Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2011 Source: Billings Gazette, The (MT) Copyright: 2011 The Billings Gazette Contact: http://billingsgazette.com/app/contact/?contact=letter Website: http://www.billingsgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/515 CHECK UP ON LAWMAKERS DURING INTERIM The Montana Legislature isn't scheduled to meet again till January 2013. But many of those part-time lawmakers will be meeting in the interim, gathering information, and making recommendations that may become legislation at the next regular session. Montanans can keep track of this off-season legislative activity though the efforts of the Legislative Service Division and its helpful website. The August edition of The Interim, a monthly newsletter of the Montana Legislative Branch, gives a roundup of committee work plans. Education oversight Rep. Elsie Arntzen, R-Billings, chairwoman of the Education and Local Government Committee, has appointed members to represent it at meetings of the statewide education governing boards. Sen. Tom Facey, D-Missoula, and Rep. Kristin Hansen, R-Havre, will attend Board of Public Education meetings on behalf of the legislative committee. Sen. Bob Lake, R-Hamilton, and Rep. Edie McClafferty, D-Butte, will attend Board of Regents meetings. The legislators won't be voting members of the boards. However, any improvement in communication that these new liaisons facilitate will be beneficial for both the state's schools and the state's lawmakers. Policymakers and educators need to understand each other before the hectic 90-day session starts. One of the interim Education and Local Government Committee's studies is on "performance-based K-12 funding and determining whether that is appropriate for Montana." Pension problems The State Administration and Veterans' Affairs Committee, which elected Kendall Van Dyk, D-Billings, as vice chairman, has decided to focus on options for dealing with the state's unfunded accrued actuarial liability for public employee retirement systems. In addition, the committee will study the possibility of increasing the authority of the Commissioner of Political Practices to enforce election laws. And finally, the committee plans to study the possibility of combining school board, municipal and primary elections. Medical marijuana The Law & Justice Interim Committee may have the longest list of topics its members want to study. Topping the list is medical marijuana. In the previous interim, the Children & Families Committee devoted a major portion of its work to medical marijuana issues, but its proposed legislation was barely considered by the 2011 Legislature, which passed two other medical marijuana bills. Reps. Ken Peterson (R) and Margie MacDonald (D) and Sen. Lynda Moss (D), all of Billings, serve on the Law & Justice Interim Committee. The 2011-2012 Children & Families Committee also plans to review implementation of Senate Bill 423, the only medical marijuana bill to become law this year. Additionally, the committee, chaired by Sen. Jason Priest, R-Red Lodge, plans to monitor Medicaid, study childhood hunger and trauma and oversee the state health department. Protecting grain growers The Economic Affairs Interim Committee's work includes a study directed by Senate Joint Resolution 15 to determine whether the state's bonding requirements for agricultural commodities buyers are sufficient producer protection in the growing and changing market. The resolution says that recommendations are to be made by Sept. 15, 2012, so that they may be considered by the 2013 Legislature. Rep. Tom Berry, R-Roundup, chairs the committee. To learn more about the work of interim legislative committees, go to leg.mt.gov and click on "committees" then on "interim." Meeting schedules, agendas and research information is posted online, as well as committee membership lists. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.