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Committee advances bill to repeal county-owned public scales; department says few remain
Summary
House Bill 430 would repeal state law framework allowing counties to establish and regulate county-owned public scales. The Department of Labor and Industry told lawmakers county-owned scales are rare; the committee advanced the bill 10-7 on a roll-call vote.
Representative Braxton Mitchell presented House Bill 430 as a red-tape cleanup bill that would repeal statutory language allowing counties to establish, own or operate "public scales." Mitchell said the measure stems from the governor's red-tape relief initiative and would deregulate a function largely handled by state inspection and private commercial scales.
Eric Copeland, Bureau Chief for Building and Commercial Measurements at the Montana Department of Labor and Industry, testified as an informational witness that county-owned public scales are rare in Montana and that the Department already licenses and inspects scales used for commercial trade.
"We do have a couple that are county-owned that are already licensed," Copeland said. "They still go through the standard process that we use for licensing any other scale that would be used for the same purpose." He added that most commercial weighing is handled by private businesses, truck stops, grain elevators and recycling centers and that county-owned scales are an uncommon arrangement.
Committee members who raised questions said they did not have strong evidence that county-owned scales are widely used and that the proposal should not inadvertently remove a useful local service in remote counties. Representative Alvaro said he would vote no because the hearing did not provide sufficient evidence that county scales were obsolete in every part of the state.
Executive action: The committee moved House Bill 430 forward on a recorded roll-call vote. The roll call in the transcript shows 10 ayes and 7 nos and lists member votes; Representative Brewster and Vice Chair Springer voted yes, Vice Chair Staffman voted no, and several members recorded proxy votes. The committee report recorded "10 ayes and 7 nos" and the bill was passed out of committee.
Ending: Department testimony indicated few county-owned public scales remain and that private and state-inspected commercial scales cover most trade needs; nonetheless some committee members voted no to preserve local options in remote counties.
