Subcommittee adopts amended HB6 after daylong hearing on dozens of Montana water, wastewater and irrigation grant requests

Rep. John Fitzpatrick, House District 76, told a Montana legislative subcommittee that he was moving House Bill 6 to its amended form and that the committee would use the amended bill recommended by the governor as the working document.

The bill, which funds the Renewable Resource Grant and Loan (RRGL) program administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC), originally listed dozens of individually authorized projects and several smaller grant programs. The amended version trims several line items after the budget office identified an erroneous revenue estimate that left the bill roughly $6.3 million over what the state can afford, Fitzpatrick said.

Why it matters: The RRGL program provides small, targeted grants — typically capped at $125,000 — to local governments, irrigation districts and private landowners for projects that conserve, develop or protect Montana’s renewable resources. The amended HB6 reduces the number of discrete projects that would receive full funding this biennium and lowers the amount available for planning, non‑point‑source and irrigation grants, meaning some projects will be funded, delayed, or moved down the ranked list.

The amendment and numbers Rep. John Fitzpatrick said the governor’s adjusted amendment (HB6.001.001) reduces planning grants from $2,000,000 to $1,000,000 and trims the nonpoint‑source grant line from $1,000,000 to $500,000. The larger project lines were cut steeply: infrastructure project funding was reduced from $5,250,000 to $2,500,000 and the irrigation district total was cut from about $3,500,000 to $2,500,000. Fitzpatrick said, "We obtained in the bill as immediately drafted an amount of roughly $6,300,000 [overestimate]. The budget office only became aware of that after the bill had been basically sent to printing."

DNRC overview, scoring and the funding line Autumn Coleman, deputy administrator for the DNRC Conservation and Resource Development Division, told the committee that the amended bill…