — passed through the legislature with broad support of Montana legislators and the public. Then, on May 2, to widespread consternation and confusion, the Montana governor vetoed the bill.
Overall, it was a disappointing if not entirely surprising legislative session in the state of Montana. Regardless of the outcome, we are committed to finding a better path forward and continuing to work with the wide range of people who care about this region.
In today’s world, legislative sessions can be divisive and difficult. As we have for 40 years, GYC will continue to work with Tribal and nonprofit partners, as well as our in-region supporters, to speak up for the lands, waters, and wildlife of Greater Yellowstone within each legislative session.
We are in this work for the long haul, and we hope you are too.
—Kristin Oxford, Communications Coordinator
