Bill to allow maintenance rural improvement districts receives hearing

Representative Alana Griffith (House District 60) presented House Bill 159 to the House Local Government Committee, saying the measure would allow counties to create rural improvement districts (RIDs) specifically for ongoing maintenance of existing public facilities and roads rather than only for capital improvements.

Griffith told the committee that the current statutory framework requires an "improvement" to create an RID and does not clearly allow maintenance-only districts. She said the bill responds to cases in Broadwater, Gallatin, Madison, Flathead and Lake counties where roads and other public facilities are already serving multiple subdivisions but are maintained informally and where homeowners associations are struggling to cover costs. "All it does is it says no petition is necessary and the board of commissioners may order and create the district," Griffith said, describing a provision that would allow counties to act where waivers have already been placed on subdivision plats.

Gordon Okers, first vice president of the Montana Association of Counties and a Roosevelt County commissioner, testified in support. Okers said the bill clarifies the process for creating RIDs, instructs counties on budgeting for improvements and maintenance, and requires clearer public notice of expected costs. "This bill clears up the process for creating the rural improvement districts and tells the county how to budget for these improvements and how to request funding for the maintenance of the improvements," he said.

Committee members pressed the sponsor and witnesses on details: whether petitions and votes remain part of the process for existing subdivisions, how waivers recorded on plats would operate, whether roads covered by an RID are public or private and which entity would maintain non-RID roads. Karen Alley, associate general counsel for the Montana Association of Counties, said the answer depends on plat dedication language: some subdivision roads are dedicated to public use, others are internal private roads, and the dedication on the plat or petition language governs eligibility.

Sponsor Griffith said counties typically prefer to hold hearings even where a waiver exists, and she described the bill as a targeted fix to allow maintenance RIDs without changing the vote-based process where waivers were not in place. She asked the committee for a "do pass" recommendation. The committee did not take a vote on the bill at the hearing; committee staff noted the hearing record would be available and further executive action could be scheduled.

No formal committee action was recorded during the hearing.