Marijuana Moment
This vote is a resounding testament that it’s time to stop bickering over the allocation of marijuana tax revenue and instead focus on the will of thousands of Montanans.”
By Blair Miller, Daily Montanan
Legislators overrode another veto issued by Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) last week, this time an appropriations bill that includes the mechanism to send marijuana tax money to a habitat improvement program through another vetoed bill that several groups have sued over.
Representatives for the Montana Association of Counties, Wild Montana, and the Montana Wildlife Federation last week lauded legislators’ override of Gianforte’s veto of the appropriations bill, House Bill 868.
The three groups are suing Gianforte and the secretary of state over the governor’s veto of Senate Bill 442, the broadly supported bill that redistributes Montana’s marijuana tax revenue to put it toward Habitat Montana, the Wildlife Habitat Improvement Program, and county road funding, among other things, and tweaks the structure lawmakers decided on in the 2021 session.
“This is an important step, as the governor stated he vetoed SB 442 in part because there was no appropriation,” said MACO Executive Director Eric Bryson. “Then he vetoed the appropriation when he vetoed HB 868. Those were the Governor’s decisions, in contradiction to the will of the Legislature, and we are thankful for the Legislature’s ability to overturn that action.”
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Sean Hocking
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