Montana committee hears heated debate over SB 307 to reallocate marijuana tax dollars from conservation to prevention and enforcement

Senate Finance and Claims members heard more than three hours of testimony on Senate Bill 307 on a proposal to redirect marijuana excise-tax revenue away from conservation accounts and toward prevention, behavioral-health treatment and law enforcement.

Sponsor Sen. Tom McGillivray, who distributed a side-by-side handout and fiscal-note summary, said SB 307 "seeks to create a nexus between marijuana revenue and marijuana harm" and described changes that would boost the governor's HART prevention account and create a roughly $2.3 million marijuana law-enforcement operations account. McGillivray said current account balances are substantial — he cited a Habitat Montana balance of about $33.7 million, park maintenance with an $11.2 million balance, a trails balance of about $6 million and nongame wildlife with roughly $2 million — and that the bill is intended to channel more funding to prevention and enforcement.

The bill drew polarized public testimony. Colleen Smith, executive director of Youth Connections, told the committee that the statewide prevention network expanded with ARPA funding and that HART funds were intended to sustain that workforce. "Primary prevention needs to be funded now," she said, adding that "MCA code 16 12 1 22 states the HART account must be used to provide statewide programs for substance use disorder prevention, youth suicide prevention, and mental health promotion." Colleen Rahn, education director for NAMI Montana, said directing state money into the HART fund could draw a multi-million-dollar federal Medicaid match for behavioral-health services.

Supporters including Steve Zabawa of Safe Montana and former DEA official Stacy Zinn urged allocation for law enforcement and prevention, with Zabawa saying the state needs resources to target high-THC black-market supply and Zinn describing gaps in treatment and enforcement capacity.

Opponents — a broad coalition of conservation and outdoor-recreation groups including the Montana State Parks Foundation, Montana Wildlife Federation, Montana Audubon, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, the Montana Trails Coalition and others — warned that the bill would dismantle the 32% conservation apportionment that funds Habitat Montana, state parks, trails and nongame programs. Chris Smith, vice chair of the Montana State Parks Foundation, testified, "Do not pass SB 307 unless that 4% commitment to state parks is retained in the bill," arguing parks receive no general-fund support and rely on the dedicated marijuana-tax allocation. Several witnesses called the bill a "false choice" between wildlife, parks and trails on one hand and prevention and treatment on the other.

Agency witnesses responded to technical questions from senators. Lena Havron, chief financial officer for Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, explained that grant programs (such as trail stewardship) have variable payment timing and that some account balances reflect multi-year obligations; she warned that removing the revenue would greatly reduce nongame work because the alternative revenue source (a voluntary tax checkoff) yields only about $30,000 a year. FWP staff said they have pending long-term habitat lease requests (roughly $15.5 million in unmet need) that depend on existing authority.

Committee questioning focused tightly on the fiscal note: senators pressed on the number of years of programing covered by account balances, spending patterns and whether the bill would create long-term funding instability. McGillivray said he is willing to work with FWP and intends to offer amendments in the House to restore ongoing revenue where appropriate, but he asked the committee to pass the bill out of finance and address details later.

The committee closed the hearing on SB 307 with no immediate action scheduled; the sponsor said he would pursue amendments in the House.

Ending: The committee moved on to the next scheduled bill (SB 343) and announced it would skip executive action that day and reconvene the following morning for continued business.