Wednesday, April 22, 2009

As Arnold Said . . .

"I'LL BE BACK" - ohmygawd
SB 425 Alive But Not Well - Yet
Keep Watching This One
.. Just when we thought the Montana State Legislature had settled down to do the people's work along comes our old friend SB 425. It's hard to kill a walleye. The current bill is just a re-write of the construction authorization bill and a hasty effort to generate funds for an ailing facility.
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.. Here's an interesting section for your perusal: (red=stricken, blue=new, black=as written.)

--> (4) Costs for hatchery construction, operation, maintenance, and personnel are to be funded with revenue in the warm water game fish accounts established in 87-3-236, revenue in the general license account, or any federal funding available to the department. It is intended that the hatchery be constructed in stages as revenue becomes available in the warm water game fish accounts established in 87-3-236."

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.. At least the walleye is not going to be "declared" a native species in order to generate the funding.
.. Perhaps there are "WALLEYE BAILOUT FUNDS." Perhaps, as the hasty bill suggests, - we should all bailout the walleye.
.. For some informative reporting about the SB 425 visit GazOutdoors. For some interesting analysis check Will Fish For Work, (#1, #2.)
.. The bill has struggled but looks like it's a done deal.
.. The Bill's History: click HERE
.. The Verbiage: click HERE.
.. Montana FWP page on funding options: click HERE