Montana Natural Resources committee hears bill to post EPA guidance received by state agencies

Representative Carrie Seacens Crowe opened a hearing on House Bill 481, telling the Natural Resources committee that the measure would require the Montana Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Agriculture to post on a public website federal guidance they receive from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. "We should know what the EPA is telling state agencies," Crowe said, framing the bill as a transparency measure aimed at preventing federal guidance from functioning as de facto rules.

Proponent testimony online came from Steve Johnson of the Center for Practical Federalism, who summarized the bill's rationale: "Guidance is not law," he said, and when agencies treat guidance as binding the public and state officials can be caught unaware. Johnson and the sponsor also said they had worked out an amendment that would remove the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation from the bill's coverage.

Department witnesses provided informational responses. Sonya Nowakowski, director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, said the bill would likely be implemented by posting hyperlinks to EPA documents and by adding any guidance the department received that was not already posted publicly by EPA: "I think the bill allows us to post a hyperlink to those... documents," she said. Anna Ketchkase, general counsel for the Department of Agriculture, said her agency's guidance universe is smaller and that staff use news alerts and partner organizations to track items relevant to their programs.

Committee members pressed on practical details and the bill's scope. Representative Konauer questioned whether the measure merely duplicated material already on the EPA site and flagged language in section 4 that lists memoranda, notices, bulletins, news releases, letters and blog posts as examples of "guidance" to be tracked; she warned that requiring departments to hold every news release could be burdensome. Nowakowski and Ketchkase said departments would focus on program-relevant items and that posting links to EPA pages could reduce duplication of effort.

Members also discussed timelines and fiscal implications. The bill includes a 15-day requirement to post received guidance; members asked whether longer windows or different cadences (for example, monthly updates) could lower the estimated fiscal impact and staff time (the fiscal note, and any FTE need, could be revisited if timelines change). The sponsor said she was willing to work with departments on timelines and implementation details.

Crowe closed by reiterating that the bill would apply to documents the departments had already received and by noting the amendment handed out that removes the Board of Oil and Gas Conservation. The committee closed the hearing on House Bill 481; no committee vote was recorded at this session.

What happens next: the bill sponsor urged members to "vote green," and staff and members discussed amendment and transmittal deadlines for upcoming committee and floor scheduling.