Committee hears HB 119 to create Montana Cattle Committee; proponents back referendum, opponents cite governance and tribal representation concerns

Montana Senate Agriculture, Livstock & Irrigation Committee Chair Senator Gillespie presided over a hearing on House Bill 119, a proposal to establish a Montana Cattle Committee and create the legal framework for a producer referendum on a potential $1-per-head assessment.

The bill’s sponsor introduced HB 119 as a vehicle to allow producers to decide whether to impose an assessment on themselves. “This bill here, let me preface this by saying this bill is not introducing the $1 tax. $1 tax would be voted on by a referendum of producers,” said Karli Johnson, spokesperson for the Montana Farm Bureau Federation. Johnson told the committee the Farm Bureau’s membership passed policy in support of creating a framework and that the measure is intended to let producers “ask their neighbors and fellow ranchers if they would support this and find value in it.”

Proponents described HB 119 as modeled on other commodity committees and checkoffs. Jim Curry, who said he is chairman of the Board of Livestock but testified “as a rancher, representing Curry Cattle and private enterprise,” said a working group of producers studied other states’ laws and tried “to not reinvent the wheel.” John Grande, a commercial…