House Agriculture committee advances bill to create Montana Cattle Committee after debate on governance and refunds

HELENA — The Montana House Committee on Agriculture voted 10-7 to give House Bill 119 a due-pass recommendation on a motion to move the bill forward to the full House after twice amending the measure.

House Bill 119, introduced by Speaker Lear, would establish the Montana Cattle Committee, set committee membership and duties, create a cattle assessment and referendum for cattle sellers on that assessment, and create a special cattle revenue account, legislative staffer Ms. Shirley told the committee during executive action.

The bill drew multiple amendments and debate over how the committee would be composed, how a referendum would be funded and how cattle sellers could request refunds. "This amendment handles those concerns," Vice Chair Carter told the committee when explaining one of the proposals to increase board membership, add specified nominating groups and to require that funds used for a referendum be donated funds raised for that purpose. "The goal of this bill is to promote state beef and state cattle," Carter said.

An initial amendment (HB119.001) intended as a…